Best Laid Plans...

As I mentioned last weekend, my dad, stepmom and aunt were set to arrive in Chicago this past Thursday morning. On Wednesday evening as we were eating our dinner, I received a phone call from my dad. He and Marcia (my stepmom) were on their way to the ER. Marcia had been suffering a splitting headache since 3am, and as the day wore on, she began vomiting and her blood pressure spiked.

Long story short, she has been on Coumadin every since a heart surgery a couple of years ago, and it caused a blood clot in her brain. When they gave her medication to flush the Coumadin (to prep for emergency surgery), it caused a heart attack. SHE IS OK NOW. After a very scary day (the clot caused some brain swelling that created a lot of confusion - she thought is was 2002 and didn't remember why she wasn't in Chicago), she is now stable. They inserted a drain to help with the brain swelling, and her heart does not appear to have much damage. Right now we are watching her blood pressure, and looking at 3x/daily CAT scans to track the clot.

When all of this happened, Michael was in Seattle on a business trip and not scheduled to return to Chicago until Tuesday. I had a lot of wonderful friends and co-workers offering to help with the kids, but I just couldn't conceive of leaving without Michael coming home first. It was just too overwhelming for me. Thank goodness, our company always puts family first. I left yesterday morning at 4:30am. Michael was home yesterday by dinner.

If things continue to stabilize, I'm aiming to get home before another work week begins, but right now I'm just trying to keep my dad company. My brother is here from Miami as well. The weekend family reunion is now in a hospital waiting room, but we are together.