The father/son pre hospital walk…v2

As you read from the previous couple of posts, we had blitzed up to Vernon this past weekend.

My folks live up there as well as my sister Grace and her husband Steve and two of my nieces as well.

Dad had just been released from a 2 day hospital stay following his colostomy reversal.  This allowed his ‘system’ to be reconnected with the goal of a complete return to normal activities like skiing and tennis.

We arrived in Vernon on Friday afternoon and met up with Dad at my sister Grace’s home.

He was itching to go for a walk.  I checked 10 times that his Doc had okayed this and he said absolutely all systems go…so to speak!

We went on a short walk.  I said the last time we had walked together was in the fall just before his first surgery.  The only thing different about this walk was that I wasn’t wearing Chris’ running shoes and Dad wasn’t wearing Chris’ trucker hat.  He told me that he wore Chris’ hat all the time.  I told him I’ve worn Chris’ shoes on many walks as well.  We didn’t need to say much after that.

Why this story?

Within 24 hours several health incidents starting flooding our way.  The late season flu bug hit hard with Mom being sick and possibly Dad as well.  He has now been confirmed with a nasty virus that has caused him to have to go back to the hospital.  He is in an isolation room and although he is stable, the situation is certainly serious.  The rest of us got hit with what is being determined as a heavy dose of the late season flu.

It was sort of like a whirlwind in slow motion.  As we are stabilizing our own health, we of course think about what we can do for our folks and I know many of you who know my Mom and Dad feel the same and that includes those who have just got to know them through references on this blog.

One of the great programs that Interior Health runs is the E-wishes program.

It’s a very simple process in that you can send an email and it is printed, delivered and read to a patient by wonderful volunteers and sometimes even the health care staff.

As he is not seeing any visitors at this time, it’s a great way to connect.

This is the link to the service as you may want to send a note or may know someone else who has a family member in a hospital or care home and the ‘what can we do’ question comes up.

http://www.interiorhealth.ca/health-services.aspx?id=6652

The direct email for Vernon is:

patient.vjh@interiorhealth.ca

You simply put Jacob Friesen in the subject line and type away.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about Dad’s skis and how they got up to the mountain this year…even if he couldn’t.