Friday morning

Mom called this morning to let me know Dad had a good night. But they're worried about his liver's overload, so they're going to do an ultrasound on his gall bladder today. Just one more thing to worry about.

There are a couple of things I haven't seen mentioned lately. One is that, as of yesterday, Dad still had a spot of pneumonia on his lungs. The doctors and nurses don't seem very worried about it, though.

The other issue is Christmas. We're having to face that half the time from his heart attack to Christmas has gone by, and he's not nearly ready to be off the respirator yet. There's no question that he will still be hospitalized, and seriously ill as well, on Christmas. So yesterday it was decided that we will not tell him that it's Christmas, since that would cause worry and anxiety -- Christmas for Dad will be whenever he's healthy and ready to celebrate with his family (and you can bet we'll all be there!). Mom is going to spend the night at Sarah's house, so she'll get the fun of Christmas morning with the kids. After the lunchtime visit (assuming Dad's still on the same visiting schedule, which is probable), they'll go to Mom's and get dinner going, and everyone (including Kirsten) will eat there after the 4:30 visit, with plenty of time to get back to the hospital for the 8:30 visit. (But the real question is: who is going to be stuck with the dishes?)