Monday Came 36 Hours Early
Jul. 5th, 2009 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frustratedpilotSince the time of Dad's cancer treatment ten years ago, he's had trouble sometimes with getting food down his esophagus. Well, last night at dinner time, a spasm started there that wouldn't go away. This morning, Mom called family friend Jessica (who is a retired RN) and she took Dad to the Emergency Room at the Jefferson City branch of Mercy. They tried sedation and nitroglycerin to get his esophagus to open. When that didn't work, the doctors wanted to do an endoscopy, but that was unavailable at Mercy or at the VA Hospital at Johnson City, so they moved him to St. Mary's in Knoxville.
Jessica called us with the news, we went to Knoxville and beat the ambulance to St. Mary's (good going Moonshine!--tho' we didn't speed or bend any local traffic laws in the process). We saw him about an hour after we arrived (we let the nurses and doctors do their business first) and he seemed to be mostly okay and in good spirits. Eventually, the doctor in charge told us we would have to wait for a while for the endoscopy, so Mum and I came back to Rather Manor for what meager dinner we could stand. In a little while we will head back to St. Mary's with the hopes of bringing Dad back home. I expect that he'll probably need additional surgeries so I'll likely be in "do what must be done" mode for a the foreseeable future.
The crisis isn't as awful as I'd dreaded, but it is still fairly awful. Nobody should spend a holiday Sunday this way.
PS: Mum and I went back to see Dad around quarter to Ten this evening. He went through his surgery well enough, but is staying at the hospital overnight. And Mum and I will go back tomorrow to (if all goes well), pick him up and take him home to convalesce.
Jessica called us with the news, we went to Knoxville and beat the ambulance to St. Mary's (good going Moonshine!--tho' we didn't speed or bend any local traffic laws in the process). We saw him about an hour after we arrived (we let the nurses and doctors do their business first) and he seemed to be mostly okay and in good spirits. Eventually, the doctor in charge told us we would have to wait for a while for the endoscopy, so Mum and I came back to Rather Manor for what meager dinner we could stand. In a little while we will head back to St. Mary's with the hopes of bringing Dad back home. I expect that he'll probably need additional surgeries so I'll likely be in "do what must be done" mode for a the foreseeable future.
The crisis isn't as awful as I'd dreaded, but it is still fairly awful. Nobody should spend a holiday Sunday this way.
PS: Mum and I went back to see Dad around quarter to Ten this evening. He went through his surgery well enough, but is staying at the hospital overnight. And Mum and I will go back tomorrow to (if all goes well), pick him up and take him home to convalesce.
