I'm So Very Sorry

I neglected my readers, which should be a capital crime among authors. I do have what seems to me to be a very valid reason, however.

Sunday at church, my dad passed out. He was taken to the hospital, and all day Monday was filled with those things that accompany a hospital excursion: I had to call his siblings and my siblings with updates. There were phone calls to several of the people from church who were concerned because they'd been privy to his having been hauled away in an ambulance. Then I had to call his two doctors to let them know he was at the hospital. For some reason, even though they have his doctor list, the hospital calls in their own people and won't even notify his own doctors he's there. Then I had to call both the dialysis center and the transportation company and tell them he would not be going to dialysis on Tuesday. Then I got an update from my Mom at the hospital, and the calls started over again, updating everyone. Maybe I should start a blog on his health, and only update it when "things happen", but one call to the family will tell them to start checking it, or something.

At any rate, it completely escaped my notice that it was Monday, and I neglected to take two minutes to post a chapter for you. I know at least two readers missed the chapter, because they asked me where it was. I thank them first of all for liking the writing well enough to want more, and also for their concern for my well-being.

They're still not quite sure what is going on with my dad. he passed out from low blood pressure. (He's on four different blood pressure medications, normally, and it's still too high.) The hospital has discovered the source of the low blood pressure...he's bleeding somewhere. They're transfusing him, and looking for where the leak is. At one point a clot was discovered in his abdomen, in a place where it wouldn't be travelling anywhere, and we were hopeful it was going to repair itself, but then it was discovered that the clot was not attached to the wound, wherever it was. At one point they thought it might be his left kidney. I'm not sure how a kidney can be bleeding when there's no kidney pain and very little blood in the urine (he has a chronic UTI, so some blood there is "normal" for him). In about half an hour they're sticking something down his throat to examine everything from the mouth to the upper GI. Apparently this thing can take pictures, and even make small repairs, if small things are found. Dad's been moved to ICU, and the waiting continues. Since there's nothing new to report, though, the phone calls have slowed down.

I'll be posting chapters momentarily...and hopefully the news from the hospital will remain good, and I won't get behind again. This is one Resolution down the drain, I had intended not to be late posting this year. While I believe the adage "He who is good at excuses is seldom good at anything else", and I rarely offer excuses, I also cherish the difference between excuses and reasons...and accept that sometimes, plans have to be changed due to things that are truly beyond our control.

--Marie