Day 23 - Circumcision! in These Foolish Things

I’m back on the front page, so I wanted to add a bit of a trigger warning for this entry. Don’t click if speaking medically about one’s elderly parents’ privates skeeves you out.
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Okay!

Thank you everyone for the well-wishes for my dad. My SIL called me a while ago to tell me that the doc called her (because my mom doesn’t understand anymore), and said that the surgery went well, my dad is groggy but awake, and that he’s being taken to brunch. THANK GOD!!

Now the wait is on to see how he comes out of this and his recovery.

And here’s the wild part, and the reason I didn’t feel like writing about it yesterday, because it sounds so crazy: my sweet, gentle, 86-year-old dad had to have his penis circumcised!

Yes, you read that right. See, he’s been having some issues going to the bathroom (peeing), and it was starting to really interfere with his everyday life. I noticed this after he and I stayed together at the Airbnb for his Myasthenia Gravis treatments. When he was finished with the week-long therapies and we were driving back to his house, we were about 5 minutes from their house, and he asked me to pull into the McDonalds so he could use the restroom. He said he thought he could make it home, but realized that he couldn’t! He was desperate, and I understand that feeling! It’s the worst!

So I pulled in and let him out and he hobbled and wobbled into the store. And after about 5 mintues, he came back out nearly in tears. He made it to the restroom, but didn’t quite make it all the way. And there was a wet stain about 3/4ths the way down his pant leg.

I wanted to cry for him. He was so embarrassed. My heart just broke.

I just thought maybe it was age and slowness, but he went to see a urologist who told him that he needed his foreskin removed as it was causing huge issues for him! Poor guy!

Can you imagine? Getting a circumcision at 86??! I mean, I can’t imagine anything about it, not being the owner of a penis. But wow. I didn’t even know that it was possible after a certain age.

Apparently, this is a fairly common procedure among older men when it just exacerbates other conditions and makes life uncomfortable and humiliating.

I know he was nervous about the procedure (wouldn’t you be?) - especially because he had to go under general anesthesia! I was VERY concerned about that, but we both did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions, and as it turns out, this was the best way to do the damn thing.

So there you go. My little daddy, born on an Ohio farm out in the country on a cold January day in 1939, never got a circumcision as an infant. And yes, I realize that a good portion of the rest of the world’s male population is not circumcised, but here in the USA, it’s rare NOT to be circumcised.

Now, I pray that he heals up just fine. No more accidents. No more heartache - at least from this issue. Please 🤞

With hope,
GS