Have you ever had an experience that changed your life forever?

Have you ever had an experience that changed your life forever?  

On 29 September 2019 my father was admitted to the ICU with Pneumonia. Now, after so many months, he is still in ICU but he is finally on the mend.  It was truly a very frightening experience as we thought that he was not going to make it.  He is only 73 years old and we were not ready to let him go.  

The antibiotics they started him on did not work, and he was allergic to the one specific antibiotics that could ultimately safe his life.  

He went through six different courses of antibiotics and nothing helped.  The physio-therapist came every morning and did her thing every single day for the last eighty odd days.  

My father became depressed and ultimately we all became depressed because he was in such a pathetic state. He was weak and tired and was put on a ventilator.  If you have not had a loved one in ICU and you don't know what to expect then this is a bad experience.   

We had bad days and we had good days.  Nothing specific, but it was touch and go.  One day was a good day and then the next day the little hope we had vanished again.  He was weaned off the ventilator 5 times, and then something happened, and he was put back on the ventilator again.  

Trying to hold a family together in such a trying time is not the easiest thing to do.  Everyone was constantly stressed out and our lives were literally put on hold because we did not know what to expect next.  

We had to have a lot of patience because once he was put back on the ventilator we had to start the weaning process from scratch.  It came to a point where the doctor said that we had to say our goodbyes, because he didn't see my father coming out of hospital.  

There are plenty of other things that happened after that and before that but I want to erase all that from my mind.   

Last week Sunday they weaned him off the ventilator for the last time. He has been breathing on his own now for seven days and he is finally getting back to his old self.  This experience has taught me a lot of things.  

1.  Respect your parents even if they make you angry as hell. Force them to go to the doctor early enough so you won't have to go through this ordeal.  

2.  Spend as much time as possible with your loved ones while they are still alive.  Live changes in a matter of seconds.  Don't waste time.

3.  Money is not important.  Hope and life is so much more important and if you can stay alive with what you have, it doesn't matter what worldly possessions you own.... life is all you want. 

4.  Live a little. Forget about all your issues for a few hours a day and spend as much time with your family because you are not guaranteed another day.   Live everyday as if it is your last. This makes me think of this cartoon where Snoopy and peanut talks to each other above.