giza | Parents Update (Reply)

I visited Dad again at the hospital today. He's even better and is off the morphine. The hospital got him hooked up with a walker and he's been able to get around on his own on a very limited basis. I picked up 3 different newspapers for him on the way in, which he greatly appreciated. There's a good chance that he'll be discharged tomorrow. There is still some uncertainty as to where he will go once out of the hospital, since the plan was for my mom to originally take care of him. Speaking of which...

I spoke with my aunt on the phone a short while ago. First, she further clarified what got my mom into the hospital: it was pancreatitis caused by the gallstones. So while some attempt has been made to deal with the gallstones, the main issue is that her pancreas is still inflamed. This in turn has caused some of her enzyme levels to rise which apparently is not good. Also, her body temperature keeps fluctuating, so the doctors are unclear if she has an infection or if a stone is just moving back and forth. Until they find the cause, they cannot operate. All the while, she's in a significant amount of pain. My aunt described the pain level as 5 on a scale of 10, and that's with morphine. I believe the plan is "wait and see" on what they will do over the next few days.

As for me, the main effect this all seems to have had on me is that I've been just plain tired. It's two subway rides to get to the hospital my dad is at, but it sure seems to take a lot out of me. I think my weekend plans are going to be: clean up the apartment tonight, finish up AC stuff tomorrow, pick up