Whew! It has been a rough start to 2008!

Yep, the title pretty much sums it up! 2008 has been a very rough one so far for me and members of my family. It actually began before Christmas, with my dad getting ill and going to the hospital for weakness and internal bleeding. Just before that he fell while getting a dialysis treatment and although he got lucky and didn't break anything, he was quite sore and bed ridden for a number of days. Then right around New Years, he goes back and ends up in the hospital over the New Years Holiday. Again, nothing was found to be wrong, even though we family members knew it was more possible bleeding in his gut. No real action was taken by the doctors at this time, so he went home with nothing new for treatment for his ailments. Then, on the 8th of Jan, our area was socked with a huge amount of rainfall, flooding many areas that normally do not flood. We did get some water in our basement, but it was nothing compared to what others had. The towns of Watseka and Pontiac looked much like scenes from Hurricane Katrina. Check out this link for an aireal view of the flooding in Watseka. http://www.timesrepublic.info/articles/2008/01/16/local_video/video999.txt Worst of all, one of the Boy Scout Leaders in my troop was driving to work in the early morning and was taken off the road by the storm waters, and due to a number of reasons, one of which was an irrational fear of water, he was drowned in his truck. He was only 24 years old, and a great guy. It was a huge shock to our little community. Our troop paid him honor with parade guards during his funeral and we hope to put up a memorial for him at out Scout hut. He was way too young to be lost like that. And to think that he died from the one thing that scared him the most...

And then on the 13th, after visiting my father to see how he was, it was discovered that he was actually worse off that we all thought. Many of us felt that he was on his last legs. Around midnight that day, he complained of all over pain and was rushed to the hospital. After what was truly touch and go for about two days, we discovered that he had lost large amounts of blood due to internal bleeding and that caused a heart attack. (first one I can recall in my family) Again,we all thought these were his last days on earth. It was really a tough time for all of us. My sister and I have not talked so much on the phone to one another ever! We were constantly getting updates on what was happening. Many people were hoping for the best and saying their prayers and it must have worked, because, to our disbelief, our dad was released from the hospital a mere 4 days after all this. My dad says he was half dead. I disagree. I think he was 3/4 dead. To think that he would be home so soon was incredible! It is a good and happy ending to a long story, and I hope that the rest of the year will not be so dramatic!

Later!