Infarction

I haven’t been able to spend much time at home since I’ve been home. Two days after I returned from Japan, Ken and I scooted over to Bear Valley for the Telemark Festival and right after we arrived back in Reno I had to fly up to Seattle to see my dad.

What an amazing week-and-a-half he’s had.

The night before he was supposed to leave on the bus to go down to Seattle for some doctor’s appointments, he called the guy who lives down the street weakly whimpering for help. His neighbor phoned another guy and they whizzed my dad over to Stewart (luckily there was no line at Customs), met the ambulance on its way over to Hyder at the Post Office, transferred my dad over, and rushed him to the hospital. There was no question that he’d have to go down to Seattle to get checked out. He spent the night in the emergency room (the Stewart hospital doesn’t have any beds…and, in fact, it’s not actually a hospital but a clinic). The nurse on-duty stayed with him throughout the night and my friend Kim (bless her) went over to the hospital in the morning as soon as she found out he was there.

A helicopter was going to fly over from Ketchikan to take him out…as soon as the clouds lifted and visibility improved. Just after noon the clouds opened up just enough for the helicopter to come in, pick up my dad, and take off. As soon as the helicopter left, the clouds closed in and any further air travel would have been stymied. He was flown to Prince Rupert where he was transferred onto a Lear jet and flown the rest of the way down to Seattle.

Fast forward ten days: He’s had a triple bypass and is well on the road to recovery. I’m very glad that I was not in Japan when this all went down. However, I will say that when I had to fly back in June for another emergency situation the United staff in Japan were wonderful (but my experience with United in the US is a totally different story).

And, now…Now I am back in Reno relaxing with Skeena watching the snow fall. I love it when it snows here. The downtown lights reflecting off the clouds and the snowflakes give the sky a dusty pink glow. Tonight I’ll kick back in the recliner and watch Prison Break and 24 (thanks to Egg for getting me addicted to both!). I'll also be working on endearing myself to Skeena with ear scratches and belly rubs.