continued... again...

My mom got the word that I was planning on staying at Jody's house and she would have none of that. She called me while I was driving up to SLC and said that if I was coming that I would be staying at her house where there were ample bedrooms for us. She said that I should never feel like I couldn't stay at her house. I really appreciated her words, but I knew that I had made her feel guilty by planning to stay at Jody's. I told her that I had plans to do activities with my kids each day and try and keep them quiet so Dad could rest.

We showed up at my parents and unloaded our gear. It was, again, great to be home! Summer in SLC is the best with the cool nights and the green mountains, green lawns, and blue sky. Kamryn ran right up to her friends house and played for a bit while I got everything settled. When all was done, I went to my parents room to see my Dad. He was just as my brother Kris described. Eyes closed, sitting in his chair, frail, and appeared to be in pain. He also had sporadic hiccups that hurt as well. He had aged quite a bit to me. He couldn't keep his eyes open for long and couldn't speak much, so I didn't stay long. Each of the kids came in to say their hello's too. They were at a loss for words seeing their Pa like that. So we did our best to be quiet and stay out of the house.

Sunday Aug. 9th - I have to mention that when I showed up in SLC, I was determined to be positive and upbeat, despite the situation at hand. That morning I heard my Mom, sternly telling my Dad he needed to eat so he could get his strength to go to the temple Tuesday. My Mom made him a protein shake, but he only drank a bit. He still had no appetite. My mom was getting frustrated and was determined to find my Dad's doctor come Monday morning, which made me begin to worry.

Before church I was ironing all the clothes needed for that day and I had some Paul Cardall music on. He was playing I Love to See the Temple and the tears started to come. I kept thinking, "Yeah, I would love to see the temple, with my sister and Dad there together!" I thought about Lazarus being raised from the dead by Christ. I thought about all the miracles of early latter day saints being raised from their sick beds by the power of the priesthood given to Joseph Smith. I thought that we needed a miracle to get my Dad to the temple and to participate in my sister's wedding. It could happen!

While I was in thought my Dad showed up in the door-way out of breath. He had decided to go walk around upstairs like the doctor ordered. I went up to him and gave his weak body a hug. He could barely hug me back. And as my tears fell on his shoulder my faith waivered. I knew it could happen, that he could miraculously be healed, just as the scriptures testify of, but the how was another thing.

I went to church with my mom and kids. A good friend of my Dad's was speaking that day. He being so close to my Dad knew of his condition. And I just happened to be sitting in his line of sight, which made things worse for me. This friend looked so solemn sitting on the stand and I knew he was thinking of my parents. I couldn't make it through the opening hymn without crying. I probably could have done it if I hadn't looked at my Mom. Knowing that she was surrounded by her ward family and many of them didn't even know the pain she was in, broke my heart. It was normal for my mom to attend her church meetings without my Dad because he served in the stake High Council and attended a different ward's meetings. People probably wondered what was wrong with my mom's emotional daughter who never shows up with her husband (cause he always has to work and can't make it to SLC with me all the time). Anyway, as the talks began, the subject was on fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer!!! We happened to be doing a lot of that lately, even at that very moment. When our friend spoke he only had a couple of minutes, but those were the best few minutes of the meeting. He talked about prayer and how the prophet Joseph Smith said,

"Be plain and simple and ask for what you want, just like you would go to a neighbor and say, I want to borrow your horse to go to the mill."

I loved it. I had been praying for my Dad to be healed, but maybe that was the wrong approach. So that night and for the next few days I prayed and simply asked for my Dad to make it to Kerry's wedding. Of course I thought that meant that he would be healed, but the Lord has His own way of doing things.

After church, I felt better. This was due to the fact that when I went to check on my Dad he was watching tennis and was alert. I told him he looked better than when I showed up Friday evening. He said he was trying to get better. My heart broke again. I can't imagine what he was feeling. I mean other than recovering from surgery his last child and daughter was to be married in four days and he couldn't even walk to the across his room without being completely exhausted. He was probably just as frustrated as my mom.

