5/5 Visit

Another Saturday with my Dad! Today Gary, Garrett, and I went to see Dad, Kathy and Stan were already there when we got there and Perry and Terri showed up a bit later. We had a really good visit with Dad today. When we first got there Garrett gave Dad the shirt he made for him. Garrett drew out everything on the shirt - The front has a purple Alzheimer's Awareness ribbon that says TOM on one side and PIERCE TOUGH on the other. The back of the shirt has "Damn Right" on it with some designs and there is also a very small Chevy symbol in the middle of the design. That tiny little chevy symbol was the first thing Dad noticed, he pointed right at it and "That's a Chevy"

Here's the front

Here's the back

Dad was in prime form today. As Garrett was holding the shirt up to have the picture taken I noticed that dad looked kinda weird, and I said "Dad, you ok?" and he says "nope" and I asked him again, I said "Dad are you ok?" and again he says "no" and I was watching him and all of a sudden he started laughing and says "Gotcha!" Garrett told me "I was moving chairs out of the way in case I had to run for a nurse" 

After he saw the shirt Garrett made him Garrett went over and sat down across from him and he said "Hey, come sit over here" and so Garrett moved over to sit beside him and when Garrett sat down Dad said "OK, let's talk" LOL

Dad and Stan cutting up

Garrett drawing

Dad likes to watch Garrett draw

Dad is now taking an appetite stimulant medication to increase his appetite because he has lost weight since being there. All I can say about this medication is IT WORKS! Holy moley does it work! Kathy and Stan brought Dad a bag of chocolate mint candies, he ate half the bag before lunch and then he ate most of his lunch. Once he was done with his lunch he continued to snack on the candy. 

Since it was Cinco de Mayo they had a "party" at the nursing home. The party consisted of Crystal Lite Mocktail - Margaritas (we were calling them mockaritas) an a small plate of chips and salsa which Dad totally devoured! He was licking the plate! 

Enjoying his Margarita Mocktail

That's good stuff!

Chowing down on nachos and salsa

He ran out of chips but that didn't stop him from finishing the salsa!

Licking the salt and salsa off his fingers

Last bite!

One of the funniest things from today happened so casually but it was SO funny! Dad was chatting with Kathy and he said to her "Hey, I want to you to do something, I want you to get all the boys and girls together and I want you all to find me a woman" after Kathy told him she would see what she could do he said "Ok, good" then he looks over at me, he looks back at Kathy, then he reaches over and picks up MY can of Diet Coke and and takes it across the table and hands it to Kathy and says "Here ya go" LOL LOL   

Being silly,
considering the Diet Coke is still in front of me this must have been before he decided that Kathy should have my soda LOL

Perry came to see Dad and the first thing Dad does is try to get up out of his chair and he tells Perry "I'm gonna kick your ass" Perry said "You always want to kick my ass" (YES!! Perry said ASS!!!!) then Dad started laughing and told him he wasn't gonna kick his ass because he likes him LOL



Finally I have to give a shout out to my friend and co-worker Jennifer Blanton. I told my team about Dad's blanket that he had attached himself to and how it had disappeared and that I wanted to try to find him a replacement blanket. Jennifer said that if I told her the color(s) I wanted her mom would make him a new one. I told her that black and yellow would be great because he LOVES his Army hat and I even sent her a picture of him wearing his hat so her mom could see the shade of yellow to use with the black. I told her to tell me how much her mom wanted to make the blanket for us and she wouldn't even hear of it. Her mom made him a blanket out of the goodness of her heart and I am SO touched by that. They have never met my Dad or have any connection to him other that Jennifer and I becoming friends through working together.

Today as I was on my way to see Dad when Jennifer called me to tell me the blanket was finished and she was going to drop it off at the house. I was SO excited when I got home and walked in my room and saw this...

I CAN NOT WAIT TO GIVE THIS TO DAD TOMORROW!