LIFE!?!

Jan, yes, i went to harrison but ended up helping my dad more then i thought i would have to.   brenda, sorry i didnt even get on here to check for your number before i left.  as for life.  as most of you know my dad has diabetes has for about 25 years now.  he never took care of it until he found out i was pregnant.  he lives alone and has to have insulin shots daily.  he only has one leg and the other needs to come off, blood pressure is high, and his kidneys are failing all due to his diabetes.  he has slowly lost his eye sight also.  his left eye is completely dark and his "good" eye the right one had a bleeder in the optic nerve.  so now he can only tell if it is dark or light.     this has been hard in the past but his sight usually returned with in a few days.  this time it is worse and he has to go to the VA hospital in Little Rock on the 24th.  i have a brother who i love to death but is not one that can handle anything for my father.  i am the sole person when it comes to all his bills, health, and everything else that might come up.   i went to harrison today to help my dad write out some checks, and pay some bills.  he is to stuborn to have home health come in and help.  and as i sat there writting his bills out and having him help me as much as he could, then  it hit me,  I could have been just like this had i not taken the steps to help my health with this surgery.  it was a major wow moment.  i cleaned up his apartment and boy was it messy!  since he cant see when he drops something he cant see it to pick it up so he had a major mess going on.  i felt helpless for a brief moment b/c here is my father who is only 56 yrs old and has his daughter taking care of little things that we would take for granted.  dont get me wrong i dont mind helping him a bit i just wish he was closer b/c it is so hard for me to get down there as much as i would like or need to.  so here i am back at home in republic, writting this and crying at the same time b/c i realize that i am a damn good daughter, and that i am so lucky to have had the chance to have this surgery and turn my life around. i know with out a doubt that had i not changed something i would have had diabetes within the next few years.  hopfully i have changed the pattern of diabetes in my family.  i know that something had to be done.   just thought i would share my day! britt