What I'm Learning After Two Months Without My Dad

It's been two about months since my dad passed. Three weeks before, I had gone home to Maryland, not because it was "time," but because Dad had lost an unexplainable amount of strength, and I was going to train him back to his fighting weight. Dad and I's time together over the 16 months of his illness was always special. It was just me and him for the week or two I was able to be home. Being the health nut of the family, Dad (and everyone really) leaned on me to guide Dad's exercise and nutrition once we found out he was sick. I'd play personal trainer, making him green shakes every morning and then stretching out every sore spot on his body. I taught him how to meditate and together we joined the local "yoga for cancer" class. My Dad was never the meditating/yoga type man, but once he was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer, my sweet dad was open to everything. After our long days of working out, multiple doctor appointments and cancer support groups, we'd often treat ourselves to an early evening movie. Sometimes we had so much to say, other times just being together in silence was enough. We found a way to push aside the dark cloud that naturally loomed over us after an advanced cancer diagnosis. We found a way to make it fun and hopeful. I wouldn't trade those days for anything. But this trip home was different. Dad's strength was so far gone that he was hospitalized the day I got home. The next day, we received new MRI results  --  the cancer had spread to his br...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news