Estoy Nueces

I am back after an extra long weekend in Dallas. I went straight to the hospital to see Dad on Saturday and he was doing pretty good and had the cap on his trach so we were able to talk a bit more. He did ask if he was going to have to move to Houston. I said "Houston?" and he said "Yes, with the company" like a transfer I assured him that he wouldn't have to move to Houston. He also wanted me to get him some Robutussin Cough Syrup. I said I preferred Mucinex (just making conversation) and he wanted me to give him one of those. The man hasn't learned to swallow water yet, I'm sure not giving him a pill! They took him for a CT scan after I left. They said his white blood cell count was high and they wanted to check his head and neck and see if there was any cancer cells left. (there wasn't)

I left there and went to have lunch with my in-laws. My mother-in-law has been giving Mark a bit of attitude about his not having visited my father. I am perfectly okay with Mark staying home and working while I'm not staying home and making money. I'm glad he can. They had a good lunch, as always, she's a good cook, but everything is always so formal at their house. I long for the day she'll make a sandwich for me and we'll eat at the kitchen table, or in the den! But, no, it is always a sit-down, formal meal at the dining room table with china and pretty silverware and glassware.

I visited them and then went back to the hospital for another visit, then out to my Mom's. I brought her a hamburger. I worked on logs and we searched for anything to watch on TV. Without college football to entertain us, it was pretty dull. We watched That Girl and Flip This House.

Sunday we got to the hospital and found Dad sitting up in the chair and looking really good. They had his bed made and said that he would be moving to a regular room! A big improvement. So we visited and cut his hair and tried to shave him, but his razor is crappy. He was doing really well and I could understand most of what he said. He didn't say anything delusional.

We walked with the nurse and Dad in a wheelchair all the way across the hospital to his new regular room with a great view of Dallas. It was cold and grey and wet outside, but the trees and hills were pretty. He got situated, but was very cold and didn't feel good, we could tell. He wanted a cough drop (his cure-all to everything), but we had to tell him no. Turns out later we learned how bad his throat was hurting.

But we didn't know at that point so we went on home. I got a 30 minute nap before the Cowboys played. Should have slept through their game. They lost terribly to New Orleans. I like New Orleans, but I didn't want them to win!

Monday I was planning on driving with Mom separately to her appointment so I could leave to go back to Austin if I needed to. But at 6 a.m. the hospital called and they had moved Daddy back to ICU. He was coughing up blood in the night, so they moved him and did a bronchoscope and determined that his trach tube had scratched his throat and caused the blood. They had him back on a ventilator so that he could rest. We called my sister to go see about him and we went to Mom's appointment. Her mammogram and liver test were fine and we got that done. By this time I had called work and gotten covered for the afternoon show. I had tracked half of it, but I should have just tracked the whole damn thing. I'm mad at myself now for not doing that.

Mom still didn't want to go to the hospital (we thought she should have), but I went down and met my sister there and saw Dad. Completely different man from Sunday. He was so miserable and felt so bad. He couldn't get comfortable and he had a fever. His white blood cell count was down, which was good, though. He had blood all around his trach tube. While we were there they took him back off of the ventilator and let him breathe on his own again. We are hoping they will move him to an LTAC hospital today that is closer to Mom's side of the world where she can drive herself to it.

My sister and I went to lunch. I really didn't want to stay and kill more time, but she seemed to need the company. She is worn out, too, and she really does have to do stuff to get ready for Christmas. I can just pretty much ignore the whole holiday. I finally left Dallas at 3 pm and had to fight the long fight through downtown. Finally got back to Austin at 7 p.m. I stayed at work until 9 p.m. tracking the Virginia show and doing production and getting music into the system. Came home beat.

Mark had a great night at the club on the eastside last night. The best night they'd ever had, he said. They all got paid well and tipped the door girls well, too. I was bone tired and went to bed by midnight.

Today it is back to work. There is a company lunch at 12 that I probably should be there for. I am just not feeling festive, that's for sure. Tonight there is a party for a former co-worker's birthday. I will go to that and try to participate.