Gimmie an "A" . . .

Gimmie a "P"

Gimmie a "P," "E," "N," "D," "I," "X!"

Last week, Dan was in California for work; only two days after his return home, his gut started aching. A Tuesday visit to the doctor resulted in a CT scan of his abdomen, which resulted in admittance to the hospital for an appendectomy. During the course of the Diagnosis Day, my Outback was in the shop and Dan's stick shift Audi was in the hospital's parking lot. Fortunately, the CT scan was late enough in the day that Dan was able to come home and take me to pick up the Outback (it was the rear brakes). Then, I loaded everyone into the Outback, dropped Dan off (by this time he had gone close to 24 hours since his last meal. Ugh.), and took the girls to the bookstore, then dinner, then to the hospital to check on Dan. Of course, they were running late, and he finally came out around 7 pm . . . except nobody told him we were there, or what waiting room we'd been directed to use. Sooo, around 7:30, he wandered past us by chance. About 15 minutes later, the doctor called him and sent him down to the ER for admittance; I took the girls home and explained what would happen, that Daddy wouldn't be able to roughhouse for a while, showed them Emma's scar from her chest tube, and shortly afterwards they fell asleep. Dan was wheeled in to surgery (laproscopic) around 7:30 Wednesday morning; the girls spent the day at Debbie's (thank heaven for Debbie!), I spent some time with Dan, who was sent home in time for the girls' bedtime that day. I guess the fact that he had the nurses in stitches most of the day was a big clue as to how he was doing. Oh, and the girls came down with a cold, too, which is really knocking Penny for a loop. Whew! I feel like I just competed in an Olympic Multitasking Event.

I want to note, here, that Dan has an exceptional bunch of coworkers. I sent an email out, letting them know what was up, and three of them stopped by the hospital to visit him briefly while he was recovering. When the girls were born, and in the NICU for 3 and 5 weeks, two of his coworkers took the time to drive all the way into Boston to visit us and see the girls. I was just so (pleasantly!) surprised, both times, but I really shouldn't be.

Anyway, Dan is home, camping out in the guest room (on the main floor) for a few days, and our Easter will be shockingly low-key, and the Ikea furniture purchases will be put off until sometime next week, when Dan anticipates being comfortable enough to keep an eye on the girls while I take care of the lugging.