a99kitten's Musings

I received a call from my Dad’s nursing home on my way home tonight.  He is there because he had a stroke a couple years back and it killed some brain cells. So he has little to no short-term memory. He always had a great memory for everything so this is tough. He can remember every single detail from 10-15 years ago and prior. But he can’t really remember what we talked about in a phone call yesterday.  It sucks to see him like that as you can he struggles to try and remember – like he knows he is missing something. He had such a sharp mind so it’s sad to see. But it is what it is.

Anyway, the nurse called and started with a “He’s fine, don’t worry. But I am legally required to call you…” Oh great…

She said he punched another patient but that it was OK, because no one was really hurt and there wouldn’t be any charges or anything. So I ask why did he punch someone. She said this patient hit another patient and my dad went in to stop him and then the guy tried punching him so my Dad decked him. I kinda had to smile.

The nurse said while we certainly don’t encourage that behavior, he did it to defend someone else and did not initiate it and it wasn’t done out of the blue or out of anger. Just defending another and then himself.

I asked again if he was OK and she assured me that he was. So I thanked her for calling me and letting me know and that was that.

Although I definitely did smile. He always told me and then my brother “never be a bully and never throw the first punch. But always be sure you throw the last one.”  Guess he remembered that too :)