What a difference a week makes…
Less than 10 days ago I was feeling pretty smug and cozy…surrounded by my wools, beads and long walks on the beach with JJ…I should have known there’d be a challenge waiting on the horizon…
Last Saturday Dad called…from the hospital…without any forewarnings, he’d had a heart attack during the night and was in the hospital recovering from surgery. Bless my wonderful husband, while I was still on the phone getting the details, Steven was on Kayak.com finding me a flight from Bangor to Sarasota for Sunday. It was a long flight but I continue to be astonished at the ease of travel available to us at the end of the Earth and basically how reasonable the flight rates were.
Dad’s doing fine, just tired and a bit queasy as he tries to adjust to the myriad of medications he’s suddenly taking. Our current days are occupied with doctor’s follow-ups and navigating the pharmaceutical industry that we once called a trip to the pharmacy. Having learned quite a bit about the system with Mom’s illness, at least we knew to only fill a five day prescription until we saw how Dad’s body reacted to the new drugs…five days of pills from Walgreen’s cost a whopping $120. After a full day of investigating, we learned that there was no cost benefits to joining a prescription insurance plan and that Target sells the majority of the drugs he needs at$4/month…the lesson learned, don’t buy from Walgreen’s unless you have no other choice.
The upside is that I’m enjoying an unexpected respite in the sun between appointments. Not that I don’t enjoy the snow but honestly, who can scoff at a few days of powdery white sands and 75 degrees of sunshine? I’ve cleaned Dad’s gardens, and eaten great foods in front of a man who is suddenly on a low sodium, low cholesterol diet…but I still have to eat, right? I’ll be flying back to Boston on Christmas Eve after I help dad onto a flight to my brother’s in Indiana…he’ll continue his recuperation under the watchful eye of Shelley and her boys until the middle of January. If I don’t manage another posting before the New Year, Merry Christmas and best wishes to all.