Dad and I were supposed to go to Walla Walla to visit Angie this past weekend. I got Friday off so we could make it a long one. We were going to see Angie and Brian’s new home, visit, sightsee, and eat.
Angie had a whole agenda planned including a list of the meals she was going to fix – huckleberry pancakes for dad and lots of veggies for me.
None of that happened.
Stanley, the cat, was showing signs of a really bad allergy attack on Wednesday, so I had dad call the vet during the day. The vet said to bring him in – sounded like more than allergies. We took him in at 6:30 pm and $157.00 later took him home with antibiotics and fluids. The vet thought he had laryngitis.
At 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning I was awakened by Stanley trying desperately to get his breath. He was choking. A wild trip to the vet, three hours, and $239.00 later, they sent me home with pain meds and a cat that most likely had an upper respiratory infection.
I fell into bed at 4:30 a.m.
At 6:00 a.m. dad woke me up out of a sound sleep. He was standing by the side of the bed, his hand to the side of his head with blood dripping off his elbow. “I think I need your help,” he said. “I fell in the garden and hit my head.”
As I endeavored to staunch the flow of blood he told me he had gone out to feed the squirrels and the birds, slipped on a round rock in the garden and hit his head on the metal top of the birdbath. The metal top is a sundial and therefore not attached to the concrete bottom – thank heaven. He did enough damage with the metal top flying off.
I didn’t think it needed stitches so, bandaged and asprin-ed, he went to sit in his favorite chair with the paper and a cup of coffee.
I went back to bed, sick at my stomach from one emergency after another and lack of sleep.
When I finally got up at about 10:00 a.m. I had to call Angie and Ruth and tell them we were not coming/going. I had a cat to medicate and a dad that now had a throbbing headache. I stayed home from work and took dad to an already scheduled doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. The doctor complimented me on my bandaging and told dad he had the option of a stitch or not. Dad opted for NOT.
Friday I chose to work. Why take a vacation day when I wasn’t going anywhere? I grumbled and groused. I really hated missing my time with Angie.
But, Saturday morning all was to be revealed – the underlying reason for my foiled plans - the power behind the universe – the hand of my guardian angel – whatever.
Dad had a heart attack. We barely made it across the street to the hospital. If we had been at Angie’s, fifteen miles up a dirt road, twenty-five minutes from the hospital in Walla Walla, he wouldn’t have made it.
He had ten medical personnel working on him and three trying to calm my down in the hall. I kept saying, “I just lost my mom in April. I can’t lose him too.”
He is sleeping comfortably at the hospital now. He will have tests run today and will hopefully come home soon.
If it hadn’t been for the cat being sick, we would have been in Walla Walla far from medical treatment. Henry, my guardian angel knew I would stay home for a sick cat so he took care of things as usual. I have gotten used to listening for his little taps on the shoulder. Now I need to remember not to grumble or grouse until I see the end result. I had to apologize to him in my prayers last night.
I am exhausted and need to get some rest from the last four days. Hopefully, that will come soon.
Stanley is on the road to recovery.
Life does go on – thankfully.
No comments:
Post a Comment