life pt. 2

I need to preface this post before continuing with the previous one. A lot has happened in the weeks since Feb 12, and so I thought that I would break it up a bit, not only to make it easier to read, but I also wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss a thing in the process of writing what would end up being a monstrous post. Updates to this story will follow over the next few days. As I write this, I am sitting on the ferry.

After my mom revealed that the issue was Dad’s heart, I got quite a bit more concerned. They had even stopped the ambulance on the way to Nanaimo and swapped Dad into an advanced life support ambulance, they were so concerned. I called Liz with an update, and then tried to raise Matthew again. Still nothing from him on his phone, text messages, or through Blackberry Messenger. Mom needed a lot of assistance – Dad’s incident occurred in the middle of dinner, and as a result, they had been drinking. That’s why Mom had arrived in a taxi cab. Once she made the announcement about Dad’s heart, she told me to go home and work on my schoolwork. “Your father would understand.” Well, for heaven’s sake, I was not going to abandon my mother at the hospital in the middle of the night with no car while my Dad was having a “cardiac incident” (I hate those words). I spent the next few hours waiting, working in a half-assed manner on the discussion questions I was supposed to be doing for a presentation two days later.

Around midnight, I made the command decision to remain. I emailed all of my professors for class the next day, saying that I wouldn’t be there. Cancelled work too. I don't think I have ever emailed that much on a Blackberry. Finally, I got through to Matthew. He was extremely concerned, which is odd for him. Of course, there was nothing he could do to help. I promised to keep everyone up to date.

I got in to see Dad once. He was barely awake. He was wrapped up so tight in the blankets that he could hardly move. He was very pale... I spoke to him for a minute...outlined that I was taking care of Mom, that we had arranged a local hotel for her for the night, and how it was no problem for me be there. He seemed very assured that I was around. After our minute of conversation, I could tell he was getting a bit weak, so I wished him a good night, repeated my promise to take care of Mom, and returned to the waiting room. There were several things that struck me in my brief visit to his bed, how pale he was chief among them. What scared me the most was Dad's assurances that he was ok: he couldn't see the monitors, the crash cart parked at the foot of his bed, and the external defibrilator, oddly labelled "Judy Sparky Sparks" parked up near his head. Clearly, there was cause for concern.

Around 2am, I made a run to Tim Horton's - I was starving. Brought my mother a tea, and just as we sat down in the waiting room, we finally got an update from the doctor. Dad's heart was stable, but they didn't know what had happened. They were keeping him for a couple of days. We had struck up a conversation with the only other occupant of the waiting room, who was by herself. I gave her my untouched coffee - she had expressed an interest in finding the Timmie's nearby, and as soon as the doctor said Dad was out of immediate danger, my adrenaline crashed - I had to get Mom to the hotel. It was an odd mixture of relief and exhaustion.

We rolled up to the Ramada here at 3am. I took the time to get Mom settled in, and then headed for home. I emailed Liz and Chris, and sent a text to Matthew. And then I crashed right asleep.

more to follow