Late-July Update

Just got back (Sunday) from a week visiting dad. He went into the hospital on July 9; tests showed that he had had another heart attack. They did a catheterization on Wednesday or Thursday, and found two blockages, which they fixed with two stents. After monitoring his blood pressure (he had dipped down to 70-something while he was in the hospital), he was sent home on Friday afternoon, July 15. (Well, actually when he was released, he went home with Ann, his girlfriend.)

I flew in on the 16th, my dear friend Chris picked me up at the airport and took us right to Ann's house. Dad was still tired and a little wobbly on his feet, but had a good pink color to his face. We chatted for a while, then Chris and I went out to dinner; afterwards, I checked into a nearby motel. (I was staying at a motel instead of at his place because I had work to do on Monday and he has no internet connection at his home!)

I picked him up at Ann's on Tuesday morning and then spent the week with him at his place. He was gradually making progress, and we'd take slightly longer and longer walks (and by "slightly longer" I mean going up and down three aisles at Publix instead of just one or two). His tummy is unsettled, probably from changing around all his meds again, but the good news is that the doctor cut his blood pressure medication in half, as well as his cholesterol medication. Maybe lowering the BP med will help with some of his tiredness.

It was hard to leave him on Sunday. Especially with his most recent heart incidents (four of them since the end of April), it's easy for me to wonder if each time I see him will be the last. But, his spirits are good, he's talking about where he and Ann will go on their next cruise, so I take my cue from him - keep moving on.

(As for the other things that happened while I was in Florida: His tires needed replacing, his car needed a coil replaced, his dishwasher doesn't clean the dishes very well anymore [it's from 1987!], his living room rug has gotten to the embarrassing point and needs to be replaced, and as we were walking out the door to go to the airport the washing machine was flooding the laundry room. "Don't worry about it, there's nothing we can do now anyway. Let's go," he said, so we did.)

(By the way, if you live anywhere near New Port Richey in Florida, take your car to the Goodyear shop on highway 19 across from Publix. Talk to Mary Ostrowski and tell her I sent you. These people are the BEST. They took care of Kelly and me when we brought in Aunt Irene's Corolla and they took care of me this past week when I had the car in and out (for the tires) and in and out again (for the coil). They even threw in an oil change, gratis.)

Today (Tuesday), I'm leaving to take a train to Portland (Oregon) to attend Sock Summit 2011. I attended Sock Summit 2009 and it was like Woodstock for sock knitters; we had a blast. This year's event promises to be just as much fun, maybe more, and now I need to go pack. The clothes are already laid out, the real question is what knitting to bring. That always stymies me on a trip. I better get to it!

Model Railroaders, Bad Golf, and Bad Hearts

Well, we had a lovely time at the model railroaders' convention last week. Kelly and I both sat in on some interesting classes, plus he took a few extra hands-on workshops, while I knitted my way around the convention center. We checked out of the Sacramento hotel Thursday morning and headed to the Jelly Belly factory, but it was crazy crowded, so we skipped that and checked in to the hotel at Travis Air Force Base.

We golfed at their course, Cypress Lakes, and had our butts totally whipped. Neither of us could hit a tee shot that cleared the girls' tees and we spent more time looking for our wayward balls than making decent shots (we each lost about 5 balls, too). My new clubs were like foreign objects in my hands; Kelly's tried-and-true clubs were acting like his enemies.

We checked out of Travis Friday morning and went back to the Jelly Belly factory. A little less crowded, so we did the tour and then came home. I came back with a sore throat but thought it was just from bouncing from 100-degree heat into the A/C. Turns out it's a lovely summer cold and now I feel like crap. Been chewing down Musinex since yesterday. It's the only thing that's keeping me from hacking up a lung.

Around midnight Friday, Ray calls to let me know dad's back in the hospital. (Luckily, Ray was there visiting.) So between the time he called and Saturday afternoon, they moved dad from the ER to the intensive care unit to the cardiac care unit. Turns out he had had another congestive heart failure episode. I had been planning to go see him in August, but will now be leaving next Saturday and stay for a week. We've cancelled the Las Vegas trip. We'll go another time; I'm sure it will be there for a little while longer. Then when I come back, I'm only home for a couple of days before heading up to Portland for Sock Summit.

Don't know what's going on with dad; this has been the 4th time since the end of April that he's wound up in the hospital. I'm pretty stressed out right now.