Different Strokes

On Sunday I was at my sister’s house and mum phoned to say that she’d been at the hospital most of the day with my father. He woke up Sunday morning and felt really unwell. He thought he’s had another stroke and must have been really concerned about it to have gone to hospital. He has had two or three strokes already and it means that he can’t walk very well and it has quite majorly affected his mental faculties. I can’t quite explain the impact on him mentally, he just has really bizarre mood swings and it can be very difficult to have a rational conversation with him – mind you that pretty much sums up what he has always been like!

Anyway, he hasn’t had a stroke. In fact he has blood poisoning. He’d had some kind of abscess that he didn’t get treated and that then led to the blood poisoning. Apparently the symptoms can be very similar to that of a stroke. I think he sees the deterioration in himself and wonders if he will survive many more strokes – and I don’t think he is the only one who wonders about that. Sometimes I think that I should consider the implications of that more. How would I deal with my father dying – whether in the not too distant future or many years down the line? We have hardly had a good track record and for various reasons have been at odds with each other for most of my life. I need to apply my brain to this at some point really, but I just don’t have the energy to do that right now.

Enough of such things. I am somewhat miffed that this is a five day week, I haven’t had a normal week at work for several weeks now. However, it is only this week and next week and then I am off to Gibraltar for a couple of days with work, and then the following week I am on leave. There is also a possibility that I might get to go to Manitoba (Canada) with work in November, which would be good, particularly as I love Canada and I have never been to that part before. However, I am wondering if my Head of Unit might decide to go instead, even though I think she will have retired by then. We’ll see, but that would be something to look forward to.