Sunday, November 28, 2010

32, the Flu, Dad's Stroke, and JerrySpringerville

Last Monday was my 32nd birthday. We celebrated by taking advantage of a secret Black Monday sale at a comic shop and knocked a couple of Absolute editions off of my wish list. That night, we started to feel the early symptoms. Tuesday was more of the same, but Wednesday was miserable. At least Jillian didn't have a fever. Mine broke early Thanksgiving morning - and Wash decided it was the perfect time for breakfast.

For Thanksgiving, we had some fake drumsticks from May Wah, sweet potato corn bread, wild rice with cranberries & almonds, lentil loaf, mushroom gravy, roasted garlic & veggies, mashed potatoes, pecan pie, and cranberry cheesecake. We spent the rest of the day and Friday just resting.

Saturday we started to finally organize our bookshelves. We're through half of the books (not counting the comics on the shelves, they've been organized since Day One), and almost out of shelf space.

It was 2:30 AM when I realized Mom had called me multiple times, with two vague messages of "call me back, it's important!" So I called, and surprisingly, Mom was quick to answer. That morning, Dad had felt dizzy, and his left fingers were tingling, and soon had a strong headache. He told Mom to call an ambulance.

Meanwhile, his own mother was in the hospital having ten pounds of fluid drained, for the second time.

Dad was taken to the local hospital and had some tests. He had a "small" stroke. There wasn't any blood in his brain, but there was a lot of pressure on his eyes. Aside from that, Dad seemed okay; he was awake and functional. Mom said that he was in better shape than she was. The doctors had him transferred to Albany. Barring any other problems, he should be released in a few days.

Now, for the Jerry Springer part of our show:

My ex-brother-in-law is engaged to a woman who doesn't want him to have any ties to his previous life, and she doesn't know her ass from her elbow. He owes my parents a lot of money, and one day he calls up my sister and tells her that she'll have to pay it, that he's not doing it anymore. So Mom calls and leaves a generic message at his home and on his cell phone. He then texts my sister saying that if Mom calls him again, he'll charge her with harassment. And I'm pretty sure that he has custody of the kids, since it was my sister who left for another man (and that sure as hell didn't work out).

Edit:

Dad came home Monday night. They couldn't find anything else wrong with him. He just has to take aspirin for the rest of his life.