Dad in hospital, gathering at Mom's house, Theresa's arrival...(ANY of you, please add text and/or photos to this post)

(posted by Mary Ann)






From my Facebook updates (newsfeed):

April 24 at 8:00am
Hanging out with all my siblings tonight :-)

April 24 at 9:09am
Just found out Dad rushed to the hospital. Update later...

Sun at 8:51am
It doesn't look good. Spiral fracture of Dad's right femur, while he was simply sitting on his bed after taking his shoes off...he heard *POP*POP*POP*!, then EXTREME PAIN. His bones are about as strong as a cigarette ash. Doing "embollism" today to keep him from bleeding to death, then surgery tomorrow. We're hoping he... doesn't have to lose his leg (at top of thigh). I HATE CANCER!!!

Mon at 11:19am
Worried about Dad, waiting for word. He is still in the 1st of 2 complicated surgeries. Hoping he won't have to lose his leg (or worse). It started at 8 am and he is still in the 1st surgery. Dad, Mom's sugery, & niece Elizabeth all in a week and a half. Sheesh!

Mon at 12:47pm
Dad now in 2nd surgery, they took him in right after embolisation procedure. Expected to finish sometime after 4pm. Using computer here in waiting room, no signal for cell phones. (UPDATE sent by Theresa.)

Tuesday at 8:17am
WHEW! Dad's surgery went well, they put his leg back together with a rod, pins, etc. (Thank God they didn't have to "take" it.) He will be on heavy pain killers for a couple of days, so we'll see how things go.

UPDATE: Wednesday, April 21, 2010

(posted by Mary Ann)

Mom eating an orange:

Mom and I had a pretty good sleep last night after watching a movie, "On Golden Pond" (Katherine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda), the movie that I took Nana to see right after we had her picture taken (the one in the pink blouse).

Mom and I enjoyed the movie, then went to bed at midnight. Got up around 9:45am. I slept on the pull-out couch again, but Mom is doing really well now, so I'm going to sleep in a real bed upstairs tonight. :-)

She took a shower by herself and put regular clothes on. Her appetite is returning, too. I played around with the tv converter box that Trish and Tom brought over, but didn't have any luck, so I installed the converter box that I brought with me from home and got it working. Don't know why there was a difference, but there was. She now gets about a dozen channels, including channel 7 and channel 56 (PBS). YAY!...and no cable bill! The reception strength is intermittent at times, but, I think that a more powerful antenna would easily fix that problem. Keep your eyes open for one and let her know if you see a good deal on one (or if you have a spare one lying around).

Elizabeth had surgery this morning. I heard all went well (Tom called Mom). She and Trish are on their way home from Cincinnati already. Hopefully Trish and Elizabeth will post a blog about it after they're rested.

Theresa versus the Volcano:
Just got off of the phone with Theresa. Her visit is back on again. She is planning to fly here on Saturday. It will be a very short visit. Hopefully she will add to this blog after she arrives at Mom's. Siobhan is coming this weekend too! :-)

Mom resting after her shower and lunch:

Early Thursday morning out in Mom's "back yard":