Dads Flowers Brighten Up The Holidays

This Amaryllis has been a Thanksgiving bloomer for over 20 years, probably more like 30 years.  It was gifted to my mom by one of her friends.  Here in Indiana this plant cannot survive the winters outside.  To keep it alive it must be brought indoors before the first frost and taken outside after the last frost of the year.  

Mom passed in 2017 of a rare cancer.  She battle it for about seven years.  Near the end when she knew her battle was coming to an end, she started giving dad instructions on how to maintain things without her.  Taking care of this flower was one of those things he needed to learn.   He's done well.  It's nice to see these gorgeous blooms every Thanksgiving.  They brighten the my spirits in so many ways.

The holidays for me can be a reminder of who is no longer with us.  Mom's last cancer diagnosis was between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Two years later she had a major surgery that nearly killed her on Christmas Eve.  The entire family spent that Christmas week in intensive care with her.  Two years later she passed right after Christmas.  Long before moms battle with cancer my brother(Greg) died in a car accident.  Greg's birthday is today, Nov. 28.  Sometimes his birthday falls on Thanksgiving.  

He was a character to say the least.  The pictures below are two of my favorites.  The one on the right is him wearing mom's wig.  She had bought the wig long before she had cancer for those bad hair days.

The most recent holiday heartache is the passing of my baby boy, Trever, October 2, 2022.   For those of you who have lost a child you understand and I'll leave it at that. 

When we all get together for the holidays we don't dwell on the ones who are not with us.  We just enjoy the time together.  Last year was very hard, this year was a little better but not by much.  

So when I said those flowers brighten up the holidays, they really do. 

I snapped this picture of dad last week when taking pictures of the flowers.  He was trying to think of an old song name.  He's 77 yrs. young and gets frustrated when he can't remember like when he was 25.  Honestly his memory is better than mine and he could probably out run me any day of the week.  He works out three times a week, sings in a band and takes care of his home and six acres all by himself.  The only thing he isn't good at is cooking.  His mom and my mom always did it for him.  But he's learning.  To supplement his lack of skills I take him a homecooked meal as often as I can. 

Now back to his aging and memory loss.  At 77 yrs old dad takes only one prescription medicine.  He used to be on a handful of them several times a day.  After mom passed he felt more freedom to do as he wished with his health.   Mom "harped" on him to visit doctors and take meds.  Dad prefers to find the root  cause of the illness.  He has many books on how to supplement vitamins and herbs instead of taking prescription meds.  And that is what he has done.

 Several years ago he had a stent put in near his heart.  A few years later he had a quadruple bypass surgery.  This is when the meds started adding up.  Beta-blockers, blood thinners, blood pressure meds, statins and blood sugar meds.  Today he only takes the blood sugar med if he eats something that is high in carbs.  That's right, he eats low carb.  Which means almost no bread, no starchy veggies and no sugar.  His main food group is fatty meat with a little added non starchy veggies.  

His bloodwork comes back nearly perfect every time.  This time his A1C(blood sugar) was a little high, in the prediabetic range.  So he decided that taking the Metformin might be a good idea until he can get his sugar back under control.

The rest of his health issues he had in the past are kept under control by supplements.  The doctor thinks dad is taking all the prescriptions because his test come back great.  He's buys the prescriptions but never takes them.  He's "cured" his medical conditions with diet and supplements.

  Would you believe his 100% blocked carotid artery is now 85% blocked.  They wouldn't do the surgery to clean it out when it 100% blocked for fear of dislodging a chunk and it going to his brain.  His doctor was so impressed with it clearing itself slowly, he told dad there was no reason for him to come back to see him.

I veered far from memory loss conversation but I had to set the stage for the next picture.  Well, in the previous picture there is a magazine on the table.  It's there because dad wanted me to read an article on a new supplement for memory loss.  I took this picture of the name of the supplement also known as PQQ so I could do a little Google research.   What I found was just like every other supplement.  Some folks out there say it's a good thing and others say your paying for expensive pee.  So I'll let you know if dad starts reversing his slight memory loss.   Why do I share this with you?  I believe in my dads health success story and hope it can help others to think outside the box and take their health into their own hands.

My dad was miserable before switching to supplements and a low carb diet.  He could barely walk.  His body hurt all over and he was fat.   The sad thing is, he was doing everything the doctors told him to do and it wasn't getting better but worse.  He wanted to live, so he started doing his research.....and it paid off.  He says we don't have health care in America, we have sick care.  If they cure it they can't make money off of us over our entire lifetime.  That' something to think about.

I've rambled on for far to long.  If you're still here thanks for hanging in there until the end.  I promise not to do this again anytime soon. 

 Now, it's time to get stitching.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!