When It Rains, It Pours!

[Zirconia Wolf]

*** This is basically just an "I-really-really-really-need-a-place-to-vent" post, so please don NOT feel obligated to read it or respond. ***

Long rambling story short, my 78 year old father is currently in the Hospital. He went in on Tuesday evening with internal bleeding (caused by the @#$! drugs his newest Doctor insisted he start taking) & is now awaiting surgery on a "suspicious" lump in his intestines as well as waiting for the diagnosis of a "suspicious" spot in his liver. (While things don't look to be cancerous so far, I still get a chill every time the Doctors use the word "suspicious"!)

This comes on top of the IRS believing I am hiding over 3k in bonds (wish I was) & me having to reapply for my position as a Trouble Shooter/etc for King County Elections sans any access to my resume/work history which was vaporized over a year ago when my old PC gave up the proverbial ghost. (That PC was later revived, reworked & given to my mother, in case anyone was worried about it's fate.)

My most pressing concern right now though, is my dad. He has always been SUPER sensitive to medications (which Doctors are equally super slow to realize) which has made getting his "clotting factor" back up to snuff a bit on the tricky side. As things stand now, we are hopping (if that's the right word) for an early Sunday (4/20/2008) surgery time.

So I am tired, nervous, frustrated & maybe a felon (unless I can prove otherwise to the IRS) but I just read that Eric will, in fact be updating InSim to work with Free Time so I like to believe that things just might be looking up...at least a little bit! (It's times like these that I sometimes wish I could just give up RL & be injected into one of my PC games. I'm much better as a city planner/monster slayer/story teller than I am at this whole "reality" thing...)

Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble on a bit.

I am going to bed (it's only 11:55 am here) to see if I can FINALLY get some sleep!

-ZW

[Greg]

Aw, darn; sorry to hear about your dad!

There might be some hope for your resume: A former employer might have a copy filed away somewhere.

[Sita]

<hugs Zirconia>Hope it all works out for your dad. And the tax thing, that would be very annoying.
But your new CV will be even better than the old one.

And totally agree, I want to live in my games, maybe with a lush guy I met recently in SL or maybe just in a nice Sims 2 beach house with lots of little (already potty trained) toddlers pottering around! A definite improvement on RL in both cases.

[Greg]

Sounds good to me!

(Except maybe for the luscious guy part. )

[homerette]

Here's to hoping things look up on all fronts soon. Doctors do tend to forget that patients often to know their bodies better than they do. Just because you need help doesn't mean you're totally ignorant. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[Zirconia Wolf]

Thanks for the well-wishes & kind words!

Dad has surgery at 9:30-ish this morning, so sis & I will be leaving in about an hour to be there, for whatever good it does.

Sita, I like the sound of your "game life"...& unlike Greg, I think I will opt for a lush guy! (I like the idea of pre-house trained Toddlers too! If they actually came that way in RL, I think I may have been convinced to give the "motherhood" thing a try!)

Oh- in keeping with the "rains/pours" theme (or maybe "it could be worse"?) at 6:30 pm last night I got a call from one of my Wood Carving instructors. Just as I was about to explain why I hadn't been at class last Tuesday (that's the night Dad first landed in the ER) he explained that he was calling in order to let me know that class was canceled for this next week...

...because he just lost his wife of 40+ years...
...to a ruptured colon...
...that his wife had been afraid was her cancer returning, so had delayed seeing the Doctors.

I decided not to say anything about my father's up-coming (colon/intestinal) surgery & the fact that the the reason he had an MIR of his liver was because they were trying to rule out Colon Cancer as an option. Instead, I told him how truly sorry I was & hung up the phone.

Sis & I went back to watching our "dinnertime DVD" of the evening (Spirited Away, as we are animation junkies) & watched as the falling snow outside tried it's darnedest to stick, despite it being mid April.

I think that the main reason sis & I want to be at the Hospital for dad's surgery is to get the hell away from that @#$! phone & the @#$! news it keeps on bringing us...

-ZW

[Hokieman]

ZW, I hope and pray your dad's surgery works out for the best.

[Sita]

erk
Sometimes phones are really bad... anyhow good wishes for the surgery, and I'm sorry to hear about the instructor.

OOH I love Spirited Away! Not to hijack the thread - but have you seen the other Studio Ghibli films? Since I got Spirited Away I've been collecting them )

[Zirconia Wolf]

Well, dad's surgery went off without a hitch. No signs of cancer (so far) so that's a good thing too! Today (Tuesday) marks day 7 of his hospital adventure, & he's getting anxious to come home!

Sita; in addition to Spirited Away (as far as Japaneses style animation goes) I have seen Howl's Moving Castle, The Castle In The Sky & Princess Moninoki (not sure I spelled it correctly...or even if it's a Studio Ghibli film...)

The Castle In The Sky was (to me) the weakest of the bunch (didn't feel quite as polished) but the others I adore. Being a wolf fanatic (duh!) I have a special affection for Princess Moninoki, especially when Jillian Anderson (who voiced the "Wolf Goddess" in the American dubbed version) delivers the lovely speech about wanting to "...bite that fool woman's head off" as her dying act. (Love, love, LOVE that line! Guess you have to see the movie & be a wolf advocate to understand...my apologies to those who are reading this & saying "what the @#$% is she blathering about now???") I know alot of the American movie going public just doesn't "get" the Japanese way/kind of stories, but I love the imagination & depth they have.

I haven't seen Kiki's Delivery Service or My Neighbor Totoro, as sis & I aren't sure if they're too "kiddie" for us...but then again, we're fans/collectors of Pixar flicks, so it's not like I can say we will NEVER see them...

...and with that, this thread has been officially hijacked!

-ZW

[Greg]

Yippee! I can sympathize with your dad. I hate hospitals and I've never even had to stay overnight in one! At least not as a patient, that is.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled threadjacking.

[Sita]

Yes, I love Howl's Moving Castle best, and Princess Mononoke second best... great eco-warrior tale. Would need to look at the DVDs to see what else we have. It was someone in SL that recommended Spirited Away, and I'm most grateful.

I am SO glad your dad came through his surgery all right and with good results. Now all he has to do is get better! <hugs and prayers>

I usually discharge myself when I am incarcerated in one of those places, Greg. You've been very lucky, long may it continue! They are particularly horrible to those of us, like Z's dad, who are sensitive to meds or to certain things in the hospital environment, like me to dust...

[homerette]

More threadjacking interruption to say Yay about your da's successful and uneventful surgery. Let's hope it stays that way! Resume threadjacking....now!