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Update on Dad

Posted by barb on Jul 30, 2006 in Random Thoughts

Dad’s still in the hospital in Denver. He’s going alright – mostly bored and lonely. He’s now in his own room, so out of ICU. They want to keep him for one more test today, and then he’ll probably be discharged tomorrow.

I think we’ve almost convinced him to go back to Minnesota, rather than stay on the job in Colorado. Not that he’d be dumb enough to actually start working, but he could stay in a supervisory role, answering questions and all. But my brother let my 4-year-old niece talk to Dad. Apparently Dave had told her a bit about what was going on, and she was upset (as we all are). So, she talked with Dad one evening, told him she missed him and wanted him to come home. Sure, hearing it from me, my brothers and my mom wasn’t enough. He needs a 4-year old to get him to do the right thing. Still…he’s stubborn, just like the rest of the family…so he may stay out there.

I’m leaving for Boston in just a few minutes, and I’ve already been informed that I’ll have crappy internet service this week, so updates may be few in the next week.

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Update on Dad

Posted by barb on Jul 28, 2006 in Random Thoughts

I just talked with Dad. He had a “heart cath” this morning so they could check his heart and valves. He hasn’t talked with the doctor yet, but he knows that he’s had two more stents put in and hear something about an aneurysm (according to WebMD, that’s a stretched and bulging section of a blood vessel). He should know more this evening, so I’ll let my brothers or Mom call him and report back to me. He also thought he might be moved to a room outside the ICU later this evening.

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My very own PhD fairy!

Posted by barb on Jul 27, 2006 in Random Thoughts, Thesis/Grad Life

My PhD fairy!

My crazy aunt, Maggie, just knew that I’ve been having trouble motivating myself on my thesis lately. Her solution? A PhD fairy! How awesome is that?

The card she sent says:

This is your own personal PhD fairy.
She loves to do RESEARCH!
Put her on your computer and watch the numbers start to CRUNCH!
She also gives OOMPH when you’ve had enough.

Now I have to finish. Yay!

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Home for the afternoon…

Posted by barb on Jul 27, 2006 in Random Thoughts

..and not for good reasons.

My brother e-mailed me during lunch that Dad’s in the hospital. He had been having chest pains and when he went to the emergency room, his EKG did not come back right. Unfortunately, Dad is in Colorado for work right now (he and the rest of my family live in Minnesota, I live in Virginia), so he’s away from his family, in a strange hospital with only his “guys” (what he calls the guys he works with) at his side. Fortunately he’s got someone he knows, at least, but according to my brother, he’s feeling a bit scared and alone (who wouldn’t). To top it off, he’s in a small town which doesn’t have a cardiologist on staff (yikes!), so they’re transporting him to Denver. So, I won’t know anything for a few hours (more than an hour to get to Denver, and a couple hours for tests, etc.). He is stable and alert, at the last report – he even talked with Mom while in the ambulance to Denver). But, I decided to come home for the afternoon – I’m no good at work right now.

I’ll update when I can/when I have news.

Update 6:25 PM: Dad’s in Denver, and the doctor thinks that he may have had another heart attack. He’ll be having an angiogram in the morning. I talked with him on the phone, and he sounds in okay spirits. He’s all alone in an ICU in a city away from all his friends and family, so he’s as good as he can sound right now.

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Holiday Drama

Posted by barb on Dec 24, 2005 in Pictures, Random Thoughts

Andrew and I arrived in Montreal yesterday without any incident – all of our luggage even arrived (which, if you know me, is a bit of a triumph). Despite Andrew’s mom’s worries, I was able to drive to Hemmingford with no trouble, though the directions we got from Yahoo were a bit odd (Andrew didn’t recognize bits of the ride, which we later discovered was because we took a totally different way from his parents). We spent a quiet evening with his parents.

Dolphin Slipper

After sleeping in this morning, we headed off to a mall on the South Shore, where Andrew bought me another Christmas present – dolphin slippers. The main point of our trip was to get Andrew a new pair of boots, and we were successful on that point. The mall was busy, but we were able to navigate it without too much trouble.

When we returned to his parent’s house, I had expected a message from my parents – they were going to call sometime Christmas Eve. But there was no message. Andrew and his mom got busy making Christmas Eve dinner, and I settled in the living room to work on Sudoku.

Finally, after dinner, a call came from my mom. Dad was in the hospital. He’d had a heart attack yesterday. He’s doing fine now – they put in two more stents and he needs to stay home from work for a week or two. But, they’re probably going to send him home tomorow morning. The whole family – my brothers and their families, mom, and grandma – all went to the hospital this morning with all of the Christmas gifts and celebrated in Dad’s hospital room. Then they all had dinner in the hospital cafeteria (except Dad, who had his Christmas Eve dinner in his room alone).

As if that wasn’t enough, Mom passed the phone on to my brother, Kevin. He was staying at my parents’ house for a little while because he found out yesterday that his live-in girlfriend had been cheating on him. She had profiles up on Match.com and SingleMoms.com. Yup. She and her two kids had been living at Kevin’s house for about a year (I can’t remember exactly how long), and she had singles profiles up. Lovely. So, Kevin left the house, and told her to move out.

After talking with everyone else at Mom’s house, I spent a quiet evening with Andrew’s parents tonight. I’ve been fighting back tears – there’s nothing like a family emergency to remind us how fragile life can be. I have a feeling I’ll have a good cry in bed tonight. I wish I were home to be with the family.

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Shelves!

Posted by barb on Jun 25, 2005 in Pictures

Andrew and I flew Dad in to help us put up some shelves in my office closet and our guest room closet. We have a lot of stuff, and our house doesn’t have much storage (the apartment I lived in before we moved here had two walk-in closets, and I had filled them…the house has no walk-in closets).

It only took a few hours of work, and I now have the Closetmaid system in both closets. In fact, after watching Dad put them up (and constantly bugging him with questions about what he was doing), I think I’d be comfortable putting this system up in our bedroom closets…should we decide that we want something different.

Yay! I have shelves!!!

Here are a couple of pictures:
New shelves in my office closet   New shelves in the guest closet

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MN, Briefly

Posted by barb on Apr 8, 2005 in Pictures

Flew home today for Sweetie’s party tomorrow, and I was able to see my two nieces this evening. Yay! Sadly, I missed Brock on this visit, but I’m hoping to see him when I’m back in May/June.

Kira and Sofia:
Kira  Sofia with her shoe

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