A Very Stressful Day

Yesterday I went over to my parents house to do some work on a trailer on their property. They had rented it out, and the renters moved, leaving a mess. It not only needed cleaned, but there are repairs that need made to it also. I had intended to fix a hole in the floor caused by a leaking air conditioner and clean the kitchen ceiling, which looked like it took the brunt of a french fry vat explosion.

We were about an hour & a half into the work (Dad is the supervisor), when Dad got a call. His only remaining nephew had suffered a heart attack, and his sister (his only sibling) wasn't handling it well. He was told that he was needed to help calm his sister.

Well, we stopped work, and started getting ready to head to my aunt's house. Dad called her house and got the answering machine. Where is she? Dad called back the person who called him and was told that she was at Katie's house. (Disclaimer: If you are reading my blog and say, "that not so-and-so's name", I don't use real names on my blog. If you can't figure out who someone is, ask me in person.). Dad said he had to go to the bathroom before we left, so that gave me a few minutes to slip under the trailer to check out the floor from below. Just as I was heading under, I heard a loud "THUMP". I hollered in "You OK?", no response. I ran back into the trailer to find that Dad had fallen, and had lodged himself between a couple piles of things that had been left behind. He was laying on his left side,pinning his arm down, and is cell phone was in his left pants pocket (since he is left handed). Had I not been there, there would have been no way he could have gotten himself out of that predicament. He had talked earlier in the day of coming down to the trailer and working by himself to help clean it up. I told him that wasn't a good idea. His fall put the exclamation point on my statement.

When we got through the fall, we got in my truck and went to Katie's. She didn't know anything was going on. Dad makes another call. Guess what, we were at the wrong Katie's. It just so happens that my cousin's wife is also named Katie. We got back into the truck and headed over to my cousin's house. At this point we still don't have any conformation about the severity of the heart attack Eli had. When we got there, there was an emergency squad and a dozen cars. The paramedics had Aunt Bessie hooked to several monitors and using a breathing mask. (This is the Aunt I spoke of in Flashback Friday #4 dealing with the "Tingler") We discovered when we got there that Eli's heart attack was quite massive, and he died in his sleep. The morgue hadn't picked him up yet because they were having trouble finding the Coroner. Dad asked me if I would take him into the bedroom, to see Eli one last time. He was curled on his left side sleeping the sleep that one never awakens from. I had never seen a dead body outside a funeral home before this.

The medics (and family members) convinced Aunt Bessie to go to the Emergency room to get checked out. Some of her vitals indicated that she may also have had a heat attack, due to the stress. She had only been out of the hospital for a week, due to several breathing issues. I then helped Dad into the truck, and off to the ER we went.

After several tests, it was determined that most of the symptoms she was experiencing were due from anxiety, but there were a couple that came back iffy. It was suggested that she go to a hospital in Columbus, where there are heart specialist on duty around the clock. She originally didn't want to go there because when her dad (my grandfather) had his heart attack, that is where he went, and he died. It is also the place where her mother (my grandmother) was taken after she had her stroke. She also died there. This is where Dad had his heart surgery and knows the doctors better tan we wish he did. He convinced he to go, and she agreed.

My brother, Sir Gattabout, and his wife stopped by Aunt Bessie's house to pick up some things that she had requested, and went to Columbus to help Aunt Bessie get settled in. I took Dad home because leg was starting to ache from the fall. I told Mom that I would stay with Dad until she got home from work. When she arrived, I laid out what had transpired. I then headed home. By the time I got home, it was going on 7PM. Since my wife was waiting for me for supper, we went out to eat. After rambling through dinner, I chilled with a movie while my wife got the stuff ready for today's family reunion (Mom's side). I have a good wife.

Please pray for the family with the funeral coming later this week. Aunt Bessie lost one son at age 17, the other on yesterday at 55. Ironically the time line on my Flashback Friday post is at the point of her younger son's death in a car wreck. Last week, I was tossed between which post to do. The Lawnmower was the easy out. Friday I face the more difficult one.