My eldest nephew (James) left a message on our home phone today (along with four other people! WTF? Seriously--we can go weeks with no messages most of the time!). His dad, Dean, is in the hospital, and "it doesn't look good." He must have said that 42 times over the course of that message plus the follow-up calls. "It doesn't look good" means that Dean:
- is on a ventilator, and therefore unconscious
- has one foot that will need to be amputated due to gangrene
- may have had a mild heart attack
- has taken so much aspirin that they are pumping him up with blood thickener at the hospital
- ....and God only knows what else is wrong with him.
James' request was for me to let the rest of the family on this side know, and also...well, jeez, he's not sure what he's supposed to do if "things really go to hell," i.e. Dean dies.
James and his brother Don live about an hour from us. Their dad lives about 2 hours further on. I can be at the hospital with Dean in about 3 hours tomorrow. Beast is on a business trip, but he can get there after his meeting tomorrow in 5 hours. We are the nearest relatives on our side of the family.
These are my baby nephews (current ages 32 and 34). I have shed so many tears over them in the past decade-plus. And Dean was always my funnest bro-in-law...until Ellen died and he rolled over into 100% alcoholism, threw away his career, his house, all the heirlooms from my sister--except Grandma's quilt--and moved back in with his mother at age 57.
Beast's Dad is out of the hospital. I guess that's our silver lining.
I'm telling you: I need a family health chart!
Mood: Wired, and tired. I have no idea if I'll sleep at all tonight.
Hair: Attached to my head and probably a giant mess.
Listening to: The wind blowing the microwave vent open and closed; it's suddenly very gusty again.
No comments:
Post a Comment