It was 2004 and my father was going through cancer treatment. He was in the hospital and they decided to administer his first dose of chemo while he was inpatient. The thought was that they wanted to monitor him closely during the infusion. My brother had flown into town to be with my dad and he joined me and our step mom at the hospital on chemo day. Our family has always been very comical but we were not prepared for that day's events.
The four of us were in Dad's hospital room..just visiting and trying to keep his spirits high..and I noticed that my dad was staring at the corner of the room. He then announced that there was a rabbit in the corner of the room (umm...what the hell??) and he wanted to catch it. The plan was clear in his mind..he wanted us to get an animal trap so that he can catch the rabbit. When we did not get the trap he tried calling his nurse to ask about the rabbit. Actually, he called her "Nurse Ratched" and we had to somewhat take the phone away from him so he wouldn't make an enemy of his nurse! Now..this kind of behavior was NOT normal for my father. He was a mild mannered, funny soul whose mental capacity was very normal and healthy. So, again, what the hell?
My brother, our step mom and I were all looking at each other with a common "what is going on?" look on our faces. We couldn't help but laugh out loud at the scene in front of us, courtesy of my father. Sound a bit messed up? Not really..not for us. We have always been able to see humor in most situations. And at that moment it was laugh or cry. The nurse came in and noticed that we were laughing and wondered what was up. After relaying how Dad was acting, she assured us that sometimes people can't fully accept what is happening so they mentally "check out" for a few. She assured us that he would "be back" and by that night he, indeed, was back. He had no recollection of any rabbit or of the outburst at his nurse.
Over the course of Dad's treatment we had several more situations where we laughed and saw the humor in it. His Oncologist did his hospital rounds late at night and most of the time it looked like he was wearing pajamas! The multiple times Dad fall asleep watching TV and then getting upset because I changed the channel...but he was just asleep and snoring. And, my favorite, the time that I took him to have some imaging done and he fell into a nice medicated sleep in the waiting room (Dad was claustrophobic and needed meds to have an MRI done). There we were, in a crowded waiting room and my father was practically sliding out of the chair and snoring like a chainsaw! I could not stop giggling the whole time we were there.
That was such a difficult time in my life and the 20th anniversary of my dad's passing is approaching. I look back on that time with incredible sadness, but also with some great memories mixed in as well. When I think back I try to remember the funny times..the good times we had as a family. And there are many! So don't forget to try to see the good..the humor.. when facing a challenging time. It truly does help and you will look back and smile.
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