This afternoon my father in law called. He’s been fighting a nasty cold, and said he has having pain in his abdomen. My wife told him to go to urgent care, and he said he would.
Then we never heard back from him. After the girls went to bed, we started trying to get ahold of him, but he wasn’t picking up either his cell phone or his landline.
I decided to go check on him. I figured I would likely find him asleep in front of the TV. Instead I found his car running in the driveway with its tracks snowed over, his front door closed, but not latched. He woke up startled when I went inside, he had been “asleep” in the bathroom. I dialed 911.
Apparently he had tried to go to urgent care. It’s about a mile and three turns away, but he couldn’t find it. So, he went home. Next thing he knew, I showed up.
They’re still trying to figure out what exactly is happening, but he has a really bad infection. I’m damn glad I went to check on him.
Update: He has a perforation in his colon, thus causing a massive infection.
Second update: They’re going to do surgery this afternoon. I guess this could either be diverticulitis, or polyps. They’re going to go in and see what the cause is, and fix it either way.
This morning my wife said, “You know, you probably saved his life. Thank you.”
Honestly, that hadn’t occurred to me. I was so wrapped up in the moment of figuring out what was going on, and getting him the help he needed, that there wasn’t time to think of any what-ifs. What if he just laid there all night sweating to death (he was sweating like crazy and very dehydrated), with his insides trying to fight a septic infection? That was way too close of a call for comfort.
I’m running on 3-1/2 hours sleep. Just trying to plow through the day and shoot home, so my wife can go visit him at the hospital. Kids aren’t allowed in the ICU, so she’s stuck at home with them. My bosses have told me I can leave whenever, if anything urgent pops up.
Update #3:
The surgery went well. They cut out a small piece of his small intestine that had a small hole and reconnected the rest. Doc thinks he’ll be able to go home early this week.
I’m home now with the kids, and my wife is on the way to the hospital to see him finally.
Thanks for all the well wishes and such. It’s great to have you all to talk to. It was especially cathartic to have a place to spill it in the middle of the night, when all my non-internet friends and the rest of my family were sleeping. Oppo rules :)