July 3, 2018: Independence Day fell on a Wednesday this year, but for Stan and me to celebrate the holiday with my parents in Temple, we had to have our celebration on the preceding weekend. Afterward, I had left their home with some concerns that I hoped Dad would address. However, when I called Mom today and asked her if Dad had taken a pill today, she said that he had not, and he was through taking them. When I asked her why, she said that Dad felt that he was making enough urine without the aid of the diuretics. I couldn’t believe that he was reneging on our agreement to take one pill every day. I understood that it was his life, but what he did also affected the rest of the family, especially Mom. I also wasn’t sure that he understood the possible consequences of his decision.
In desperation, or maybe out of frustration, I called my friend Sue, the dialysis nurse practitioner, to sanity-check my assumptions and fears. Unfortunately, all of my fears about what Dad was doing to his body were well founded. After sharing the highlights of my 30-minute conversation with Stan, he encouraged me to write a letter to Dad, outlining my concerns, describing Dad’s symptoms, and listing the probable consequences of his decision to quit taking the pills. I agreed, but because I felt that time was of the essence, I decided to email the letter to my parents and then tell them to read the message. In my perfect world, they would print it and refer to it often.
July 4: It was raining in Houston, and it rained most of the day. The media dubbed the rain event the Fourth of July flood.
I called Mom to see how they were faring and to tell them about our weather, but there was no answer. I waited a few minutes and then called again. This time my mother answered, but she seemed out of breath. It seemed that while Dad had been showering, he had fallen off of the shower chair. It’s not easy to fall off of a shower chair, but because of his fluid overload, his center of gravity was out of whack. He didn’t break any bones, but he dislodged a large scab on his elbow, causing his elbow to bleed profusely. I didn’t want to keep Mom too long from her cleanup activities, so I quickly told her that I had emailed her a letter for Dad. She said that she would be having a “talk” with Dad later today and she would print my letter and have it handy during their discussion.
When I called my parents again later in the day, it seemed that my parents had had a come-to-Jesus meeting. According to Mom, following their little talk, Dad took his pill and said that he would continue taking them. From her lips to God’s ear.
July 9. Dad saw the orthopedic surgeon today. He said that although Dad’s hip was healing, it was not completely healed. Considering that Dad had severe osteoporosis, I was thrilled that the doctor expected the hip to heal. Mom added that the doctor said that he thought that Dad’s leg seemed thinner; however, I had a hard time believing that he could recall the size of a patient’s leg that he saw a month earlier.
July 10. According to Mom, Dad was still taking his pills. Stan and I had been spending every other weekend at my parents’ place, but because of a work conflict, Stan would not be able to accompany me to Temple this coming weekend. When I relayed this information to Mom, she was very disappointed. I suspected that Dad was also disappointed. My father cared for Stan and always looked forward to seeing him. Stan also seemed to have a calming effect on my parents.
July 15. Mom and I usually attended church when Stan and I were in Temple. Because Stan wasn’t here, Mom thought long and hard about whether she should attend church and leave Dad home alone. She finally decided that we would go when Dad insisted that she and I attend church. Unfortunately, while we were gone, Dad tripped on one of the front wheels on the wheelchair when he tried to stand. He wasn’t badly hurt, but his fragile skin was quick to tear and bleed. When we returned home, Dad had a bloody leg and sock. Feeling guilty for having left him alone, Mom dug into her stash of bandages and tended to his leg.
When I asked him if he had taken his pill today, he became a bit miffed at me, telling me that he had a lot of things to do today and he didn’t want to take the pill. After telling him that I couldn’t think of anyplace that he needed to be, he eventually took a pill. My health discussion with Dad seemed to deflate his mood, and getting him to take his pills felt like a hollow victory.
Fortunately, he didn’t stay mad at me for long, and we spent quite a bit of time planning for his 90th birthday celebration on October 6. We were expecting one of my cousins and her family, and we needed menus for three days. Dad and I were partial to many of the same foods, and we developed menus that contained some of my favorite foods as well as his. Dad also wanted to play a few hands of Oh Hell during the festivities, and he drew a seating chart of how we would seat seven people around a table that accommodated six.
