Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Great Escape....

This is what had me so frazzled this morning. As I have mentioned before, my Dad is 85 years old and suffers from dementia and has frequent, small strokes which cause him to be further confused. He's been having a rough couple of days. He's been more confused...well actually, he's been pretty out of touch with reality and increasingly agitated. We have yet to find the right combination of medications to control him and keep him safe when he has these episodes.

My wonderful sister Joyce, lives with my parents and cares for my dad. She also cares for our elderly aunt...but that's another story. Anyway, last night she thought Dad was finally sleeping and she dozed off for some much needed sleep. She woke up at around 3am and could not find Dad anywhere. As you can imagine she was panicked and horrified! She and my other sister immediately ran outside to look for him.

They found him down the street. He had apparently ran down the street and stumbled in the dark and fell. He was about half a block ( a long block) away. The neighbor's dog had started barking and wouldn't calm down and it caused the neighbor to go outside to see what the matter was. They found poor Pop lying in the street all scraped up and bloodied. They called 911 and stayed with him waiting for the police and paramedics to arrive. My sisters were alerted to where he was by the sounds of the people talking to him and reassuring him.

The paramedics advised that he should go to the hospital by ambulance and be checked out. He's ok. He's very scraped up and sore and was badly frightened by the whole experince. He skinned both knees, the palms of both hands, his shoulder and his poor head. We are so thankful that he wasn't hurt worse and that he didn't manage to get someplace where he wouldn't have been found for hours or days. We thank God that He was watching over our beloved Pop.

Now we are discussing ways of keeping him safe and preventing this from happening again. Oh my goodness...we love this man. This is our Dad.....our Hero....our Pop.




7 comments:

Amy B said...

Oh Vickie..
My heart felt sick when I read this. I know how scary this must of been for you and your sister.
I am so glad your dad was found and back with you . I know he has scarpes and his bruised up..but the what could of happen is so scary.
I am praying for you...
Hugs my friend..

And once again..
Happy Birthday...

Vickie said...

Amy...my sweet friend...your prayers mean so much to me! And thank you for the B'day wishes! The great escape wasn't as scary for me as it was for my poor sister...as I didn't even know about it until after he was found and on his way to the hospital. It's thinking about what COULD have happend that really starts to freak me out a little!

Kelly the Happy Texan said...

That just breaks my heart. I'm so sorry. I'm glad that he was ok. My grandpa disapeared in his truck once and got confused and couldn't find his way home and it was so scary.

Your sis sounds like a saint. :)
My thoughts are with you guys. So glad that everything turned out ok.

Deborah said...

Vickie, Happy Birthday....I cant believe I missed your birthday sweetie. I feel so stupid. It was that dang court date I was so preoccupied with having to go to court it simply slipped my suddenly approaching 50 year old mind. lol I am also so sorry you are having struggles with your dad and his failing health and mind. So hard when some of it is out of your hands. Your family is in my prayers. Weekends almost here.....enjoy!!!
Love Ya
Debbie

Deborah said...

Quick thought....both the people I work for with little kids have door alarms on the house. Whenever someone opens a door it says..."front door open" or "garage door open" "sliding door open" keeps the kids inside. I know when my kids were small we put small latch hooks at the top of the doors and would fasten them where the wouldnt be easily reached. Might be something to consider to at least get some sleep at night if you are not ready to put him into an assisted living situation.

Vickie said...

Kelly...my sister is a saint, you're right about that! I thank God for her. She takes such good care of our Pop and she's having a hard time being ok with the idea that he slipped away while she slept. Of course she can't stay awake 24 hours a day!

Thanks so much for your kind thoughts toward us!

Debbie...you didn't miss my B'day! it's today so you're right on time!
Thanks for the suggestion about the door alarms. We were just talking about those last night. Definitely a good idea! We don't plan on putting him anywhere but at home. We are so fortunate that my sister has made it her "job" to care for my parents. She lives with them and is willing and able to do the 24 hour care and we are all in agreement that Pop is going to live out his days in the home he built for us....being cared for by the children he raised.

Joann said...

Awww, I'm so sorry about your dad, poor thing!! Glad he was found quickly!!