Hospice House-Circle of Life

We transported Dad to Hospice House last night via EMS. I had never been there before, but was blown away by the facility. Picture a very nice hotel and that would be close. I will try to get a picture or two of the place. Or, for those of you that are web savvy......try www.nwacircleoflife.org....Dad is in the one that is listed at Har-Ber Meadows in Springdale, Arkansas.
The goal of hospice is to provide comfort and manage and eliminate any pain Dad is experiencing. We do not expect Dad to be at this facility more than a few days. Our hope is that we are able to get him back to the house before Suzanne's visit next weekend. One shocker-Dad was weighed last night.....121 lbs.
We watched a movie last night with Dad..."Gods and Generals". He liked it due to the many towns in Virginia that are referenced in the early portion of the film...towns like Harpers Ferry and Fredericksburg.
Dad is going to Hospice House for a tune-up. We are trying to get him to the point that he can walk on his own and handle day to day living. He was very emotional when we first discussed moving him to HH. He begged us not to leave him there. I promised not to leave him there. I just hope he helps me to deliver on that promise. There is a tremendous weight of guilt felt when your Dad is crying and begging you not to abandon him.
We will be taking the two dogs up to HH today and hopefully he can see them in the parking lot .... he has grown attached to Izzy. Cyrus can stay home....as Dad says, there are good cats and he is not one of them. He likes to get in stare-downs with Dad to intimidate him.........I just say he is mean.
Thanks for the comments, e-mails and cards / mail. Now is the time to really express how you feel. None of us know how long he has to live and we need to make sure we leave nothing undone.
Bobbie......we talked at length about those two shadow boxes you had made for Dad. If we could have those sent up here it would mean a lot. I am referring to the one with the military awards and the other that have work references from Union Carbide, the cufflinks from Mexico etc. It would also be nice to have his Baby book and the Scrapbook that Elise made him.
Doyle.....he talked about you all last night. You have really made an impression on his life.....more than you even know.
We have Dad's phone here at the house. He does not have it with him at the facility. If he starts communicating better we can get him to start returning some calls....I am sure everyone wants to talk to a live person. We will take the phone up today and play the voice mails. Hopefully they will boost his energy level.
Thanks.....more later today.