Strike Day Seven

Not a good night, last night. Got a call that dad needed some help so my mom goes down there to take care of him. I get there and she had just called the ambulance. He was having a hard time breathing.

They take him to the emergency room and I get there a little while later after locking his place up. They call me into the room and he talks to me a little bit and then things start crashing. I'm watching his numbers go way down. Alarms start going off. Lots of nurses and two doctors come in and he dies. No heartbeat, still breathing. Doctor tells me it is an autoresponse.

And just after I call my brother that dad has passed away, he wakes up and starts talking again! He asks my mom if she had put out his cigarette and his numbers go back up.

The doctors and nurses shrug, tell me they have never seen that before, ever. They said it just doesn't happen like that. So we get to to talk to him more, essentially we get a second chance to talk. I bring mom and The Date back into the room so they can visit. They decide to run tests and determine everything that's wrong.

He had a heart attack. They arranged to get a room and squared him away for the night at about one A.M.

I came home. I poured a scotch. I just had to decompress a little bit. I stayed up until a little after two.

This morning I talked to his nurse and dad is essentially in a coma. Strong heartbeat, just unresponsive. I'm glad I got to talk to him last night. It helped me square up a lot. I understand it might have been the last time I got to talk to him.

I pray none of you are ever in a similar situation with your parents. It has been really tough.