Mom told me that Dad had an appointment this coming Tuesday with his cardiologist, Dr. Elizabeth Ebert. I had met Dr. Ebert on several occasions, and I hoped that she would not mind if I contacted her about my father in advance of his appointment. I assumed that my parents would not tell her about his reluctance to take his pills, so I planned to send her a message via MyChart, Scott & White Hospital’s patient portal. I had been using this website to communicate with Dad’s physicians when he was at home on home care. His credentials were cached in my browser, which enabled me to periodically monitor his test results and correspond with his doctors.
July 16. I wrote the following email to Dr. Ebert and hoped that she would read it before Dad’s appointment the next day:
“Hi, Dr. Ebert.
I’ve been encouraging my father to see you. Dr. Issac (his nephrologist), said that he could try getting off of dialysis if he would take diuretics. My father has been taking them on a less-than-regular basis, and I am concerned about fluid overload and how it might be affecting his heart and lungs. He views the diuretics as an imposition that affects the quality of his life. He hasn’t seen any nephrologist since November 2017. My parents trust you, and I hope that you can have a frank discussion with them.
Thanks.
Melody Locke”
July 17. When I spoke with Mom this evening, she said that Dad’s appointment with Dr. Ebert had gone well. While they were in the doctor’s office, she referred Dad to Dr. Concepcion, a senior nephrologist with Scott & White. I knew and liked Dr. Concepcion, but he spoke with a heavy accent, and I feared that my parents would have a difficult time understanding him. After our call, I told Stan about the upcoming appointment with the nephrologist, and he told me that I needed to go with them, and I agreed. When I logged on to Dad’s MyChart account, I was dismayed to learn that the appointment was scheduled for November 20, more than four months from now, and a year since his last appointment.
July 22. Today was Stan’s birthday. We had arrived in Temple yesterday and celebrated the previous evening with some of his favorite Midwestern foods. He and Dad also spent some time playing cribbage. While Mom and I attended church today, the guys played more cribbage and took time out to build a mini step that Dad could use to exercise his legs while he was sitting. I was able to get Dad to walk twice this weekend. We now sing She’ll be “Comin’ Round the Mountain” when he walks. We could usually sing four verses before he had to stop and rest.
Dad said that he needed a haircut and would see the barber either this coming Wednesday or Thursday. Recalling the difficult time that Mom and I had getting him into the barbershop during a previous visit, I implored her to wait for a weekend when Stan and I could help get him into and out of the building. I didn’t get much of a response, but I hoped that Mom would recall the harrowing experience.
July 24. I logged on to Dad’s MyChart again today to see if Dr. Ebert had left any notes about Dad’s last appointment. I was pleased when I read the following message:
“RE: Visit Follow-Up Question
I spent a good bit of time last week with your father (and mother) in the clinic. I expressed how important it was to take his diuretic every single day. He did complain that it was an inconvenience and he did not feel that he should have to take it daily. I explained that with his kidneys, he needed to take the diuretics if he wished to stay off of dialysis. I told him that as long as he had 6 to max 8 hours, then the diuretics would have worn off. I told him that if his appointment was at 2 in the afternoon, then he should take his diuretic at 6 am; or if he had a 10 am appointment, to take his diuretic as soon as he got home. I also encouraged him to follow up with Nephrology. He informed me that he did not wish to go back to Dr. Issac, so I instructed him that he should see another Nephrologist. He requested a recommendation. While I do not know all of the Nephrology department, I reported that Dr. Concepcion is very good. Unfortunately, it appears that an appointment was not scheduled until November. Because of the delay, my office will be contacting him requesting that he do some lab work so we can see where everything is now (electrolytes, renal function, etc.). We are also going to get him an appointment with a nutritionist to discuss an appropriate diet (requested by your mom). If he continues to have some difficulty, then I will also request that he be seen by one of our Heart Failure nurse practitioners so that they can continue to monitor him and reinforce the need to take his medications.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ebert”
I hoped that Dad would heed her recommendations. I felt that with Dr. Ebert as an ally, Dad might start taking his pills on a regular basis and reduce some of the fluid in his extremities, which would improve his center of gravity and reduce the weight in his legs.
