A New Pee-er

It never ceases to amaze and entertain me how light-hearted my father remains in spite of practically anything. As far back as I can remember, if he bumps his head, bangs his hand, or drops something on a toe, whatever he says is always preceded by a chuckle. So it goes something like this:

Dad, upon closing the door on his finger, first chuckles, then, with a smile on his face, says, "Ya know, that hurt," then chuckles again. It's like he's amazed at the pain. I've always been impressed with that.

I remember the day Dad accidentally nailed his knee into the brick planter he was building in the backyard. By chance, I was watching from the upstairs window. Dad was down on one knee, bracing the brick wall with the knee, and hammering from the other side of the wall (yes, toward his knee). Then Dad went to get up, and nothing happened. Then, and this is the part I'll never forget, he laughed out loud. The beauty of this observation is that nobody was around! So it's not like he was trying to be tough for an audience. Nope. He's just hard-wired that way.

So anyway, Dad's back from the hospital with his freshly-reemed urethra. He slept in this morning and only got up around 11am or so. I was coming out of the kitchen as he was coming in. The first thing I noticed was that he was in only his underwear. The second thing I noticed was that his walker seat was piled high with clothes. I looked at the clothes, then I looked up at him. He was smiling. He said, "I pee-ed my pants. Twice." Then he sort of laughed.

I grabbed the clothes and threw them in the washing machine, then went back to Dad and we began a discussion about his, uh, predicament. I suggested wearing a Depends. He agreed except that that would mean he'd have to completely disrobe to put on a new Depends (which he figures would happen several times a day since he's urinating pretty frequently right now). I told him that was a good point, but pointed out that it doesn't really make any difference--he'll have to change his clothes several times a day anyway withOUT the Depends.

He paused, thought for a moment, then smiled (like he does), chuckled (a little) then said, "I think I need a new pee-er."