Our Weekend / Part 2 - Hospitals & Health

Wow, what a weekend. So much to add so I've got to compartmentalize things. First I'll go ahead and update the situation with my Dad. Valerie did summarize this somewhat already below but this was the primary cause of this being a hectic window.

From my perspective, I got the call at work on Friday morning that they had thought my dad had a stroke and was being taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way. Of course I left work immediately and headed down quickly. Hospitals being what they are, there was a lot of waiting around and very little information forthcoming. We went from maybe stroke to maybe heart attack to who knows what.

Eventually, they decided to admit him but to do that at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. Ugh, we all hate that place and really didn't want him sent there but had zero choice as that was where the powers that be wanted him.

The family has a hard history with Virginia Mason as we have all spent countless very difficult hours there a couple of years ago with my mom and going back there brings that all right back. We are all intimately familiar with the place... way more than we would like to be. Add to that the fact that it is in/near downtown Seattle making it a good long trip from home and making parking a trial of it's own.

We spent a lot of time there on and off over the weekend. Big thanks to all who helped out with our kids as they were farmed out to various places and especially to Chris and Cat who not only take the difficult Benjamin off our hands but do so with a smile and show him a way better time than we do while they have him. (See them blog about their time with Ben - Part 1 and Part 2) They will be great parents in just a few weeks.

Dad is home now with the prognosis being that he had neither stroke nor heart attack. He does have an irregular heart-beat and they will try to find the right combination of medications to regulate that. We will need to keep an extra close eye on him for a while.