nothing prepares you in life for helplessness. it’s frustrating and all so completely circular when there is no way of fixing it: it always just rolls back and hits you in the face.
so the story goes like this:
step dad went in two weeks ago for a simple colonoscopy (although i doubt he or any guy would call it that. they had not even prepped him for surgery when they took his pulse and found it to be twice the normal rate! 150bpm. (that’s man on a mission for those who are curious.)
so they injected him with meds that would alleviate this so they could continue prep. nope. nothing. injected him again (now 2x normal dosage). slowed it down for all of two minutes.
hospitalized him. for 3 days. after a battery, an array or whatever of tests and scans—which revealed nothing bad except a possible yet indistinguishable mass in his lungs—they forced him (almost against his will, he was cranky) to stay one more night so they could perform a procedure on him. It called for anethesia followed by a camera, down his throat, to make sure that mass wasn’t a blood clot (it wasn’t). this was done to ensure he would survive the procedure. they then shocked the f*ck out of his heart. boom. done.
after that debacle and laborious week, another one quickly ensued.
one the way home from the hospital, mom drives into walgreens pharmacy to pick up stepdad’s meds (he’ll need to take these heart meds for the rest of his life.)
have you ever heard of bump and run? it’s this thing where you’ll be somewhere, and someone bumps your cart of groceries and, as you look up confused/distracted, they steal your wallet out of your purse. usually done by two people, i’ve heard.
so, while my mom was standing in line to purchase meds for my step dad, a woman stole my mom’s wallet. over 200 dollars, plus all the annoyance of the license and credit cards gone.
quite the week, yes? well, it gets better (aka worse).
a week later, my mom falls in the living room and breaks her foot in two places. she waited a week for the swelling to go down and then had surgery on the foot where the doctor placed a plate near the broken bone. this plate may be there forever.
quite the 3 week period huh? so this little story goes out to all of you with old parents/grandparents who live far away from where you do. nothing is more frustrating than not being able to do anything for them. for those of you whose parents live close, go by and give them a good squeeze for me.
get better soon, mom and step dad…
Chance
