Today is the 18th of October. This has been a really rough week! Rusti has been sick since about last Thursday with a cold, and that's only the beginning. On Monday, the 16th, I had to work my last of 4 night shifts. About 11:30 a.m., Sgt. J, came to our house and beat the door down, until I got up. He gave me an emergency message from Johnson City Medical Center Hospital, to contact the I.C.U. Family Advocate. I knew that my dad had gone in that morning for a biopsy on a spot on his lung. I called, and called, and only got an answereing machine.

Rusti got home around noon for lunch and called and called, to no avail. Answering machine. Well to make a long story short, I found out late in the afternoon, that while my Dad was undergoing the biopsy, he had an uncontrolled internal bleed, and 'coded' once but they got him back, although he was in I.C.U. on a ventilator. Our shift was short, (good ole Harv was vacating), so I went into work. I was not gonna leave my shift with only 2 Deputies on the road.

When I went in to work, Sgt. J. asked what was going on, so I told him. He asked why I had come in, and I told him that I wouldn't leave my shift that short. He said it was a problem for the 'back' and not me, and went in to see Cpt. P. Shortly after that, my Sgt., L. arrived and I told him what was going on. He immediately went to the 'back'. He returned a short time later, called good ole Harv in and told me to go to the hospital.

I went home to change outta my uniform, and Rusti went with me, although she was killed with a cold.

On Tuesday, I spent the day with Mom in the I.C.U. waiting room while we waited on them to do a bronchoscopy on Dad, to see if he was still bleeding. Everything went well, and they sedated him for the night. He was still on the ventilator, however.

On Wednesday, I woke up sick, with the cold or crud, or whatever that Rusti had had. Mom called about 10:30, and advised that they had pulled the intabation tube from Dad that that he was breathing on his own (thank God). She also said that the biopsy had come back 'negative', (again thank God). Since I was sick, I thought that I'd better not go down there, with Dad in his weakened state. He is stable today, though, and breathing on his own.

What a week it has been! I hope he continues to make good progress. Sorry for such a serious post, but that is what has been going on.

On a side-note. I have been very worried about my Dad. Rusti has so totally been there for me. I don't know what I have ever done to deserve her, but I want to publicly say "Thank You, Baby, for being there in such a large way for me!". I don't know what I would do without you!