On Thursday morning I got Miss Stella ready for her daily 50 feet stroll next door to Granny Nanny's house before I headed to work. I turned into the driveway and there was Matt (!!!) and Mom. The (!!!) is because my brother does not wake up before 1pm ever (he is a rockstar, you know) so I was shocked to see him. They were just chatting in the driveway and he said that he was just up early and didn't know why. He was leaving to go to DC with a friend's band for one of their shows that night so he had just gotten up early to get ready and whatnot. So we were standing there for a sec when Mom starts "I need to talk to you guys about your Dad. I'm really worried about him..." And she starts crying.
So she tells us that Wednesday evening he said he chest was feeling "pressure" and it started when he picked up Stella to feed her a bottle (which was at 5pm and I was there and OF COURSE he didn't say anything about it at the time...) Mom said he contined to feel kind of bad the rest of the night but was just letting it go.... And Mom was nagging him to go to the Doc or SOMETHING but he wouldn't go. He said it was just indigestion or just feeling sore and tired from work stress or blah blah blah...
So Mom didn't sleep a wink on Wednesday night.
He went to work on Thursday as usual...and Mom asked us for some sort of help because she was just so frustrated that he never listens to her and she was just really worried.
So I went on to work and immediately sent him a nasty-gram e-mail - playing the guilt card of "If I was having chest pressure you would want me to get it checked out so please just go and it's probably nothing but atleast we'll KNOW it's nothing....." I never heard back - which I usually don't get return e-mails from Dad so that wasn't alarming.
Then I put my framed pic of Carol and Stella on my desk. I love having her face to look at to remind me to always be positive when I'm at work. (Which is sometimes a VERY hard task.)
Around 3pm, Mom calls me and says that Dad just called her and he had driven himself to the emergency room and was waiting to be seen because he was still feeling bad... So I just got my stuff together, picked up Mom and Stella, and we went to the hospital to sit with him. We had a leisurely drive there; just chatting - because all we knew, he was just waiting to be seen.
We pull into the parking lot and Mom's cell rings and it's a call from Dad. But it wasn't Dad. It was the Doctor and he just starts talking and Mom starts freaking out....her mouth is open like she's going to cry or scream but nothing is coming out. I start yelling at her to just get out of the car and go in. I reach over and open the door and nearly push her out. "JUST GO INSIDE!!!" So she gets out and runs and I try and find a parking space. My life flashing before my eyes.
I find a spot about 10000000000000 miles away and I get Stella out and all her bags and my bag and Mom's bag and the stroller and book it across the parking lot to the emergency room. When I get there, Mom and a nurse guy are standing there and they tell me he had a heart attack and was taken immediately up to have a catherization and angeoplasty done.
Breakdown.
So we pull it together and the guy escorts us through the hospital up to the waiting room where we wait.
Mom calls Matt who is on his way to DC in a van with a band. He freaks out. He calls friends and tries to get a plan together to get back to Richmond. The band takes their van and their trailer full of equipment to Union Station in DC and drops Matt off and he gets a train ticket and heads home.... Thank you guys!
So, after about 30 minutes, the Doc comes out and tells us that everything is done and looks great. There was a 100% blockage to his main artery and they put in a stint and it's good now.
I have never felt such relief in my entire life.
We make more "updated" phone calls to the people we had made FRANTIC calls to... Mimi, Nanny, Matt.........
We stay in the waiting room for awhile and people start rolling in...Mimi and my aunts, Nanny and my aunt and uncle, the Thaxtons, etc.... Toby comes and gets Stella and takes her home. Mom and their Pastor go back to see Dad and stay with him for awhile in ICU. I went back to see Dad - and he told me all about what happened - he is really really shook up and actually kind of depressed and keeps saying "30 more minutes and I would not be here..."
I go and get Matt from the train station and we come back to see Dad. He's pitiful with all the stuff hooked up to him but he's doing really well....already looking better than he has for weeks. We leave him around 11 pm and head home so he can get some rest - as much as you can in ICU next to the nurse's station with a million beeping machines.
THANK YOU, GOD.
As I was riding around that parking lot, I just kept thinking "Carol! Make him come back! Push him back down here!" And God: "Don't take my Dad!"
Apparently, what happened was that he got to the E-Room and they took him back and hooked him up and his EKG was fine (!!!!!!) so they just told him to lay back and relax a bit and they left the room. Dad said he must have been dozing off because he woke up and felt like he was going to faint....and it all went black....he then remembers people screaming in his face and he was gasping for air and they told him he had had a heart attack and his heart stopped and they had to shock him twice. That's when we got the call in the parking lot.
Friday:
Mom went to the hospital first thing and I stayed home and did the usual morning routine with Stella. My friend Leslie brought us some chicken, some Ukrops sides, and some awesome brownies - all this before she even knew about Dad!! Which was so incredibly sweet, I swear.
Mimi and Cissy showed up to keep Stella while Matt and I went to Carol's Memorial Service.
The service was great. HARD but great. I felt like I was at a clown convention with all of the crazy colors people were wearing and even a big bouquet of balloons!! Starting at 11 was the visitation and everyone was just milling around and talking and laughing... The service started at 12 with the organist playing a very soft, quiet version of "Somewhere over the Rainbow." There were bible verses read (all picked out by Carol.)
Then came the reading of "The Butterfly" - a children's book Carol had written and illustrated for her grandkids - to explain to them about death.
Then came the most wonderful/difficult part - a message written by Carol to her friends and family. I wish I had a copy of it because it was beautiful and comforting - however if I was by myself reading it, I would have been in the fetal position on the floor... I remember these parts:
"I will always be with you."
And to her family:
"I will see you graduate from college. I will be at your weddings. I will know your babies."
The service ended with a HORRIBLY sung version of "O Happy Day" by the crowd. And then we all busted out laughing at how bad it was and how Carol was probably laughing her head off.
After the service, I did not attend the graveside cermony as I needed to get back home and to the hospital to see My Dad.
Mom had called and Dad was moved to a "real" room and that the Doc told them that on a scale of Small to Large, the heart damage was on the "small side of small." BIG SIGH OF RELIEF.
So Mimi stays with Stella and Nancy and Cissy do tag-team to come help her. Matt and I head up to the hospital and hang out in the room and visitors are in and out... SO MANY PEOPLE.
We all chat and laugh and the big topic of discussion is now that Mom is calling her "Nurse Rachett" and things will DRAMATICALLY change - esp Dad's horrendous eating habits. He does eat well with us but for lunches (when no one with with him) it's all fried and hamburgers and chimichangas and the like....
I truly think this has scared him to the point where he will finally follow through with some healthy eating habits - BUT no matter what anyone said yesterday, he would turn it around to be about hamburgers.
My uncle Rusty was talking about a wedding that he had to attend this weekend in White Stone and Dady pipes up with "are they serving hamburgers at that wedding?"
And then later as we were leaving, Matt says "We'll see you a bit later" and Dad says "You don't have to come back up here" and Matt says "But we wanted to have a party in your room" and Dad says "a hamburger party?"
Nut.
So after we left the hospital, we came home and got Stella and Toby and got back on the road to New Kent where John and Cece had friends and family gathering. It was really nice. They had all been out swimming in the lake most of the day and having some food and drinks (some of which were spiked, right Johnny boy?) Everyone had a nice time and told stories and relaxed. Carols grandchildren are precious - they played with Stella and were SO good with her. It was nice.
So, here we are today. Stella is taking her morning nap and she'll have lunch and we'll head to the hospital so she can see Grandpa and he can see his "Stinker boo."
