Nevermind That Whole Death Thing

On Tuesday there was a family emergency.  D's grandmother had been hospitalized and the family had mobilized.  The doctors pronounced that her kidneys were functioning at 5% and gave her the bleak prognosis of 3 to 4 days to live.  We cancelled all of our plans and arranged leave from our respective jobs, and mapped out our drive from Cincy to Kansas City, MO.  It's ten hours by car, but the cheapest flight for the two of us plus taxes/fees/etc. and renta-car would still have been over a thousand dollars.  D's parents left their home at 4am to make the trip.  As I have essentially no vacation time left, we had to plan carefully.  Do you drop everything and rush to be with everyone for her final moments?  Do you wait and arrive into town to pay your respects?  As she was not expected to regain consciousness, D elected to wait until Friday and drive through the night, and we would only miss work on Monday. 

Wednesday afternoon D's mother had informed us that it was all off.  Grandma had awoken, proclaimed herself to be fine and demanded to be released.  (knowing this family, I can totally believe that she did this)  But actually, shortly thereafter the hospital doctors found the problem. 

It turns out that her regular doctor had prescribed her a medication that is well known to interact with the blood pressure meds that she was already on.  He didn't catch the interaction and it caused her kidneys to shut down.  Toxins had built up in her body, she got a kidney infection, and all manner of other badness may lurk around the corner.  What sorts of secondary illnesses?  She's being monitored now, but the good news is that she's not expected to die at any moment. 

So grandma is ok at this point.  We're pleased, of course, but we're going to have to stay tuned.  But no Kansas City for us this weekend.  As you can imagine things were suddenly in an uproar, and then suddenly they weren't, leaving me feeling like I'd blown the whole thing out of proportion.  I was slightly embarrassed when I had to tell my boss nevermind about that whole death thing.  One of my Japanese colleagues told me the whole thing sounded like something you'd see on television (embarassingly close to outright saying "contrived"), and asked me if the family would sue, (because Americans are so often portrayed as litigation-happy).  I told him they could, as they seem to have grounds.  D told me they probably wouldn't, but would likely have have considered it if they'd discovered the prescription mistake too late to save her.     

I am looking forward to the Aglamesis ice cream social outide this evening.  The weather is so mild!  This weekend is Oakley After Hours, which I had thought we might try taking the dog to.  (see that?  I just ended that sentence with a preposition, I hate that)  But with my sudden cancellation of our weekend visit, my just-as-sudden un-cancellation attempt might have come off as flaky as hell.  Or the foster mom may not have gotten my email.  At any rate it's likely that circumstances have dashed our chances to meet Murphy the dog this weekend.

Murphy

 

Hopefully we'll get to meet him, maybe next week.  We still have our other contender in the running, Bob the Prison Dog, who gets out next month with eight weeks of training and a Canine Good Citizen Certificate. 

Bob

(The CGC is not only a real thing, it is also recognized in many communities, and is part this awesome program for dog breeds that formerly made it hard for dog owners to get home insurance!)