Modern Medicine

I thought the worst thing about returning back to Massachusetts from a week in San Jose California would be the 18 degree temperature that greeted me Saturday night, but then my father had a heart attack Sunday afternoon and I no longer really noticed the weather. He went to the emergency room in Leominster Hospital and then was rushed to the new cardiac unit at UMass Memorial in Worcester - all while still going through a heart attack. I had thought heart attacks were just sudden events, but his was going on for some time and they couldn't get him to stabilize. Lori and I rushed off to UMass and since it was a Sunday night the place was empty. The cardiac area isn't always staffed - people just get called in for emergencies. So we were just wandering the halls, found someone to open a door for us and suddenly we are looking into an open operating room where my dad was on the table. A nurse grabbed us and locked us up in a waiting room. After just a few minutes the doctor came and spoke to us. They had put a stent into the artery that was blocked and that along with some medications aborted the heart attack before any serious heart damage was done. My dad was already awake and alert and we went with him as they rolled him off to ICU. The most amazing thing to me was that this afternoon (Tuesday) we brought him home. I was prepared for an agonizing decision about whether we dare go off on our trip to Chile later this week or not. But I guess these days heart attacks just aren't that big a deal. My dad is home and looks and acts no different than he did the day before his heart attack. It is practically drive through service these days at the hospital.
Plus the Patriots won another close game Monday Night to remain perfect. WooHoo!