For those that are keeping up;  my parents are back at home and are doing pretty much everything on their own now.  They still are not able to cook much and basically they don’t have much of an appetite for food anyway.  My sister, as well as others, have cooked enough food for them to last a month or so and have frozen much of it so when they do get hungry all they have to do is nuke it in the microwave a couple of minutes.

Both mom and dad are off of the oxygen throughout the day.  However, mom still sleeps with her oxygen at about 1 ltr I believe.  They have also put away their walkers for good I’m told.  Dad is still having difficulty finding a comfortable place to sleep.  Neither one is able to lay flat on their bed so their both having to sit nearly straight up in order to get comfortable.  Dad often times gets up during the night and heads to the recliner and will sleep there for several hours.

Their lives has completely changed since the accident.  I doubt very seriously that they will ever get back to what I’d call normal.  However, mom keeps telling me that they are still here for a reason and that God has a mission for them to perform once they are able to get around better.  I can’t imagine what this mission would be but I’m sure mom will tell me when she finds out herself.

On a side note.  My daughters have been college hunting for quite some time now.  Once I think they have it figured out where they want to go my wife will bring up another school to consider.  I really wish she would stop doing that because we don’t have the money for one car much less money for two.  The wife and I have been praying for some sort of an answer as to which college to “push” them toward.  Since my son is about to graduate for Alabama university I figured it would be hands down which college these girls would want to go to.  I think they’ve known all along too but they keep going to these other colleges just to satisfy their mother.  We had an answer to our prayer this past Saturday.  Both my daughters not only got accepted into Alabama but they each have received scholarship money worth over $20,000.  For those that know math, that’s over $40,000 in scholarship money if they will choose Alabama as their college destination.  Guess which college they’ve sent acceptance letters to today?

We needed some good news in our household for once.  It’s been a long time since anything seemed to go our way.  There is some stuff going on with my health and my employment for that’s for another story.

Since my last posting, my parents have greatly improved.  More that I thought they ever would considering their circumstances.  After spending nearly two weeks in the hospital and another two weeks at my brothers house we finally moved them back to their home today.  Dad has graduated from his oxygen tank but is still with his walker.  Mom, on the other hand, has graduated from her walker but is still on 2 liters of oxygen.  She had some breathing problems even before the accident so this was not unexpected.  We’ve paid a sitter to stay with them during their time at my brothers house but today they’ve decided that no sitter will be needed.  At least for the time being.

After getting my parents settled in, I took the time just to watch them get around.  I have no doubt that they can get around without much of an issue.  Mom has an air hose from her oxygen generator that is long enough to go from her living room, to the kitchen, through the den and into her bedroom.  My biggest fear would be for her to get tangled up in her oxygen hose and take a fall.  My other fear is that she doesn’t have enough strength to do much of anything.  So, for the time being, someone else will have to cook and clean for a while.  They have several relatives that live in the area that have already volunteered to help so I think we have that covered.

Mom just turned 75 last Monday and dad will turn 78 in the last part of June.  My siblings and I find it hard to believe, after seeing the site of the accident and seeing pictures of the car, just how lucky we are to have them still with us.

Life is slowly getting back to normal.  I will continue to make daily phone calls and at least a weekly visit just to see how they’re doing and to make sure they don’t need anything. I have a sister that lives a lot closer than anyone else in the family so she’ll be checking on her on a daily basis.