When I spoke to Mom on the following day, she told me that Dad had had a good day in physical therapy and that they both liked the new therapist.
When we arrived, I told Dad that I had taken care of tomorrow night’s dinner. He then told me that he had already planned Mom’s dinner, which surprised me. For many years, we had had an understanding that Mother’s Day dinner was my responsibility, although we often discussed the menu and the logistics of the meal. Now that he was confined to a wheelchair, I had assumed that he would not be able to share in the dinner preparation. Because I wanted to grill the steaks, a task better done in the evening, we agreed to have the steaks for dinner on Saturday and the dinner that he had planned on Sunday for the midday meal.
May 14—17. Dad attended physical therapy today and would do so again on Thursday, three days later. He didn’t get out of his wheelchair on the days between his sessions; however, he felt especially positive after his Thursday session and said that he was getting ready to get rid of the wheelchair. I was hopeful that he had changed his attitude about exercising between sessions and that he was becoming inspired to get better.
May 24. I suspected that Dad didn’t have the greatest physical therapy session today. According to Mom, Steve, the physical therapist, lectured Dad about the need to exercise between his physical therapy sessions. I hoped that Dad would listen more to Steve than he did to me. Dad had been out of the rehab center and had been attending outpatient physical therapy since mid-April and I could not see much of an improvement in his mobility. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse.
Stan and I left Houston for Temple shortly before 3:00 P.M., but because of an accident in 
April 14. Following our Saturday breakfast of homemade waffles, we reviewed and refined the list of chores that Stan and I needed to tackle today. Mom and I went to 
My parents had a large vegetable garden. Between Dad’s stint in the hospital and rehab and Mom looking after him, weeds had taken up residence among the tomatoes, squash, beans, and cantaloupe. While surveying the garden, I wondered why the vegetables couldn’t be as low-maintenance as the weeds. After lunch, I weeded the vegetable garden while Stan planted a couple of rose bushes and a couple of saplings in the yard. The day before Dad fell, he had placed bags of mulch in the front gardens. A couple of weeks ago, Stan had spread the mulch but thought that we needed to purchase a couple more bags, but Dad wanted only to use what he had purchased. When I had finished weeding the vegetable garden, I redistributed mulch in the front gardens. I had often said that my parents’ large yard kept them active and was good for their health. The large yard was now becoming a chore for Stan and me, and we fantasized that they would consider downsizing.
During our happy hour, Dad announced that he and Mom had decided that they could not continue living in their home for many of the reasons that concerned Stan and me. Dad said that they wanted our opinion and looked to us to do some research. We discussed many options, and it seemed that they wanted to move into a small house, which wasn’t my first choice for them. However, I knew of a 55+ community in 
My week in 
I had decided that I would not tell Mom that we were coming for a short weekend visit. Knowing her the way that I do, I knew that she would try to tidy up the house or prepare dinner during our three-hour drive. When we were about two miles from Cornerstone, I called Dad. Although he answered his phone, he couldn’t hear me. We continued our drive to the facility and surprised him when we walked into his room. During our 20-minute visit, I adjusted the speaker control on his phone so that he could hear callers. I then called Mom and told her that Stan and I were with Dad and that we would be arriving soon. In the 30 minutes that elapsed before we arrived at my parents’ home, Mom had rushed around the house, trying to tidy up. Truth be told, even when she thought that the house was a mess, it still looked like it was minutes away from a photo shoot for 
April 10. Dad had been the sole occupant of his semiprivate room and had been enjoying his privacy. Although the 
After hanging up, I tried calling Dad at Cornerstone to get his side of the story and see how he was doing, but after the phone rang a few times, I decided to hang up. I didn’t want him to try to get to the phone if it happened to be out of his reach. I called Mom, and she was breathless when she answered the phone saying, “Melody, is it Dad?” The ringing phone had awakened her, but by the time she reached it, the caller had hung up. My call came moments later, and I told her about the call from Cornerstone. Mom said that the incident surprised her, saying that he had been out of bed before to use the bathroom. This incident only heightened my concern about Dad coming home early.
