A Long and Good Journey

The photo above was taken with my HTC Touch Pro 2 cell phone from the cardiac waiting room in St. Vincent's Hospital, Erie Pennsylvania.

My father had a pacemaker/defibrillator installed a few years ago, due to an irregular heart rate. The defibrillator went haywire a couple of years ago, shocking my poor father awake from sleep and sending him to the hospital to have the leads disengaged.

During a checkup a while back, the cardiologist told my father he needed to have his heart shocked to try to establish a more regular rhythm. My dad was worried about the procedure, and to add to it, was concerned he might have to stay overnight at the hospital. He voiced this to Husband and me, so we decided to make the trip to take him and my mom to the hospital. That way, if he did have to spend the night, my mom wouldn't have to drive an hour home in the dark.

We set out with the kids and Murphy a little after 5 am, arriving at my parents' home at 8:30. We picked my parents up and drove to the hospital.
My dad had to have an EKG and bloodwork done before the procedure, so Husband and I went shopping for a little while.

I met my mom for lunch while Husband went off with Murphy. Husband always has telephone calls that need attending and paperwork to do. He enjoys doing this in the truck, especially in light of the great weather we had!

Well, in the end, my father came through with flying colors, the procedure was done with light sedation and he didn't feel a thing! We happily left the hospital shortly after 3 pm and were on our way back to the Bristolwood after dinner. We arrived home after 9. It was such a long, but great day!