Pretty much the same here as where Carl is, except we're maybe 5 degrees warmer.
I was visiting my father in Saratoga Hospital Friday--I'll explain in a bit--and I mentioned that my wife and I are on a waiting list to get into an apartment in the complex with a (wood) fireplace in it. It would be close to $200/month more than what we're paying now. Even though my father was all drugged up from the abdominal surgery (clearing a blockage--again, more in the next paragraph), he said to me, "What are you thinking? Get one of those electric heaters that looks like a fireplace, and save the $200 a month." So, I looked at said heaters today. They start out at $80. He was all drugged up with a whole bunch of stuff, and he
still had the good sense to let me know that.
Anyway, he went to said aforementioned hospital last Monday, with symptoms of an intestinal blockage. He had his large intestine completely removed in 1972 (sefere colitis), and has had a colostomy bag ever since. In 2000, he had a complete intestinal blockage when scar tissue that formed in his abdomen caused the small intestine to be blocked. He had it happen again. Thursday afternoon, he had surgery to clear it, as the GI docs thought it might go away on its' own. Said docs thought it would take three hours. Six-and-a-half hours after they went into my father's abdomen, the docs finished sewing him up. It would seem that the "new" scar tissue had formed around the small intestine as if it (scar tissue) was cement. The GI doc said that it was on the small intestine so well, that said SI was perforated two times in the attempt to get the scar tissue out.
He's doing good today, from what I can gather. For some reason, neither my mother nor my sister are answering their cell phones. (Probably has to do with the fact that my dad is still in the ICU.) On Friday, he actually threw me out of his "room," saying that he wanted to go to sleep . . . I had been there 20 minutes. Oh well. He'll be fine.
