Yesterday we took my father to have cataract surgery. It was exciting because he has always worn glasses and lately his vision has been REAL bad and we were told that this surgery would give his perfect 20/20 vision! It would be SO great to see the look on his face when he can actually SEE without glasses or squinting. :1: So, we get there at 9:30 and wait while he fills out all the paper work and then he’s finally called back so they can put these eye drops in his eyes that will dialate the pupils so they can run the last test before they actually start the surgery. Finally they call his name and my mother takes him back while me and my sister Lisa sit out in the waiting room. Soon after that my mother comes back out and tells me and Lisa that they aren’t going to do the surgery today because they did the last test and found that his vision trouble isn’t due to cataract problems. I mean, he HAS cataracts but they aren’t bad at all. It turns out that his vision troubles are due to a stroke. That’s right, a STROKE.

He’s had at least one, maybe a bunch of small ones. They said that it, the stroke, didn’t effect his motor functions, just the eyes. The thing is that my father has Alzheimer’s Disease and has to walk with a cane due to an old back injury and many of the symptoms of a stroke are ALSO symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. So, are the Alzheimer’s symptoms not so bad, just the stroke is making it look worse or what?? How do you tell??? When the hell did he HAVE this stroke(s)??? Anyways, he is scheduled for a CAT Scan today at 5:45. Hopefully this will be able to tell us something, ANYTHING. If his eyes are damaged by the stroke(s) will they be able to do some surgery to fix it? Make it so he can see 20/20, or at least a little better?? I feel guilty that he has had this stroke(s) and I never knew, never noticed! How awful is that! I wish I could just make him 100% better. I’d take away the Alzheimer’s Disease, fix his back, his heart, his eyes, just basically make him like I see him. What I see when I look at him is water balloon fights, him telling his MANY MANY jokes, the NO BRAKES gag he’d play on me, him showing me how to change out brake pads, him swimming in his undies, going fishing, the zillion funny saysings he has (like “you gonna use that pickle?”), and many many more. That’s what I see and that’s what i’ll always see.