Tuesday, December 23, 2008

family stuff

First, to anyone who reads this and wonders why I haven't just come to you and told you about this, I am a terrible talker...especially when I'm upset or feeling emotional. I have a very hard time putting my thoughts and feelings into spoken words, and I have a bad habit of turning my troubled emotions into anger. This makes talking about things very difficult for me. I write things much more clearly, and this just happens to be one of those things that I know I would have difficulty speaking. Okay? Thanks.

My younger sister called me this morning and told me that my dad has been admitted to the hospital. He thought he had the flu for about a week now, and today he told my mom that he thought his blood pressure was too high. My older sister is a nurse and went over to take his BP for him, and it was high but not alarmingly high. My dad decided to go to the doctor, and asked my sister to drive him (this in itself was odd). My mom had to stay home with my grandma or she would have taken him. Anyway, he and my older sis got to the doctor and they sent him to the ER immediately. When he got there, his PULSE was over 250 bpm and he was starting to have trouble breathing. This is where it gets scary: they gave him some sedative thing that essentially puts a person into a coma, so they aren't aware of what's going to happen. Then they had to use paddles to shock his heart back to normal rate. Well, this worked, which is good, because it means it most likely was NOT a stroke or a heart attack. Last I'd heard the doctor thought it could be a blood clot in his lung. And my dad's side of the family has a history of heart problems/disease. So the doctor is admitting him and keeping him, most likely through Christmas. I guess a heart doctor was on the way to start the tests and so forth. But here I am, over 1000 miles away and feeling completely useless and freaked out. And I know the only thing I can do is pray that my family remembers that God has this under His control. So if you could, would you please remember my dad when you pray next? I really appreciate it.

Teagan Riley Clark