Monday Aug. 10th - I woke up that morning, came out of my room just as someone was coming out of my Dad's room that I didn't recognize. It happened to be Dr. Staker, who is in my parent's stake and who is also a retired family physician who is now employed by the church and attends to the needs of the church leaders in Salt Lake. He showed up that morning to check on my Dad unbeknownst to anyone. I don't know if he had gotten word through somebody else or had spoke to my Dad directly about his health, but whatever the case he was at the house. He tried to help my Dad with his painful hiccups and told him to keep eating and walking. That afternoon my Dad starts vomiting because of the hiccups. So there goes all the protein my Mom's tried to get into my Dad's system. For two hours, my Mom tried to help my Dad get the hiccups and vomiting under control. Dr. Staker came over again that night and helped my Dad with some breathing techniques to control the hiccups. Which seemed to work a little. This day seemed like such a set back and my Mom told me that she was preparing herself mentally for the fact that my Dad would miss my sister's wedding entirely. I'm sure my sister was a mess as well. This was not the way these things were to happen. I mean what are the odds? A wedding is planned. It is supposed to be the happiest time of a family's life. The father of the bride has surgery to remove a tumor on his kidney and isn't healing as quickly as expected and now may not participate in the wedding. I was still holding out for a miracle.

Oh I forgot to mention that this particular Monday morning, my brother, Mark and his wife, had their twins. Just throw that into the mix of everything going on. They had two boys. One was 4 lbs. 12 oz and the other was 4 lbs. 2 oz (I think). There names are Sam and Dax and all is well with them. I will write more on them later.

Tuesday Aug. 11th - Dr. Staker came over again in the morning. He whisked my Dad out of bed, got him dressed and told my Mom to go find a folding lawn chair. He was taking my Dad on a walk... outside! He said the goal was to get my Dad to the temple on Thursday morning to see Kerry get married. I couldn't believe it and I'm sure my Dad was pretty stunned too. They walked about four houses down the street, stopped took a rest and walked back. My Dad said that he thought he was going to die. I felt bad for him because I know he wanted to feel better, but he just wasn't. He wasn't sleeping well because of the hiccups and discomfort. It was puzzling for all of us. You would think that each day my Dad would feel a little better than the previous day, but that wasn't happening at all.

That night, Kerry, received her endowments in the Salt Lake Temple. I was so glad to be there sitting by my other sister, Jody, in the temple. Mark of course wasn't there, but our other brother Kris was there along with Cory, Jody's husband, my Mom's sister and one of her brothers. And Kerry's soon-to-be in laws, Mindy and Brad. That was the beginning of the wedding festivities.

Wednesday Aug. 12th - Dr. Staker came over again in the morning. Nothing new happening and still no improvement from my Dad. The Doctor ordered my Mom to take my Dad to get a chest x-ray. So away they went. They were gone all day. From getting the X-Ray to the emergency room. It was found that my Dad's bowel was twisted. A complication from the first surgery of removing his kidney. That is why he was hiccuping, vomiting, didn't want to eat or wasn't getting any better. Finally an answer! My Mom left my Dad at the hospital awaiting another surgery to attend the wedding dinner for my sister. During the dinner, my Mom received a call that my Dad was going into surgery. Seriously, the timing on all of this is crazy! It was really a relief to all of us to know that there was a reason that my Dad wasn't recovering. Kerry told me that she would rather Dad be in the hospital recovering from another surgery and missing the wedding than him be at home like he was for the past week.

The dinner was great! We were all there except for my Dad. Even Chelsey who had just given birth two days ago was there! We were all in good spirits that night. Even my Mom seemed to enjoy the evening. Kerry was marrying a great guy, the mystery of my Dad was being solved and even if he didn't make it to the wedding the next morning, well... that would've been fine too.

To Be Continued...