Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I Am Thankful

Each holiday that passes gets tougher and tougher for my family. We spend them all at my in-laws house. Which is exactly where we want to be. It is just hard to do. My father-in-law John has ALS. It is hard to say where he is at in his illness. He can still talk. His breathing has to be assisted. He can eat solid food, a little, but has a tube in his stomach that we have to inject most of his meals. He does not have the strength to do anything. He doesn’t leave his bed. He has to have everything else done for him. I hear that it could still be a long time before he passes away. There could be a long time where he can’t communicate or do anything, just lay there, in pain.

We are very thankful each holiday that we still get to spend with John, even under these circumstances. It is our privilege to take care of the man who has taken care of us for so many years.

Remember to be thankful for everything. It is easy to forget the simple things that we take for granted.

Have a great Thanksgiving,
Tom





4 comments:

mumof3boyz said...

Treasure every moment. As you know I lost my Gram 08/03/06 and I am really starting to miss her as the holiday is creeping up.
I wish I had more pictures, had asked more questions, and had listened more.

-S.

mumof3boyz said...

Fortunately I have not had the problems with MSN as did a lot of people. However, so many of my friends have moved here and I was unable to comment, I decided to start a second blog. I can hardly keep up with the first one. LOL

My hubby's name is Tom. TJ is for Tom Jr. not a middle name. ;)

-S. (Stacy, but don't tell)

Sue said...

I am so thankful this year Tom. Our family is complete this year for the entire weekend for the first year in a long time.

I know ALS can be a frightful disease. I hear George Brett talk about it often when he raises money for research here in KC. Your father-in-law is in our prayers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sue

Anonymous said...

That was a very touching post.

Thanks for getting back to me on that question. Strangely, Sue mentioned in on a recent post and I saw it when I stopped by her site. I then downloaded it, and that's how I got my lovely Thanksgiving entry.

KM