Summer of 2010

So, here it is a few days past the longest day of sunlight of the year. It's been very hot as well and very muggy, but this is what we wait all Winter for I guess?

Dad's progressing, slowly, but still progressing. The 4th of July is this coming Sunday (hard to believe!). The general pace is slow during the summer and the news always seems to be worse with the Gulf Oil Crisis, Health Issues and Government Corruption making headlines a lot lately.

We wish you all a safe and happy 4th of July!

Dad goes home from Hospital

The phone rang about 4:00pm today and it was Dad. He said "guess where I am"? I said I'm not sure but you sound happy. He had been discharged (finally) and was sitting
on his front porch. He says to me that the seabreeze in Maine feels great while I'm standing in 90 degree weather with tropical dewpoints in the 70s. You know, the days that even the friendliest dogs will chomp you if you look at them wrong.

So, it's still going to take some time to get used to the stoma and lifestyle change, but we're all hoping that his stomache pains are gone for good now. We know about the kidneys and heart and diabetes and stuff, but hopefully this will be one less health issue for him and who knows...maybe in a year or so, it could be in good enough shape to be reversed and somewhat normal again (whatever that is these days!)

It's been a roller-coaster ride for the past 2 weeks, but maybe the ride is slowing down and coming to a halt...at least for a little bit?

Also...I changed the design scheme of this blog...do you like it? I'm afraid that I wouldn't know how to change it back even if I wanted to.

Until next time...Happy Trails to you...

Dad's Surgery

Well, it's been a rough week. My Father, who has been battling several other health issues blacked out last Sunday night. My mother thought that he was dead and called 911 while trembling and crying. They took him by ambulance to the nearest emergency department of the hospital and the doctors decided that some kind of infection in his intestinal tract was the problem and immediate surgery was required. He is 79.

Due to the fact that he's on blood thinners and meds for other ailments, they had to give him blood transfusions for a couple of days before they could do the surgery. The diagnosis was colitis and it was supposed to be a laproscopic colonic resection, but due to complications, he ended up having a full scale six hour surgery and ended up with a huge incision and a colostomy!

He's been in ICU for two days now and the doctors have explained that it was the only way to save his life, due to complications from his other health problems.

So, we've been to visit him in ICU and they plan to keep him there until he is more stable, but he is a 'very sick man' as the doctor said.

You never know in this journey of life, what obstacles are going to be thrown at you, but it's important to try and think positive and keep thinking forward without looking back and wondering "what if", etc.