A Weekend with My Family

I decided to head to Lawrenec on Saturday to spend some time with my family.  My mother had telephoned me the day before informing me that my father was admitted into the hospital for congestive heart failure.  Saturday's are always an extra busy day at their house as the family gathers and either goes garage saleing or just hangs at the house.  It was a great opportunity for me to see some of the older nieces that I may not have seen yet.  Tom decided to stay in Fairhaven with the dogs, so this afforded me the opportunity to do whatever I needed for my father without worrying about lakes or balls.

I got to my folk's home in the morning which gave me an opportunity to talk with my mom about the condition of my father.  It seems he wasn't  feeling up to par in Canada, but kept it quiet.  He had a doctor's appointment the day before and they admitted him via ambulance, leaving his car at the Manchester VA Medical Center.

I got on the internet and tried to find some more information on his condition.  I did notice that there were a  number of consistent reasons why this would happen.  The first was too much sodium, stemming from a poor diet.  The need to exercise was also there as well as other health concerns which my father lives with.

My mother, Karen and I went up in the late afternoon to see him and to get more information.  When we got to the hospital in Concord, NH, we found his room and found a smiling man hooked up to a few machines.  The doctor was unavailable, as it was late in the afternoon, but we had an opportunity to talk to the floor nurse.  Yes it was congestive heart failure.  Yes the doctor would be in tomorrow.  No she couldn't answer many other questions.

It was decided that I would stay over my folk's house that night and go back in the morning to visit with the doctor.  We wrote down a lot of questions for him, preparing for the next day.  Needless to say, we were concerned.

We arrived back home and I settled on the couch for a nights sleep.  I awoke early and we planned our day to include picking up my dad's car and to visit with the doctor.  When we arrived at the hospital, my father was looking good.  We talked more about his diet and how to make some better choices and menu planning.

We met with the doctor, who was quite nice and answered all of our written down questions.  He would be released the following day after a few more tests and then hooked up with a dietician and a monitor system for his vitals.  It seemed that everything will be good for the time being.

We picked up his car in Manchester and I followed my mother home.  We got back and I was a bit anxious to get back to Fairhaven to Tom & the dogs.  My mother, nicely, slipped me some cash.  It is something she often does when I drive home from CA.  It always helps the gas bill and it makes her feel good because she often treats my sisters throughout the year.  It seems "fair" to her.

I got back to Fairhaven early evening and in enough time to go to Waterfront Grille for a late dinner.  I was hoping for a better meal than the Catwalk and was pleased that it was.  I was feeling a little flush with my mother's cash in my pocket.  We both had some chowder and fish for dinner.  There was very little local fish though.  Why?  You would think that there would be so much fresh local fish being on the waterfront.  It's something I will never understand.