Surprise

Surprise, I spoke about that in my last post; how it may manifest itself in a positive or negative manor.

Wednesday evening my wife received a call telling us my father was in the Hospital having emergency surgery. Packing a bag I jumped into the car heading for Winchester. At about the same time my sister Kathy and Brother Tim jumped into their cars as well. As I'm the closest I made it to the hospital first; in the Surgical waiting room sat Father Leonard from Dad's church. Though I no longer attend church his presence brought a degree of comfort as we waited for news from the Surgeon.

At around ten thirty the surgeon spoke with us, it was the very best possible news we could have gotten. The blood clots which could have resulted in amputation of both legs were removed and Dad was doing well. We certainly weren’t out of the woods but it could not have gone better. Soon after Dr. Salem left Tim arrived to hear the news. We headed up to dads room and were there before he was wheeled in. He looked good for what he had been through.

Perhaps as we were receiving good news another family in another hospital received the worst, one of my friends died suddenly and unexpectedly.

Now it's Monday; Kathy stayed until the weekend, Tim took over and now it's my shift. It appears that he may be released today, unfortunately home bound instead of to a rehab facility as we (his children) had hoped for. I will move his “stuff” to the first floor in an effort to keep him there as much as possible but for anyone knowing my father there will be no guarantee. Dad has great neighbors and friends who will help but they simply cannot provide the 24/7 care that I think Dad needs for a week or so; I can't either. I can only hope his stubbornness will not take him down a bad path.

As for me, I'm tired. Anything out of my routine causes a surprising degree of physical distress that I feel intently in my hands, feet and guts. I have not slept much in the past week and the couch in the Hospital room just didn't work as well as my own bed.

Saturday morning I did get a twelve mile C&O Canal run in with my friend Craig. Six miles out, six back with an “Extra Bonus Surprise ” on the six back, with those miles requiring extreme “Butt Clenching”. (I made it) Afternoon training involved sprints to the bathroom, by evening, thankfully, I felt well enough to take the family to the Buffet.

Surprises , I don't really need too many more right now but if they come …................ I'll try to remember to keep a positive attitude.

Mike