Health

If your family members have generally been blessed with good health, you're never really ready for that phone call to say, "dad is in the hospital". I know this, because I wasn't ready when Deb's call came to say that she'd been diagnosed with cancer.

Yesterday morning, we heard that Wen's dad was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital on Sunday night. He was coughing up blood, had nausia, dizziness, etc. By yesterday, we'd heard that the bleeding was controlled and the doctors were planning an endoscopy to determine the cause. Today, unfortunately, the endoscopy was cancelled because he's hypovolemic (has low blood volume) and needs additional blood. We still don't know the source of his bleeding, nor the cause of it, but we're asking that love, thoughts and prayers be sent his way today.

I've been looking forward to meeting Wen's family for a long time now. We were in Florida in April prior to heading out to the Carribean and tried to coordinate a way to meet up with them for a day or two, but it was Easter time and spring break, and it would have involved driving clear across the state in a very short period of time. We talked instead of arranging a visit for her parents to come here later in the year - perhaps Fall? - but at this point, it's hard to say exactly when we will meet face to face. And while I don't know the family personally, I've heard all of the stories that make them feel just like an extra part of Wen. Today I'm holding them close in my heart.