So I am going to be light hearted about the following post. I am not insensitive, but that is the way I am. I started the day with a wonderful 45 minute commute to work. That would have been ok if I commuted from my old apartment. Since it normally takes me 20 minutes to get to the office I was kind of pissed off. Turns out the trains were all messed up so they were really crowded and slow moving. That adds for lots of fun.
I get to work and get a voice mail from my sister to call her right away. I was sort of busy and didn’t really call her right back. I then get a call from my mom on my cell. Now I know something is wrong. My mom would never call me at work at 10AM. Turns out my dad had some chest pain and was in the ER. Granted he works like 60 seconds from the ER, and spends his mornings there, it wasn’t he was working in the ER. it was he was there with a problem. Turns out he had a blockage in his heart and needed to have a stint put in. Now if you were calling to tell someone about a problem like that you would start the conversation off with just that. This is the issue. Not my mom. She had to explain she was calling me because she called my sister also. That went on for a bit until I learned of the issue. Needless to say I was a bit worried. My dad is not exactly in the best shape. This was the second time in 6 years that he had a blockage that needed stinting. So all the worst case scenarios go through your head. Turns out he is fine, or as fine as someone who just had a plastic thing put in his heart can be.
I am relieved to know he will be fine in the short term, but concerned along with the rest of my family that he is not taking care of himself. Everyone else is either yelled at him, or said they will decide what he can and cannot eat. Everyone doesn’t understand why I wont step in either. My opinion boils down to two pieces of information. You cannot teach an old dog new tricks, and no one can change without wanting to change. If my dad wants to change his diet he has to say he wants to, and make an effort to. You cannot force him to. That brings me to the realization that although he wont die tomorrow, I have allot less time with him than I used to.
I am either in denial about the whole situation or I am handling it rather well. Not sure which one yet. I went up the hospital tonight to see him. That was a bigger feat than I originally thought since the subway was still messed up. The snow and wind didn’t help either. Once I got there he seemed to be in good shape. he sounded fine, and looked ok. I guess we have to wait and see how he handles himself once he gets out.
OK, now I am done with the depressing post, but I needed to get that out. I feel a bit better writing about it.