I have many many words in my head about recent events, but don’t have nearly enough energy to get them all out into a post. Let me just outline some of the larger points.
Surgery for Dad
My Dad went in for a major gastrointestinal surgery that should have been performed laproscopicly… or endoscopically… I don’t know. Whichever one means that they would do it with a few small incisions. Recovery was planned to be intense but relatively short compared to the ‘old’ open way to perform the surgery.
Once they got going, the doctor discovered a lot more trouble than they originally anticipated. It became an open surgery with a significantly longer and tougher recovery.
All that seems relatively benign until you add into the mix the last time my dad was in the hospital. A simple, but urgent, surgery spiraled quickly into medicine reactions, heart attacks and a solid stint in the Intensive Care Unit with little assurance that he was coming out alive. To me, any unplanned change of course sounded way too familiar.
Thankfully though, he came through surgery very well. His doctor is very confident of the success of the surgery, and my dad is left with an insanely cool line of staples down his torso.
So far, recovery is a total pain in the ass, but it comes with some good pills for my dad that make for funny conversations.
A terrible fall
They day after the surgery mentioned above, my mother realized that my 98 year old grandpa, who lives about an hour away, was unreachable by phone. He had been up to visit a few days prior and complained a bit of being dizzy. A flurry of calls went around the family, and while en-route to my grandpa’s house, my sister got a call from a neighbor who went to check on him. He took a nasty fall sometime the night before, and was heading to the local hospital in an ambulance.
Over the remainder of the day we coordinated between the two hospitals to have him transported to the local hospital (the same one my dad was in), since the care he was getting at the podunk facility out west was far less than stellar. There was a lot of talk that it was uncertain if he would make the trip… but in the end the Docs gave the green light to move.
He’s now recovering under the watchful eye of a small army of doctors and nurses. He looks dreadful, but improving daily. He’s having a tough time remembering what happened, but he’s joking with the nurses and I can see is personality clearly through the bruises. He has a very long hard road of rehabilitation but, for now at least, he’s still with us.
My heart absolute breaks when I think of him stuck on the floor bloody and bruised, trying to find some comfort while waiting to be found.
My world
These two men represent the whole of the male parental influence in my life. They are husbands, fathers, brothers and friends to everyone in my world. Between them, they taught me absolutely everything I know that is of any importance to me as a man.
Both of them hold a place in my heart that could never be fully explained. They are giants to me. Heros that have no equal.
I cannot tell you how it pains me to see them hurting. Each labored breath and painful grown just stabs at my soul.
I also cannot tell you how it inspires me to see their strength. They’re healing. Slowly but surely, they are healing.
The world keeps moving
As an epilogue to this tale of woe… the world went right on and kept turning while we diverted attention to our loved ones.
I run a small business that doesn’t have sick days or vacation time built into the scheme just yet. I’m afraid the time spent at the hospital and away from the studio will come with the gift of mountains of email, work and a delayed pipeline of projects.
*sigh*
But such is the life we chose.
I’m attempting to climb out of the backlog tonight and get some new deals in the works. Keep some good vibes coming our way, as I think we’ll need them for just a bit longer.
