The Dad that I Know

Pain
Spinal fractures
Back specialist
Question marks
Pain
Pneumonia
Hospitalization
Dark discovery
Diagnosis
Bone Cancer-Multiple Myeloma
Treatment
Radiation, Chemotherapy
Ten grand a month
for 30 pills
Pain, aches and heartaches
Neuropathies-hands, feet
Cleveland Clinic
Stem Cell Transplant
immunosuppressed
physiologically derailed
pyschologically challenged
spiritually intact
loss of weight
thinned from head to toe
dark pigmentation
from treatment
noticeably less follicles
notable lethargy

Dad,
It was hard to see you
in this condition
You were hardly the dad
that I know
Hard to bear then
And even now to think of
without streaming tears
thought and fears

I hardly knew you growing up
Even calling you by your first name
Until you got upset
And we called you Dad
for the first time
As strange as it was then
But not now
You're still Dad

Discharge home
Enduring Flight
Aches, pains,
Home, finally home
in the summer heat of Arizona
Glad you made it home Dad
Take care and rest up