Baptism by fire--The Worst Case Scenario

It was Mom and Dad's first morning here, and I was already wondering how much to help.  Was I going to take Dad to the bathroom when he needed to go?  How were Mom and I going to split up the responsibilities.  I heard something in the hall and saw Mom taking Dad into the bathroom.  I took over and got him to the toilet.  Once situated, Mom said, "We're OK now," essentially giving me permission to leave.   Several minutes later, through my closed door I heard Mom yell, "Help!"  I jumped up as fast as I could to see Dad leaning against the frame of the door to the office that leads to their bedroom.  His feet were pretty close together and I couldn't imagine how he was maintaining any kind of balance with his feet so close together. We were trying to get him to step out to be in a better position, instructions flying at him from a million directions, when suddenly his knees buckled and he went down.  Mom was hanging on to the transfer belt and Dad was saying, "Ouch, ouch, ouch!!!" when finally Mom listened to me and let go of the belt and we were able to lower Dad to the ground in slow motion.

My four kids, Mom and I looked at him there on the ground wondering how in the world we were going to get him up again.  Next he said he was going to throw up and started dry heaving, but never threw up.  He looked miserable and scared and we did everything we knew how to do to make him comfortable as his entire digestive system protested the stress he was feeling.  I sent the kids away while Mom and I cleaned up, but there he was still on the floor.  

I called home health and asked them how to lift him off of the floor.  I couldn't quite understand what they were asking me to do.  I knew I had the advantage for three strong teenagers to help get him off the floor, but I didn't want to risk hurting them or me.  The nurse who was going to come anyway, said she could come right then, so we covered Dad with a blanket, put a pillow between the cold tile of the bathroom and his head, and all stood amazed as he promplty fell asleep, right there in the hallway.

We are so lucky that he wasn't hurt.

When the nurse, Melissa, came, she showed us how to move him to a sitting position, face him, and hook my right elbow under the his armpit and lift him to the wheel chair on three.

Dad was no worse for wear, did not get hurt, and the good news was they we faced a new day with some really important skills, right off the bat. Dad was tired and headed off for a long nap, and I felt that even though we had to deal with a very difficult situation, I was so grateful that in one single morning, I knew what I could do and had some new skills to go with it.  Another tender mercy.