Kevin had another gig at The New Key Largo Saturday night. I hadn’t planned on going (truly, hanging out at the bar is just not my bag and I’ve already gone to every other one of his gigs), but Kevin called me about 8:30 to ask me to bring him his guitar stand (we only live about five minutes away from the place) and considering his mom and uncle were there, I started to feel guilty and stayed.
When I asked Kevin’s mom where his dad was, she said he wasn’t feeling very well. He has a hernia right around his stomach and sometimes it acts up and he has to wear a belt to push his intestines back in. (Aren’t hernias the grossest thing?)
The band did really well, as usual. They messed up a few times, but you know, no one cares. We’re all there to have a good time and the band never gets uptight about the mistakes so the audience doesn’t get uptight and it’s all good.
The place was packed. In fact, the owner later told the guys that that was one of the few times they had a full house.
I think that made the band feel really good. And it also prompted The New Key Largo to book them for another gig in both November and December.
I didn’t drink that night. I had just taken some Tylenol (female problems) and I didn’t want to make myself sick, so I stuck with Sprite. Our waitress (who is just the cutest thing and so sweet), gave my uncle-in-law (who’s mentally challenged) free sodas so I left her a pretty big tip just because I
A. I appreciated her generosity and
B. Did I mention she was the sweetest thing?
My sister and brother-in-law showed up. They have got to be the busiest people I’ve EVER known (no seriously, every single moment of their days and nights are spoken for – they homeschool, travel out of town for sports’ games for one son, see plays because another son is heavy into little theater, are very active in their church and drop everything for everyone) and yet, they still found time to drop by and support Kevin.
I thought that was so sweet.
I didn’t end up staying for the whole thing. Kevin’s family took off after the second break (about 11:30) and I left with them. I had parked at the end of the parking lot (because I mentioned they were packed, right?) and my sister and brother-in-law nearly scared me to death because they drove to my side of the lot to make sure I had gotten to my car alright.
I felt special. 😀
My mother-in-law (MIL) left a little earlier because she was worried about my father-in-law (FIL). And for good reason, the man was really sick.
My MIL called Kevin at about 10:00 Sunday morning to tell him that she had ended up taking my FIL to the hospital. This was very disturbing news because my FIL is one of those people who never go to the hospital. In fact, this would be his very first time he had had to go to the hospital because of his health.
Apparently, my FIL’s hernia had strangulated, which meant that the muscle had tightened around the organ and it was causing serious pain. If left unchecked, it could kill that section of the organ and develop gangrene.
My FIL had to go in for emergency surgery.
Kevin and I went up to the hospital around noon to keep his mom company. She was a little freaked out because my FIL in the hospital was just so unusual. And I think Kevin was a little worried, too. He kept telling me that I didn’t have to be there but there was no way I was going to leave him to handle this by himself, so I went.
Again, my sister and brother-in-law showed up and we all sat around for four hours while we waited for him to get out of surgery. We knew it was a pretty standard procedure but there’s always a risk with surgery so we were a little on edge.
Especially my MIL.
They finally wheeled him out about 4:00 and as we were accompanying him to his room, my other sister-in-law showed up and together, we all squeezed into the elevator with him. (Which was awkward).
My FIL woke up in the elevator and started babbling nonsense (he was still pretty drugged out) and he looked liked a ghost – he was very pale.
I’ve mentioned I haven’t had a lot of experience being around sick people so even though I wasn’t freaked out by his appearance, I was still pretty surprised.
My FIL woke up and the first person he saw was Kevin. I think that meant a lot to Kevin. After about a minute of sheer babble, he finally said a sentence that we could all understand.
He groaned and said, “Ugh, I could sleep for a week.”
We knew then, he was going to be okay.
My MIL worked on getting him settled and since there were so many of us, we took turns going in to see him. (Well, I didn’t go in, I felt a little funny intruding).
The boys didn’t go with us. Dude was feeling under the weather yesterday and I didn’t think it was a good idea to have him around the hospital, so they stayed home. I plan on taking them up tomorrow to see him.
That whole experience was sort of an eye opener for me. I’m also the sort of person who never goes to the doctor and if you ever hear about me being in the hospital, it’s serious. I think it left an impression on me because my FIL’s condition was bad – but it needn’t have been. His regular doctor told him there was nothing to do, and yet, his hernia was the size of a grapefruit. Why hadn’t his doctor suggested surgery before? (Or perhaps he did and my FIL just shrugged it off, which is likely).
It makes me wonder if I shouldn’t just bite the bullet and go to the doctor for my digestive problem (yes, it’s back and back with a vengeance). It seems stupid and childish to NOT go but I guess I’m just scared that they’re going to take one look at me and say, “Yep, you need surgery.”
Though I pride myself on being able to handle most anything, I think I prefer to waddle in my ignorance for just a little longer.
Write From Karen 