Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Distance can make the heart grow fonder...

AND drive you totally batshit when one of your parents is sick!!!!!

I sit here in not too sunny California while my dad sits in ICU in sometimes sunny Florida (who nicknamed it the sunshine state btw?  No one who actually lived there - geesh!)

I know he's getting the best care and he really likes the hospital and the doctors, but it just sucks being this far away....actually if I was there it would be hard to see him because he is in a militray hospital.  He is actually a bit of a legend there...no one knows why or how (even with all their cool stuff and meds) that he is actually alive.  He is actually pretty proactive in is health management too...(not that his health problems will make him put down the cigarettes (Malboro Lights) or the Bud Light...but he did move on from Menthols and Bourbon...baby steps folks)  He carries around this 3" binder with all his latest lab results,  PET scans, ultrasounds, current meds, previous meds, why he doens't take previous meds, 3 times a day blood pressure readings, doctors names and numbers (same with the specialists) so that once he is in ER they can hit it, get it and go...they all know him as "the guy with the book".  That and every Christmas Eve he and my mom (or he, me and my girls or just he and I) go down to the hospital and give every floor some homemade Christmas cookies and goodies.  He likes to take care of people that take care of him and when you have heart diesase, vascular disease, lung cancer, lung removal, 50% lung capacity, 30% kidney function, skin cancer, an anyorism (sp?), elevated PSA issues, osteoprosis, and these are just the big ones (he looks like frankenstein with his shirt off due to so many bypasses and such)...you take care of people and have your shit together when you walk in the door.
Ok, gotta go take my mind of this and go scrub something!

2 comments:

  1. ooooooh.....I'm sorry.... I'm crossing my fingers.
    bless his heart.
    love you...
    m

    ps: aneurysm

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  2. Thanks M ~
    He is home now, but has to go see his main cardiologist this week then probably head to P'cola for a heart cath...one of his doctors described him as a shattered glass that hasn't fallen apart yet, so every trip to the ER freaks me out a bit.
    thanks for the crossed fingers
    Love you back...
    p

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