hard day ahead
June 23, 2006, 6:54 A.M.
Well, it sure has been one endlessly dark and difficult week.
Nephew was released later in the day on Monday, but Papa is in very bad shape. Nephew will be wearing a cardiac event monitor for a while, in order to try and figure out what's going on. They still don't know what's causing him to have these attacks.
Papa is still in the hospital, and will be for the foreseeable future. Things are looking grim. He has pneumonia, pericarditis, hydracephalus, a raging infection, and they can�t seem to get his heart rate, temperature, or blood pressure stabilized.
We are all just taking it one day at a time, and someone is with him at the hospital most of the day.
I took the day off today, even though my work can�t afford the luxury. I have the kids coming for the weekend, and the house is a wreck. I have a million important little things that need doing, and I simply haven�t had the time. I�m already 35 high-traffic miles away from Papa, and I really don�t want to put myself an additional 30 away from the situation. I�m so stressed out and tired that I can�t find it in me to go to work.So I didn�t.
But you can�t call it a day off, by any means. I have to straighten, clean, and scrub the house, do 4 loads of laundry, go to the bank, the gas station, my friend�s house to borrow her mower, the vehicle emissions testing station, the DMV, the grocery store, and--I�m hoping!--the hairdresser. I need to shower and shave myself, mow, water the lawn, the flowers, and the shrubs, and scrub, vacuum, and shock the pool.
And then, I need to shower and change again, so I can go to Milwaukee and take my turn with Papa.
So, not what you�d call a day off, exactly.
We have to kids this weekend so that they can swim, go to Polish Fest (a family tradition), and go see their grandpa again. We took them with us when we went up there Wednesday night, because they wanted to see Papa. That seems to be one of our more important roles in their lives, as their dad is such an ass that he didn�t even return P�s calls about Papa. When Niece found that out, she was enraged. As soon as we dropped her at home Wednesday, she marched into the house, called her father up at 10:45 PM, and proceeded to give him seventy-five kinds of hell for not going to see his own father in the hospital.
Well, my 13-year-old blonde spitfire of a niece is NOT someone you want mad at you.
Her dad was at the hospital the following day.
Well, sitting here writing is not getting anything checked off of my endless list, so I�m off to face a long day. Wish me luck, world.
Reading: "Raising Demons", by Shirley Jackson, and "A Prayer for Owen Meany", by John Irving.
Listening: CD, Steely Dan, "Showbiz Kids".
Beading: not at present.
One Year Ago, I was hot.
At Random: click here
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