Over the weekend my stepdad was taken into hospital. He had a bypass operation a number of years ago, and they suspect he has a leaky heart valve. My boss kindly let me slope off early on Monday so that I could visit him. I’ve no idea how to get to the hospital that they have him in, so I had to drive to my sister’s house, wait while her 2 children finished their lunch, then 3 of us drove in the one car to the hospital.

Now, if you’re an avid smoker and easily offended, skip this paragraph: It’s quite a drive from her house to the hospital and despite knowing that I’m an avid non-smoker, my sister decided to smoke in the car. It was pouring with rain so I could only crack the window open a little, and she kept closing it from her side of the car until I told her to stop it. Once I’d arrived home again, I had to put every single item I was wearing into the wash, and have a shower because quite frankly I stank of cigarette smoke. I even had to wash the light raincoat I was wearing at the time. It wasn’t my car we were in; however I thought it very bad manners to smoke in the car knowing full well that I don’t like it. I won’t be getting in a car again with her anytime soon.

My Dad was quite pale, and very bruised, and hooked up to a heart monitor, but seemed in pretty good spirits. They’ve had to take him off his warfarin for a while because they said his blood is too thin at the moment. Other than that he seemed in pretty good spirits and was very talkative. I told him that in all the years that I’ve known him, I’ve never heard him talk so much. Mind you, my Mother wasn’t there to interrupt him lol. Not so long ago I had 3 Dads: my Father, my stepdad, and my father in law; now I’m down to my last one :(

On the way home I asked my nephew how his kidneys are faring as he has a hereditary valve problem with his kidneys. I mentioned that if he does need a transplant that I’d be willing to be tested and to be a living donor for him. This would be subject to approval from the surgeon bearing in mind I have a blood condition. He asked about it, and I mentioned that it isn’t clear if I can pass on the condition via organ donation as not enough research has been done, but that a very small percentage of people with this condition go on to develop multiple myeloma which is a form of cancer. My sister thought it was a hoot that I don’t smoke yet could still get cancer. You know what they say: you can’t choose your family…

With any luck I’ll be off on Thursday and Friday this week, as well as all of next week. That’ll give me time to visit my Dad again, and run any errands my Mum needs. Work is very quiet at the moment, and we have Graduation ceremonies late in the week with all the attendant cars and people on site, so I’d be better off just not being here. I have plenty to do at home.

After working yesterday, visiting my Dad, and all the travel, I slept for over 7 hours last night. Solid sleep too which was fantastic. At least so far this morning I haven’t been yawning my face off lol.

Enjoy the rest of your week.