Junyeong
New member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2012
- Messages
- 9
- Reason
- CALS
- Diagnosis
- 09/2010
- Country
- US
- State
- Alaska
- City
- Anchorage
Since registering here in 2012 I haven't posted anything.
My Grandfather was a Renaissance Man and an organized collector. I got the extreme end of both. Some would call it hoarding, but I prefer to think of myself as a professional repurposer.
My dad was never a very emotional person, so I don't know what happened to me. I got the total opposite end of that!
I've been working as hard as I could to make him happy, but it doesn't work. He wants everyone to pretend that he isn't sick and to go about their lives. I've tried as hard as I could to make him cry happy tears. I've only seen him cry once in my life and that was in the hospital after almost dying of pneumonia. He was thanking me for working on an apartment to rent.
Everything that my wife and I do is too little too late. We bought a handicap school bus that was partially converted into an accessible motorhome by a military veteran. He spent the first two years of retirement building it and then died of a heart attack. I bought it at a storage lot from his son. Cups still in the sink, silverware in the drawers, and misc parts laying around. We kept it a surprise and worked on it a little until Christmas. We took out the bathroom walls and sink so he could transfer onto the toilet, we took out the junky mattress and built a hospital bed out of hardwood (that was a stupid crazy project). We actually found a little 5kw diesel heater and installed baseboard heat for comfort. I couldn't take the chance that on Christmas day we couldn't get the 20,000lb 2 wheel drive school bus to his house, so I bought tire chains for all four wheels! We had a crazy weather storm come in melt all the son! Imagine on Christmas day a Red-White-Blue (probably not a coincidence due to the military background of the bus) School Bus driving down the road throwing sparks on dry pavement. We still needed the chains to get down the private road leading to the house so it wasn't a total loss.
Before he could ever go anywhere in it, the pneumonia came and he was too weak afterward to use it. The bus's tradition of never being used by the intended passenger continues! My wife and I plan to finish it and let non ambulatory people use it. Until then it is parked in his yard in plain view of a giant picture window, so he won't be able to forget the thought.
Too little too late…we thought we would have more time. He was diagnosed in 9/2010 but could have had ALS a long time before that. He was trying to put a cover back on a hot tub around 2005 and was blown off the deck in a surprise burst of wind. That broke is back and ever since he has had nerve damage which he attributed some of the sensations to before getting the diagnosis. Toe drop is what made him go to the hospital I think.
We have done numerous other things and devoted all of our resources to making him happy, but all he wants to see is my kids. I can recognize that…but I still have an urge to do something. There has to be SOMETHING I can do to make him more comfortable, happy, and want to live longer. Yes, I know that sounds stupid.
My Grandfather was a Renaissance Man and an organized collector. I got the extreme end of both. Some would call it hoarding, but I prefer to think of myself as a professional repurposer.
My dad was never a very emotional person, so I don't know what happened to me. I got the total opposite end of that!
I've been working as hard as I could to make him happy, but it doesn't work. He wants everyone to pretend that he isn't sick and to go about their lives. I've tried as hard as I could to make him cry happy tears. I've only seen him cry once in my life and that was in the hospital after almost dying of pneumonia. He was thanking me for working on an apartment to rent.
Everything that my wife and I do is too little too late. We bought a handicap school bus that was partially converted into an accessible motorhome by a military veteran. He spent the first two years of retirement building it and then died of a heart attack. I bought it at a storage lot from his son. Cups still in the sink, silverware in the drawers, and misc parts laying around. We kept it a surprise and worked on it a little until Christmas. We took out the bathroom walls and sink so he could transfer onto the toilet, we took out the junky mattress and built a hospital bed out of hardwood (that was a stupid crazy project). We actually found a little 5kw diesel heater and installed baseboard heat for comfort. I couldn't take the chance that on Christmas day we couldn't get the 20,000lb 2 wheel drive school bus to his house, so I bought tire chains for all four wheels! We had a crazy weather storm come in melt all the son! Imagine on Christmas day a Red-White-Blue (probably not a coincidence due to the military background of the bus) School Bus driving down the road throwing sparks on dry pavement.
We still needed the chains to get down the private road leading to the house so it wasn't a total loss.Before he could ever go anywhere in it, the pneumonia came and he was too weak afterward to use it. The bus's tradition of never being used by the intended passenger continues! My wife and I plan to finish it and let non ambulatory people use it. Until then it is parked in his yard in plain view of a giant picture window, so he won't be able to forget the thought.
Too little too late…we thought we would have more time. He was diagnosed in 9/2010 but could have had ALS a long time before that. He was trying to put a cover back on a hot tub around 2005 and was blown off the deck in a surprise burst of wind. That broke is back and ever since he has had nerve damage which he attributed some of the sensations to before getting the diagnosis. Toe drop is what made him go to the hospital I think.
We have done numerous other things and devoted all of our resources to making him happy, but all he wants to see is my kids. I can recognize that…but I still have an urge to do something. There has to be SOMETHING I can do to make him more comfortable, happy, and want to live longer. Yes, I know that sounds stupid.