Shortly before 11:00 A.M., the case manager called me from Scott & White Hospital to tell me that Dad was still in the hospital but would be transferred to Cornerstone later today. She said that she had tried to reach my mother, but no one answered the phone. I told her that I was in Houston, but my mother was with my father at the hospital and that she could speak to both of my parents by going to his room. I was a bit surprised that she had not tried Dad’s room first. Even if my mother hadn’t been there, Dad would have appreciated knowing the details of his transfer.
March 31. I wasn’t sure what time Mom planned to leave home this morning for Cornerstone, so I called her mobile phone, hoping that she might have it with her. Mom usually kept her phone in her purse and had a difficult time answering it before the call was transferred to voicemail. I knew that Dad kept his phone on the bedside table, so when there was no answer, I tried his mobile phone number. As I had expected, Mom answered Dad’s phone.
Mom called me a couple of hours later from Dad’s room. Dad was in physical therapy, and because my parents’ neighbors said that they might visit this afternoon, she remained in Dad’s room during his session. While Mom and I were talking, an aide wheeled Dad into his room. I was thrilled that he had had therapy on a Sunday, and Easter Sunday at that. At the end of our call, I was feeling good about this facility and Dad’s care. It seemed that his stay at the Cornerstone facility was going to exceed my wildest expectations.
I was encouraged that he shared his events with me so that we could sort out what was real. During the day, he asked me about a cat that was sitting in the corner of the room. Although it seemed real to him, he believed me when I told him that there was no cat in the room, although he could still see it.
The morning’s happy mood took a nose dive when Alisa, the nurse, tried to give him a doxycycline capsule. He insisted that he would not take this pill because it had made him vomit. Alisha said that she would give him a Zofran for nausea to take with the antibiotic. I reminded him that he had had problems with this antibiotic when he took it on an empty stomach, but he had just eaten breakfast. He eventually calmed down and agreed to take it, but I was not hopeful that he would take the second pill after dinner.
At 10:30 A.M., I went to the cafeteria to get some coffee for Mom and me. When I returned, Dad was in the bathroom. Being able to get out of bed to use the bathroom was a significant and welcome milestone after hip surgery. With his movement at glacial-speed, the short trip took quite a bit of time, but Carrie, the aide, eventually got him back into the bed at 11:10 A.M. After watching the process that was required to get Dad from the bathroom to the bed, Mom was convinced that we had made the right decision to have Dad discharged to a rehab facility. Dad had insisted that he could have out-patient therapy, but Mom and I together could not have safely transferred him from home to the rehab facility.
During Dad’s therapy session, Mom told me that he had agreed to go to Cornerstone and complete his therapy as fast as he could. The doctor and therapists had estimated that he would require two weeks, but he planned to be ready to come home in half that time. I was thankful and encouraged by his change in attitude. I left the room to find Dr. Bolanos to let her know that we were all on board with his rehab plan at Cornerstone.
Shortly after lunch, Amy, the occupational therapist arrived and had Dad stand with the walker. Before Amy left the room, Brooke and Lisa, the physical therapist and her assistant, arrived. They had Dad stand up and sit down and then sit in a chair. While he was enjoying being out of bed, Pastor Tom entered the room. While Tom was there, he spoke of the many benefits of rehab. The pastors in that church always seemed to answer my prayers. Before Tom left, he urged Dad to get well quick because he needed a Christian in the church, which was a running joke between them. Tom had a very busy schedule this week, and Mom and I greatly appreciated his taking the time for a visit.
When we entered Dad’s room, we encountered chaos. Dad was eating breakfast and arguing with Alisha, an aide who was trying to take his blood pressure, which was required before he could have his morning meds. He insisted that he would not take the meds, and wanted her to leave. Steve, the electrical technician, was also in the room, trying to repair a problem with a spastic call light and oversensitive bed alarm. It didn’t help matters any that Steve and a nurse were discussing the problems with the system.
