What a week!

I started this week with lofty goals. I would start by going to work on Monday (a day off) and fulfill my latest work vision of getting a specialized Central Line Care team trained and on target to reducing central line infections. Then I would go home and set up the Christmas tree and decorations while doing oodles of laundry that had once again accumulated. By Wednesday, I could just kick back and relax...perfect! Then came reality.

The central line team is something that I have been passionate about for a long time, but did not have the backing from the management neccessary to make a reality. Finally, the break came and the go ahead was given. I intended to be at work for a couple of hours on Monday, get things going, and then go home. Well, I was there for a couple of hours, plus a few. During that time, my mom called and left a strange message. "Hey M.issy, it's Mom." (ok so that part was normal) then "I need you to call me when you get the chance. Call as soon as possible." I can only recall 2 other times that my mom had left a message like that. 1 When my grandpa N. had a heart attack and passed away suddenly and 2. when my grandpa G. had rolled his truck and had been life flighted to Iowa City hospitals. I knew I was not looking forward to what she was going to say. When I called back, mom told me that my dad had been in a car accident on his mail route. He'd slid through a stop sign on icy roads and had been hit by a pickup. He was in the hospital in Newton and was in a lot of pain...mainly in his chest when he took a deep breath. The nurse in me started to react. Hmmm...chest pain on inhalation...it has to be something respiratory...being thrown around in a car...OK got it..."Mom, did they do a chest x-ray" Of course they had and there were no broken bones, but they would do another one before he was discharged. The repeat x-ray showed a pneumothorax (collapsed lung). A chest tube was put in and I decided that I would go and be with him and mom until I had to go back to work. When I arrived at the hospital, he looked pretty crappy. He'd received a lot of pain meds and had a bandage on top of his head covering a couple of staples and a large cut. Shelli and Mom were both there with him. His left shoulder had a large bruise and a grapefruit sized hematoma. The chest tube was in and draining a small amount. The bedside monitor showed his vitals within normal limits. Whew~what a relief~he was going to be OK!

By Wednesday, Dad was ready for discharge. The chest tube was out, the lung re-expanded and pain was controlled with pain pills. He was starting to act too "good" to be in the hospital. He spent several hours watching cattle auctions on tv on Tues. That channel should be banned. It is rediculous. I can still hear the auctioneer bantering away in the recesses of my brain. Dad also spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many of the nurses that cared for him were on his mail route--there were two--which was quite embarassing. He liked it that the nurses would bring him whatever he asked for, but most of all he liked explaining his expectations of mom for when they went home. He practiced by refusing to use his sliverware and making her feed him. More than once she reminded him that his arms were not broken, but that could change.

The rest of the week (so far) has been relatively uneventful. Other than driving home in a snowstorm, taking the day off work on Thursday because I was sick, and finally getting the Christmas tree up nothing much has happened. Oh yeah, and Craig got home from his trip to Maryland.

I learned that I have a habit of taking so much for granted. Before the accident I saw my family on Saturday evening. I don't even really remember saying goodbye to my dad before we left. What if he would have slid just a little farther and the truck sent him tumbling off the road and rolling down an embankment. Those types of accidents are often deadly. Wow...