Unfortunately, when Phil goes under anesthesia for his medical procedures, it impacts him mentally. Jase said, “It’s harder for him to come back to reality.” So the last few months have been stages of “new normals” for the family.
Regarding his father’s diminishing weight, Jase said the family has tried “everything imaginable in the world” to help him gain weight, but his body just won’t comply. “It’s day to day, literally,” said Alan. One day Phil seems better and another day, he seems worse. And his physical ailments have likely “fast-forwarded” his mental decline.
Jase said he went through his “upset stage” about his father’s health during duck season. “Remember, we have duck hunted…every day of the duck season—60 days—and we’ve done that since I was eight years old,” he said. But his dad was “miserable” on opening day of the season and now can’t go hunting any more. Jase said his father’s absence made the rest of the duck hunting season “so hollow” for him.
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Alan pointed out that Phil taught “anybody that would listen that his life was in preparation of the great resurrection. And so he said for years the resurrection looms larger, and he’s living that even now.”
“We’re not super depressed about it or, like, just devastated by it,” Alan said. “We hate it, it’s hard to watch, it’s hard to be a part of, a man that’s always been so strong in your life. At the same time, we realize that the spiritual battle goes forward.”
“I basically live in a cave,” Jase said, “and so I think I forget sometimes that there’s a lot of people who watch our family.” People were already asking him how his dad’s health was before the family went public with Phil’s decline. After they went public, people asked about Phil even more.
Jase noticed—and Alan agreed—that once the Robertson clan went public about Phil’s health conditions, Phil’s “spirit became better” for the first time in six months.
In fact, said Jase, right before the Robertsons revealed the news, Jase got his kids to come see Phil “thinking that [Phil] only had a few days to live.” Then the family went public, and Phil started doing much better.
“I just chalked it up to answered prayer,” said Jase. “I just really believe more now than ever the power of prayer.” Since then, most of the time, “there’s a spirit about him that’s at peace and it’s really helped us the past few weeks.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Alan and Jase discussed navigating their parents’ resistance to changing their lifestyle because of health problems, how Phil has become more tender toward his family, and how Phil once shared the gospel with President Trump.