Adding to the parade of people who dropped by was the case manager, who asked whether she should start looking for a rehab facility for Dad. Dad didn’t hear her question, and I quickly ushered her out of the room. Rehab was still a touchy subject, and I didn’t want us to launch into another argument in front of the case manager. I returned to the room and told Mom that she needed to see the case manager in the hall. While Mom was gone, she signed the appropriate paperwork to set the discharge process in motion. While Dad had been in surgery, I had asked Pastor Tom about 
March 25, 2018. After last night’s disturbing phone call from Mom about Dad’s fall, I wanted to get an early start to Temple so that I could be there during Dad’s surgery. I was up by 5:30 A.M., called Mom 45 minutes later to let her know that I was coming, and left home at 7:40 A.M. Because of my early departure, and some good highway luck, I arrived at my parents’ home at 10:15 A.M. I quickly unpacked my car, drove to Scott & White Hospital, and made my way to room 566 in the south tower.
The doctor said that Dad would have his first physical therapy session and evaluation the day after his surgery. Following the surgery, he would remain in the hospital for 2-3 days and then move to a rehab facility for two weeks of rehab. It was at this point in the conversation that Dad balked and said that this plan didn’t work for him. He had no intention of going to rehab; he was needed at home. Unfortunately, Mom seemed to agree with Dad. In an attempt to sell my parents on the notion of rehab, I related the 
When I finished making my phone calls, I returned to Dad’s room. Dr. Bolanos returned to the room a few minutes later and told us that they had noticed a spot on Dad’s heart that looked like a clot. Before they could operate on Dad’s hip, they would need to run some tests, which were scheduled for tomorrow. By now it was 12:30 P.M., and Mom and I were hungry and decided that we would leave Dad for an hour and go home for lunch. When we returned to Dad’s room, because his surgery was rescheduled for tomorrow, his NPO restriction had been lifted, and he was eating lunch and complaining about the food. Some things never changed.
When the nurses had finished drawing Dad’s blood, Mom and I made our way to the OR waiting room. After waiting for about an hour in the freezing-cold room, we were pleasantly surprised to see Tom, my parents’ pastor. I don’t know how he found us, but pastors seem to know their way around hospitals. We had a nice visit with him, and during our discussion, I mentioned my concern about Dad’s reluctance to go to rehab. I hoped that Pastor Tom would be able to have a guy-to-guy talk with Dad sometime before he was discharged from the hospital. After talking with Mom, I learned that part of her reluctance to send Dad to rehab was because of the promise that my parents had made years ago to not put the other in a nursing home. I explained to her that he would be admitted to the temporary resident section of the skilled nursing facility, not the permanent resident section, commonly referred to as a nursing home. I think that she felt somewhat better about rehab after our discussion.
During the first weekend of March 2016, our friends Mike and Rhoda visited my parents. The visit went well, and Dad walked around the house with little or no assistance from his cane. We were all pleased and impressed with his progress and felt that his recovery was nothing short of miraculous. Unfortunately, a couple of days after they left, 
As March 2018 approached, these same friends asked if they could join Stan and me during one of our weekend trips to see my parents. My parents love our friends and were thrilled that they had time for a weekend visit. Not only did I look forward to Rhoda and Mike’s company, I hoped that they might be able to provide me with a little perspective. Dad and I are very much alike, and we have a history of digging in our heels. For the past few months, he and I had been locking horns about his 
Fortunately, or unfortunately, my concerns were validated by my friends when they told me that they also thought that Dad seemed unsteady. My husband, who can usually talk me down when I’m overly concerned, didn’t help much when he said that he was also worried about Dad’s gait and the swelling in his legs.
She had just returned home from the Scott & White Hospital, where she had left Dad. It seemed that shortly before 7:00 P.M., Dad had fallen while stepping up from the sunken sunroom to the family room. Although the sunroom was carpeted, the family-room floor was a hard-tiled surface. Dad was in a lot of pain, and Mom had called 911. X-rays showed that he had broken his hip in the socket and would require surgery to insert two or three pins. His 
Because of the potential for infection, only RNs can work with 
Several years earlier, my mother had been the president of the 
Because Dad received co-pay bills for physician visits to the dialysis center, he decided to take advantage of his VA benefits. Temple is near 
Tale of Two Parents 