At the very least, he went in on his own two feet than in an ambulance.
A bit of backstory: my dad got his family started late and hence is pretty old now (70) and he's smoked his whole life. A few months back, he had a sudden attack of weakness in his left side and believed he was having a stroke. While we called for an ambulance, the paramedics and my dad decided that going to the hospital was not necessary, as based on what he had told them (weakness, but no loss of vision, or slurred speech, or migraine headache, or any of the other stroke symptoms) meant that the hospital likely couldn't pin anything down, and my dad, being a stubborn old man who hates wasting time and hates sitting around for hours for something that would be more or less pointless (maybe) even more, ultimately decided not to go. Some research indicated that he may have suffered one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_ischemic_attack
Which are complicated because they can either be an indicator of a stroke, or happen on and off without ever leading to a stroke. My dad started taking baby aspirin and scheduled blood work and doctor's appointments, but on April 10th he was also planning to travel somewhere for a few months.
Last week, he had another incident with the same symptoms (weakness only, and he tested for the others as he suffered them). Due to the long Easter weekend, he could not get in touch with his doctor until April 11th, when he'd arrived in his trip area (ie, left home). His doctor recommended that he go to a hospital immediately, due to it having happened more than once. Fortunately, he was still in Canada, so he did. They've run some tests and come back clean, and they're keeping him overnight, so he's about as 'safe' as he can be. Hopefully it's an issue they can treat.
Still, it's making me aware that sometime in the future I might be putting up a far more depressing blog post (and chances are I won't exactly be in a writing or creative mood for who knows how long after that). I'm just hoping the time frame is in years.
Don't smoke, people. Just don't.
I hope your Dad pulls through, man. My best wishes are with your family and I hope everything stays steady.
ReplyDeleteI'd kinda wanted to mention this before, but I never found an appropriate avenue to bring it up and I thought it would be kind of a faux pas to mention it, but I guess this would be the place: Whenever I see Dross mention his smokes I get a little twisted up inside with concern.
ReplyDeleteLemme explain: Both of my parents smoked. My mom quit a long time ago (for her health and mine) and has been smoke-free since, but my dad never managed it. Neither did my grandfather on my father's side. He's dead now - passed away in his 70s. My father, meanwhile, was diagnosed with some sort of respiratory condition that's inherited genetically and will likely die if he doesn't quit. I don't know if he's quit now because he moved to Florida last year and I broke off contact with him a few years before that (my parents divorced when I was a kid because my dad was a habitual cheater and liar, and I didn't want to associate with him once I was in my late teens and knew enough). All I know is that he's not dead yet.
So what I'm saying is that I don't want to lose a friend to the ol' cancer sticks and hope that he can shake the habit (it'd save a boatload of cash, too!). But I also don't want to tell anyone how to live their life, Dross, so I won't mention this again unless you want me to for some reason.
On a lighter note, my grandfather is the polar opposite of Cornwind's father. He goes to the hospital for everything, especially when it's nothing. The dude's 90 years old and still active and driving. Great guy if you can look past his 1950's views on race.
And in that last paragraph, I'm obviously referring to my grandfather on my MOTHER'S side.
DeleteDang lack of an edit button.