Jake and I have been going back and forth for forever on whether or not we should take the kids to Colorado for a week after Christmas. We were planning on making the trip and then I decided I was just too tired. Too tired of the rat race we've been living since mid October.
We have literally been going full-speed-ahead for months and I was ready to do NOTHING. Plus my Dad has had a surgery scheduled for a few months for his neck and I felt weird and guilty about leaving town for that.
But the kids were only on break for one more week and they really, really wanted to go to Colorado.
When I talked to my Dad last week I told him my predicament about leaving town during his surgery. He reassured me that Kelly was going to take him to the hospital and take him home from the surgery a few days later. He told me about how he's always gone home a day early after his previous surgeries (two hip surgeries, back surgery a few years ago, and a few other nose/throat surgeries) and how he ALWAYS regrets it, so he wasn't going to do that again.
He also said, "One of the only things I've done right in my life is take you kids places and spend time with you guys. So take the kids to Colorado, I'll be fine. Kelly is on break too and she's already made plans to take care of me."
His surgery was originally scheduled for December 8th (or near there) but he's waited his whole life to get drawn for a elk/deer tag in the Winter and he finally got one this year. He was pretty excited and the surgeon agreed to push his surgery back to January 3rd.
He was hunting the week before Christmas and stopped to eat dinner at Denny's on his way home from his hunt Christmas Eve night.
He came out to see us today. He was in Tempe already so he just came by to see us since he was already out this way and since were leaving for Colorado in the morning.
I didn't take a single picture while he was here so I'll just post this picture from my blog years ago.
It was one of my favorite visits with my dad. The weather was great so we spent the day outside. I jumped on the trampoline with the kids while he and Jake talked. He recounted events from his last hunt and how he slept in the back of his little Ford Ranger truck. How he just couldn't get warm all night. How he wanted to shoot a buck but knew he couldn't haul it out if he shot it.
I feel bad that he's waited so long to get drawn in December and then he couldn't even totally take advantage of it because of his upcoming surgery. He had been having so much pain and had been to tons of chiropractic appointments and doctor appointments. Finally, after being super persistent, they found that he had really bad spinal stenosis in his neck (cervical stenosis):
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spaces within your spine, which can put pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine. Spinal stenosis occurs most often in the lower back and the neck.
Some people with spinal stenosis may not have symptoms. Others may experience pain, tingling, numbness and muscle weakness. Symptoms can worsen over time.
Spinal stenosis is most commonly caused by wear-and-tear changes in the spine related to osteoarthritis. In severe cases of spinal stenosis, doctors may recommend surgery to create additional space for the spinal cord or nerves.
He had back surgery a few years ago and was really happy with the results so he went back to the same surgeon for this surgery. He has been in SO SO SO much pain and it's been affecting him so much. It took MONTHS for him to even get the right pain meds because of all of the new restrictions on pain pills.
He hasn't been able to hike as far on his morning hike... 6 miles, 5 miles, now he's barely making 4 miles. His hands have been tingling and his balance is off. The pain has been making him crazy. He has to get up to pee 4 times a night and says he's starting to forget things. All problems caused by the spinal stenosis. He is SO ready for this surgery. We hear about it often.
But he was so happy doing our visit. He told us all how much he loved us, how proud he was of us, we talked about the past and his good friend Mark Webber. He kept saying "I better get out of your hair" but we kept telling him to stay. I finally asked him to go on a walk with us just to "force" him to stay longer and know that he wasn't a bother.
We took a super long walk out and around our neighborhood where there are the "mini farms". I love walking over there. It makes me feel like we live out in the country. People have chickens, goats, cows, horses and there is even a hay field. I love a little more open space and hope to have that someday.
He told us how deer really like to eat the little acorns that fall off the trees so we picked a bunch and intend to bring them to Colorado so we can feed the deer.
We were telling him about how Jake did a Polar Plunge and jumped in the pool on Christmas day. Jake was talking about how it took his breath away and then my dad told us of a time, years ago, when he went on a trip and camped in the back of his truck up above Telluride Colorado.
He said their was a little natural spring pond nearby and how he had brought a bar of soap to clean with. He said he jumped in and pretty much held his breath and soaped up as fast as he could because it was FREEZING! He said in all of his years of being cold, he'd never been that frozen before.
It was fun to hang out and talk with my Dad. It always is!
We were telling him about how Jake did a Polar Plunge and jumped in the pool on Christmas day. Jake was talking about how it took his breath away and then my dad told us of a time, years ago, when he went on a trip and camped in the back of his truck up above Telluride Colorado.
He said their was a little natural spring pond nearby and how he had brought a bar of soap to clean with. He said he jumped in and pretty much held his breath and soaped up as fast as he could because it was FREEZING! He said in all of his years of being cold, he'd never been that frozen before.
It was fun to hang out and talk with my Dad. It always is!
We said goodbye to Papa and started to pack for Colorado.