so... today started out as any normal day... coffee, traffic, work...
then at 2:50pm i received a phone call from my aunt... she never calls me... what the!?
as it turns out my father wound up in the surgical intensive care unit today... i rushed down in an hour after my aunt told me. i mean, it must have been serious since my dad's girlfriend told my aunt to call - see, he's had a few strokes which i've found out about 2 months later... but i digress..
dad. in the hospital. we had plans to have lunch tomorrow - and that's scrapped.
he wound up having a duodenum (i am most likely bastardizing the spelling of that) bleeding ulcer - he'd been having issues with the stomach and whatnot for a month...
anyway, apparently he was up all night feeling ill and then fell out of bed because he was so weak at 5am... then his girlfriend tried to talk him into going to the hospital.
see, my dad is stubborn... and he hates hospitals... what's this spell?
AMBULANCE.
so they took him. they performed surgery and cauterized the ulcers as soon as he got into the hospital - had the doctor waiting for him so that was good...
he lost 5 units of blood before going to the hospital... dad was white as a ghost...
anyway - i get to the surgical icu (after being given the wrong floor by the info chick) and start talking to him... he's in pain from arthritis and also fidgety from the blood loss... not to mention he's a 3 pack a day smoker, too...
okay - so i joke around with him "well, i guess this is one way of getting out of lunch with me tomorrow"
[insert grinning dad here]
dad: "well, i wanted to talk to you"
[insert quizzical look from erin here]
me: "um... talk about what, dad?"
dad: "well, i was wondering if you weren't doing anything in april or may if you could stand up for me"
erin [playing dumb]: "stand up? they're amputating your legs!?!?!"
dad: "come on now"
erin: "you and karen are getting married?"
[background: karen is his girlfriend - they've been together on and off since 1987/88 - we've had our moments - mainly when i was a teen... no she isn't the cause for my parents divorce. she came into the picture about 4 or so years after mom and dad split up]
so... sometime in april - or may - of this year on a friday at 3:45pm - because that's when the judge can do it - i will become the best man.
even counting my father's wedding now - i will have never been a bridesmaid.
getting back to dad and his ulcer (which, ironically, i am starting to feel a few starting to perforate the lining of MY stomach now) - if all is cool, he should be going home on saturday.
so that's good.
on the wedding front...
what am i supposed to do? i guess now i have to plan his bachelor party. he doesn't drink so god only knows... strippers? i don't want him to have a 4th stroke.
granted - i am okay with karen now - i just, well, i just don't like the idea of there being another Mrs. Bennett other than my mom.
that's it. i'm tired. i am going to go veg out in front of the teevee.... but i will not be watching Lifetime since my life has turned into a cheezy made-for-tee-vee movie today.
