near losses

Mom called me two days ago to tell me that Dad was in the hospital and that I should give him a call.

I called and found out that he has a heart irregularity that causes bloodclots and the doctor is worried that this will cause a serious stroke. One of them got stuck somewhere in his brain and he lost half of his field of vision. Mom took him to the hospital where she proceeded to yell at the entire staff of the ER. If you knew my Mom you'd know how out of character that is. They gave him a CAT scan, ran a few tests and gave him something to lower his cholesterol. He started to feel better and his eyesight started to improve.

And then last Saturday at 3am, he couldn't feel his face and my mom took him to the hospital. They did a crapload of tests and decided against heart surgery. Instead they are giving him blood thinners and anti-clotting meds (B will have to tell me if they are the same thing) and observed him for four days. My mother didn't tell me until Monday because my father didn't want me to worry.

My Guy convinced me to drive down saying, "I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your father, but if it was my father I'd drive down and I don't even like my father." An excellent point.

Dad was released the next day and upon seeing me said, "What are you doing here? Go finish writing your thesis!"
Which is what I thought he would say. He can see and read although his peripheral vision is impaired. And he joked about how disappointed he was that the doctor told him that he was not allowed to take up rollerblading now.

He was released on my parents 40th wedding anniversary. We ended up running into friends of theirs who are expecting a baby who were at the hospital for an ultrasound. The five of us went to lunch and then for coffee.

It's a case of good bad luck. I see a lot of that in my life. It's scary. He could have died. But he's fine. He can't eat grapefruit or spinach and he can't travel overseas or rollerblade. He has to see the doctor every two days and get a device to monitor his blood but the doctor said that with care and attention, he could live a long time this way.

I have watched my parents get older and frailer and, well, weirder. But they are as funny, smart, adventurous and vibrant as ever. They are the most interesting, beautiful, and big hearted people that I know and I cannot imagine a world without them. I know it is an eventuality, but I want it to be a distant one.