Family emergency

I’m finally getting around to writing a few thoughts about the past week. It’s been quite emotionally draining. For those who aren’t aware, my SIL called me 5:30am last Tuesday morning to tell me that BOTH of my parents were in the hospital. I don’t feel like recanting all of the details but the bottom line was that my father had a stroke and my mother had a heart attack….. within a few hours of each other. They were both in ICU, and eventually were both moved to private rooms. My mother was released on Thursday. My father is still in the hospital. They’re saying he should be released today or tomorrow.

The prognosis for both is a full recovery. Daddy doesn’t appear to have ANY effects from the stroke. He’ll have out patient therapy for a while to make sure everything is still humming along the way it’s supposed to. Mama will have to take it easy and build her strength back up. Thankfully she has no blockage and there’s no need for surgery. (Her heart attack was the kind when the blood vessels basically fold in on themselves. The cardiologist says with time and medication that her heart muscle may actually repair itself.) My brother and SIL live less than five minutes from my parents. Thankfully they’re able to help my parents while they recover. I live so far away (6 hour drive) so I’m not much help for day-to-day help. I drove to where they are on Tuesday but had to return home on Sunday to go back to work.

Obviously I’m a bit shaken up about the whole incident. Daddy is 60 years old and Mama is 67. Had things not turned out so well, I could be an orphan at 32. I can’t imagine my life without them here. There’s still so much I need to learn from them. They drive me nuts on a regular basis but I’d be lost without them.

My beloved husband remained at home, taking care of my dog and keeping my spirits up from afar. He’s so good at taking care of me even when he can’t be right there with me. I’m reminded how lucky I am to have such a wonderful man in my life.

My bright bit of happiness is that we’ve been given travel dates for our visit trip to Guatemala. We’ll be there for Thanksgiving! I’m reminded how important family truly is and how much I want my parents to enjoy their grandson. I sure do hope we bring him home soon!