My Family

[Drunk Monk]

How much longer did the hospital say they wanted to keep him?

[Greg]

The beauty of my father's problems is the mystery aspect. They have no idea what is causing the bleeding. The suspect a burst diverticula but can find one that has burst. In the meantime, he is still there.

Most of my father's ailments have an intense mystery to him. They don't know why the wound in his ass has never healed. They don't know his oxygen levels are so screwed up. Etc etc. He just needs to hold together until he sees the Pope in Rome this summer. He might hang on to go to Bermuda in July, too.

Although he is not deathly ill, he is being nibbled to death by ducks.

[Drunk Monk]

That's rough.  Mystery ailments suck.  

Nibbled to death by ducks reminds me of the great DOOM melee in that park across from De Anza.  Scapino and I had this idea that we'd hide in the bushes by the pond and ambush the others.  A duck discovered Scapino, and proceeded to assault him, ruining our plans but providing me with a memory I will always cherish.  In retrospect, Scapino may have been too close to the duck's nest.  

But seriously, if you need anything, just holler.

[Drunk Monk]

Has your Dad been released from the hospital yet?

[Greg]

Nope. Still hanging around. The mystery continues. I talked to him yesterday. He was in good spirits. He just had a nap. He was very excited to learn he could play cribbage on his new phone. (Don't get me started. I've been mentioning this to him for years. He could even be doing that on his iPad)

But he's bored. he wants to go home. The did put him on solid food, but it's solid hospital food.

The theory is one of the diverticula burst in his intestine and it healed itself.

To be continued.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I hope he gets released soon. Or do I? Is it better for him to be in a safe, albeit boring, environment?

[Greg]

He might be released today. But, of course, if he stays in the hospital for the rest of his life, he'll be really close to medical care. I need to keep track of how many times the two of them go to the emergency room each year. And thank goodness for health insurance.

At least they don't have any taxing overseas trips coming up in the near future. Oh, wait. Talk to me after June. And then again in August.

[Drunk Monk]

Home yet?

[Greg]

Yes! He returned on Thursday. Still no cause for the bleeding. He says he's better. But my sister doesn't think he is all that well.

[Greg]

Saw a text message on my phone from my father. It was like going into the bathroom and finding Maeve on the toilet.

[Greg]

Let's see, the last message I received from my sister was that my father was back in the hospital with pneumonia, kidney failure and heart failure.

When asked, my father said he felt fine.

[King Bob]

If by heart failure they mean congestive heart failure, lots of older people have that and it's only deadly in the long term. My mother has had it for several years now.

[Greg]

My father, mother, and sister finally made it home on Monday from lovely Marysville, WA. Not quite the same as Rome. At least my other sister was in Germany for the majority of that time.

So, what did my father do to celebrate his return to Saratoga? Well, he went to the emergency room with an elevated heart rate. At least the nice doctors did remove the catheter he'd been sporting for the last ten days or so. 

I think Roberta was at the doctors with one parent or the other at least 8 times while she was away. My mother had to go twice because of nosebleeds that could be related to her warfarin.

My father goes to see his regular doctor today to see if they can figure out what is wrong (I know what's wrong. He's old and doesn't take care of himself. But I'm not a doctor) His Kidney failure is at level 2. At level 5 is when you start doing dialysis. He's also got A-Trib, which is what is causing his pulse to race.

Roberta is at her whit's end. What pushed her over the cliff is that they were on the way to celebrate her son's birthday when they were diverted to yet another emergency room visit.

She tapped out and I'm coming to the Bay Area for the weekend to give her a couple days break.

[Drunk Monk]

Sorry to hear, Greg.  Sounds really rough.  

At least you got your knees.

[Greg]

It's a good thing I'm dead inside.