This weekend my Dad went skydiving. Surprised? Me, too! I walked into his house Saturday evening to find him sitting up in his chair eager to share his day with me. Unsuspecting, I entered the room with my usual greeting, "Hi, Dad!", hug, kiss, "Are you hungry? Tonight is pasta and The Godfather! The pasta goes with the movie."
Dad laughed, "Wow! Great! Well this has been quite a day! Did you know I went skydiving today?"
At first I thought he was pulling my leg. "You did?" I asked skeptically.
"You don't believe me, do you?" he asked, smiling. "Tom went with me. I thought he would be afraid to jump but we both jumped at the same time."
"Oh, that wouldn't surprise me at all", I responded, "Tom is an aerobatic pilot. You're sure it was Tom that went with you?" (It was Bradley's day to visit, not Tom's.)
"Absolutely! We did it together", he said confidently.
I started hurriedly texting all of my siblings, my daughter, my nephew and his wife. Could anyone confirm that Dad had gone skydiving today, and if so...what were they thinking?? Whatever he was remembering, he was as sure of it as he was his own name.
As he regaled me with his exciting story the responses started flowing:
Tom - "Nope...glad he had a good time, though."
Bradley - "No, I had lunch with him and we talked about airplanes. No skydiving."
Kelly - "Whoa..."
Paula - "Lol! Good for him! What did Tom say?"
Hillary - "Weird."
Toni (Bradley's wife) - "I don't think so, Bradley had the lunch shift today and didn't mention going skydiving."
While the messages poured in, I was asking questions:
"Are you sure it was Tom?"
"Where did you jump? Was it the same place he took Ann for her birthday?"
"Did you jump individually or tandem?" (A tandem jump would at least have been plausible. Dad insisted it was not tandem.)
Dad happily answered every question although some details were a little fuzzy.
He ended his story saying, "As I was floating down I remember thinking, 'This is crazy! I'm seventy-five years old and I'm skydiving!'"
I smiled and said, "Actually it's even better than that...you're seventy-eight!"
"I'm seventy-eight??" he asked, genuinely surprised and a little disappointed. "Why did you have to remind me?"
"Are you kidding?" I asked, "That's awesome! How many guys have you known that went skydiving at seventy-eight? That's the best part!"
He smiled and we continued the visit.
We caregivers concluded that it had been a very vivid dream...so vivid he must have thought it was real because it stayed in his mind for so long. He was so excited, there was no reason to burst his bubble and tell him it wasn't real. To his knowledge he had had a wonderful and exciting day. He must have felt more alive and like himself then he had in quite a while.
We all continued to message each other. Paula said Dad had once told her that dreams of flying indicate a positive, optimistic outlook. I think we all could agree, a skydiving dream was close to a flying dream and was a very good sign of his overall morale.
One might think of that evening as a sign of his condition worsening. On the contrary, the weekend that followed was a wonderful weekend for Dad. He was more engaged in conversation then he had been in a long time. He remembered the names of all his siblings, half of Mom's siblings (recall that she had a very large family...remembering half was quite a feat), where he went to school and other things. Even more surprising was that we had a gathering to celebrate Tom's birthday on Sunday and when Hillary asked him on Monday, he not only remembered that there was a gathering but also the occasion we celebrated!
I have no explanation for this turn around in his condition but I know that Dad's condition has ups and downs. For the past month he has seemed to be on a fast downward spiral. It seemed that the future was looking very grim, indeed. Now, your guess is as good as mine. Certainly, however long we have with him, it is much better if he can enjoy it and not feel like he was fighting a losing battle.
Personally, I hope he has more dreams like the skydiving dream. They appear to be good for him. I have to wonder if the improvement in his memory might have been a result of the joy he felt thinking he had done something brave and exhilarating....something very much in keeping with his old self. It seems a little happiness can go a long way toward healing or, at the very least, slowing his illness. I'm glad he got to go sky diving!
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment