Journal Entries
o/~ Hiho, hiho, and off to work we go o/~
Posted Apr 21, 2000
Well, he is back to work. He was -supposed- to be easing into things (short shifts, breaks when needed, etc), but instead they started him right out with two 8-hour and a nine-hour days in a row. How nice of them. He was quite happy about it, and it wouldn't surprise me that he requested 'as many hours as you can give me' ... I -knew- I should have went back to the personnel office with him! 
Now, hopefully soon, I can get the rest of the world caught up.
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Latest reply: Apr 21, 2000
Another Update -- Another Hospital
Posted Apr 1, 2000
On the 26th of March, Dad entered the emergency room at the local hospital with what appeared to be a bad appendix. Since his white blood cell count was only slightly above 'normal' they decided to keep him overnight for observation and had a surgery tentatively scheduled for 'sometime in the morning'. After spending another sleepless night, I called the hospital for any news and was told that nothing had changed, no more tests had been taken (they were supposed to be keeping him so they could keep close tabs on his blood count), and no doctors had been in to examine him or talk to him. This probably wouldn't happen until later in the day.
Since he was resting comfortably I was able to relax enough to get (almost) a couple hours nap. Immediately upon waking I called again. "I think they've about finished with him downstairs. They're sending him to ICU when he gets out of recovery, but it's only because of his previous surgery." *Fast-forward through remainder of phone call 
* I rushed back to the hospital, where for about an hour of frantic run-arounds while no one seemed to know where he was, his condition, or where I should be waiting I finally made contact with probably the only person on staff who was interested enough to bother trying to help. I made it to the ICU waiting room about 3 minutes before they wheeled him in.
To say that communication is not high on this backwater butcher shop's priority list is gross understatement. However I will skip that rant for another day. From what I've managed to piece together over the past week spiced with educated guesswork, this is what happened:
The pain had not subsided, so they sent Dad down for a floroscopy procedure. What they found was a healthy appendix, but a gangrenous section of ulcerated colon. They cut him open, removed the bad section, and spliced him back together. Whether or not the appendix survived the splicing is not currently known. How long is the missing section? Also not known. Family members' emotional state? You don't want to know.
'Nonnie
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Latest reply: Apr 1, 2000
He's back
Posted Mar 2, 2000
The drive home was a quiet one. After spending so many days in the hospital, with over-frequent interruptions for vitals, pills (oh so many drugs!), 'Did you this' and 'Did you that' and.. well, we were all tired. And still had a full day to go, in only the remaining third of the day. While physically Dad seemed to be healing, he was giving a multitude of outward signs that his mental and emotional states were far out of kilter.
At 9pm I returned with his groceries, the final errand for the day. (Dad, a retired truck driver and a man always on the go -somewhere-, has been restricted from driving for a full 6 weeks -- in itself cause enough for emotional turmoil.) Finally he'd convinced his live-in girlfriend to reduce the days-old stubble to smoothness (mayhaps the spongebath accompanying the shave had some healing properties of which I'm unaware? ) The first step in the door and the resounding, "Hi there!" laid feers to rest. The life was at last back in his voice and in his eyes.
"You seem to feel better," I began cautiously.
"Well, I do feel a little bit better." The reply I'd been waiting for and been denied for days had finally arrived. Of course, the fact that he'd also finally -eaten- something probably was almost as big of help as the bathing.
Then the crown. Dad called a fellow geneaology nut and... Well.. *whew* Dad is going to make it. He's back.
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Latest reply: Mar 2, 2000
Update
Posted Feb 17, 2000
He goes in today for another cardio-catherization. He's had a minimum of three in just the past 12 months alone, possibly four (I can't remember exactly when the one before that was).
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Latest reply: Feb 17, 2000
So, journal, We meet again.
Posted Feb 16, 2000
I haven't added a journal entry in quite a while, so I figured I should. I was going to add one a couple days ago ([Saint] Valentines Day) but never quite got round to it.
That was the day my Dad went back into the hospital. And before you ask, we still don't know. The good news was that the enzyme that enters your blood system when you've had a heart attack was not present, so thankfully he hadn't had another of those. He is, however experiencing the same symptoms as before his stents were cleared. We were told that he likely wouldn't have any more problems there, but now I'm beginning to wonder.
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Latest reply: Feb 16, 2000
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