Half A Pat

Its June 18th and today would have been my Dad's 84th birthday.

At the end of March this year, Dad had what would be called in medical terms as a "respiratory incident". In layman's terms, his breathing had gotten weak and stopped. His care-taker, called an ambulance and paramedics performed CPR and suctioned the mucus out of his airway. They brought him to Hackensack Medical's ICU unit where he was placed on a ventilator.

The next day, Friday. His breathing got better and he was able to breathe without the ventilator. He wasn't fully conscious. But at least he was progressing and breathing on his own. They then moved him out of the ICU and he was placed in his own room.

Let me give a little background here. In 1999, Dad had an aortic aneurysm. Over the last nine years, he had gone from a very independent, active 75 year old, that was getting around on his own to gradually progressing to a cane, then a walker, then a wheelchair, then to being bed-ridden and being taken care of by my sister in her house in New Jersey. Over that period he was getting strokes and falling. With each "medical episode" the overall state of his health would go down a notch. Over the last several months, he would be more reactive than interactive with the surrounding world. The days where he was interacting and conversing were becoming fewer and further between.

That Saturday was surprising. I was the first one to arrive and visit him that day. I had been running late as I was dependent on public transportation to get from my apartment to New Jersey. I arrive at his room and there he is, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and awake. As I enter the room he regards me with scrutiny and says: "Hey Stranger! Long time, no see. What? Did you join the army or something?"

I think those that know me can immediately tell where from that statement, exactly where I get a very very large part of my personality.

It was a very uplifting day. I was able to talk to him as well as my mom when she arrived. He was even on the phone with my aunt and had an extended conversation with her as well. The nursing staff told us that he had been up since seven in the morning and was talkative to the point of flirty to them.

Sunday came and it was as if a switch was turned off. He stopped interacting and talking and only would move to respond to pain or discomfort. He would lie in the hospital bed and be in a state of what looked like half-sleep. He was still breathing on his own, but it was as is he just shut down.

This continued for a week. He still did not come back to a level of activity that he had gotten to on that Saturday. He was then moved to Hackensack's hospice wing, where there is no heroic resuscitation measures, but there's focus on patient comfort.

Dad was in hospice for a month. I would spend the weekend travelling over to New Jersey to bring my mother over there and to visit for myself.

On Saturday April 26th at about 4pm. Dad died quietly in his sleep while my mother and I were saying prayers by his bedside.

Its been almost two months since that day. I miss him. Happy birthday Dad. I hope you're enjoying some Johnny Walker Black and having Lechon at some mah-jong game looking down at us and making everyone around you laugh.


So dear reader, I hope that adds a little bit of clarity on why its been a little dusty around here. Since then, life has been tied up with arrangements and dealing. At first, things were tough for me because Sarita and I scheduled a break in our workout for a couple of weeks that coincided with this point in time. I say that it was tough, because the workouts were the only points during this period that were for me and me alone. There wasn't any worries or issues except for the current problem in front of me during the workout, which was usually a kettlebell, the end of a weightlifting repetition, or a kick/punch combo. Not having something like that to focus my brain on, keeps a person inside their own head. Talking to people helped, but beating up my trainer with kickboxing combinations was a really great outlet.

At this current moment, I am in preparation for our family's trip to the Philippines to bring his ashes back. I'll resume with more posts and plenty of pictures.

I know that I haven't updated this blog in a couple of months. I apologize to you (all three of you reading this). But there is a very good reason. I'll have a big post soon. I promise.


Pat

Its 7:30 on Saturday morning, I'm waiting for the gym to open before I spend the weekend doing stuff that's not for me.

I just saw a great motivational post I wanted to share from the dumblittleman blog:

"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." - Edward Stanley

Pretty fitting....I'm off to get a quick sweat in.

One of the things that have been the toughest to change is my eating. I know that I'm not alone in this regard. In fact the diet industry is a zillion dollar business. I feel that I have changed my dietary habits and what I put into my system.

But its still really tough. I don't cook enough and I eat out too much. I have however cut out (mostly) my drinking (really!) and the post-drinking meals that went along with it.

Sarita wants me to limit my eating out/take out to twice a week. This is going to take some planning. Its particularly hard for me because my worklife is on the go. I need to figure out foods that are light enough to carry around while I carry around a 35 tool bag and gym bag around town.

I need to go to the supermarket.....

It actually has been a little hectic for me as of late. I apologize to all four of you readers out there for not keeping up this blog as often as I should.

One thing that I have learned going through this current round of craziness is that the workouts have become even more important to me. This is the only part of my day that is absolutely and equivalently for me. Its a part of the day that I don't have to think about my family, my job, my finances, my friends, or anything at all.

All that there is, is what is in front of me, be it a kettle bell, a weight bar, a treadmill, a rotating stair or even an imaginary hill on stationary bike. Its about just the next task in front of me and overcoming that next obstacle or rep. Its the only place where I can focus all of my energy and the results are all mine. And little by little things progress.


More on the craziness in future posts. I'll be a little more frequent in posting...I promise.

Friday March 14 was Patrick's birthday. Of course he didnt let me know until today that he turned 36 on the day of our last training session...maybe because he thought I would have planned something especially evil for his birthday? Patrick, thats so rude...I would never do that!

Anyway despite not knowing in advance that it was Pats b-day, today Pat shared with me some of his birthday surprises. As it turns out, Pat has nearly accomplished one of his goals. More specifically, he now fits comfortably into one of his brothers old jackets. Also, after recent weigh-ins we have found out that he is far from the plateau he had reached a few months ago, and is about to break the 260 mark. Thats right, we are getting closer to having that 240 party (start shining your bocce balls)!!!

Lastly, in an effort to further improve his health status, Pat told me today that he is going to try once more to give up smoking. His method for success this time you ask???? The answer (and I quote) is to have "an oral replacement". I had my own ideas of what that replacement might be, and when I stated what I thought it was, there was instantaneous blushing on Pats part.

Viewers: if you care to wager a guess as to what Pat might consider an appropriate oral replacement for smoking, please comment here.

The Wednesday and Friday workouts were.... well... sweaty...real sweaty... I know that the point of going to the gym is to physically exert yourself. And in doing so, the body is going to try to cool itself down through the process of sweating. If you don't sweat, you're probably not working hard enough.

But these workouts were particularly sweaty. Wednesday is our usually break from lifting weights and we start our workout with kick-boxing. On Friday, we started off with an intense circuit. Each circuit was made of me jumping up and down for two minutes as if I'm jumping rope (cause I can't get the motion right for jumping rope yet), a push-up set, 20 kettlebell swings, and 10-12 bent over rows with kettlebells. I was tortured for four circuits.

Hmmm. Looking at it now, I guess that was a lot of work. I also spent the rest of the day as well as the weekend with my chest and butt sore with a little tenderness from my abs.

On a bright note, I noticed the my face seems to be getting leaner. Its either because of the sweating or because I finally trimmed my beard.

As soon I get it, I'll put up a new picture, Trimmed and all!