My father had to be put into the hospital last week, a fact that threw my life into a tailspin. When you typically over schedule everything to start with, having a family member in the hospital brings everything to a screeching halt. As of the time I am writing this, which is also behind schedule, he is doing much better. Since he smoked Lucky Strikes for about 40 years or so, he suffers from several heart and lung ailments. Two packs a day of non-filtered Luckies can’t be that great for the lungs.

Then again, he finally gave them up when I was a teenager; he just laid them down after all those years. Of course, he opted to pick up chewing tobacco, which he did fairly regularly up until he got sick recently. Pneumonia is nasty stuff for older folks, but it is even worse for older folks with heart and lung problems. I am glad that I don’t smoke now, but I can’t say I never did. In fact, I started and stopped some 10,000 times prior to today. Even so, smoking is not a good habit to have, especially when you see exactly where that behavior can lead your body.

One thing’s for sure, a family member’s illness can easily help put your priorities straight. I had much work planned and some underway, all of which was dropped suddenly and nearly forgotten in the wake of the current situation.

I have been spending most of my time in a waiting room at a hospital, reading books, the Bible and really old magazines. Car reviews from 2002 aren’t exactly relevant these days, but they beat counting the fan designs on the carpet or watching television over the din of playing children and familial conversation. Of course, trying to keep the children from tearing the room apart is both a job and entertainment all its own.

Nothing makes me more tired than sitting in a hospital waiting room. Waiting to see what’s going to happen is one of the worst things I can imagine.

When he was first admitted, his health had taken a downward turn in the worst sort of way. I noticed the day before he was put in the hospital that he was having trouble breathing, that he was sleeping all the time and his legs were swollen.

After he was admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital, I found out that he had a bad case of pneumonia, congestive heart failure and other medical problems to deal with.

The first few days at the hospital, he was sedated and on a ventilator. After awhile, that was removed briefly, then returned briefly, and finally, removed again. By Sunday, he was able to talk a little and was attached to what appeared to be fewer pieces of machinery. Fewer machines is always good.

Having to listen to the nay-sayers in the family is also difficult for me. I’ve never been much for negative speculation myself, whether it be talking about it or listening to it. I heard the doctor’s report, then returned to the room with the closest kin to hear their report to the others. “The doctor said things don’t look good,” I heard someone say. What the doctor said was that things can change quickly for those who have ailments like my father’s and it could go either way. To me, that sounds like a doctor who is hedging his bets. To say, “He could live or die,” is better than saying, “He will live” and then have the opposite happen. I think the power of positive energy and active faith are strong, but the effect of negativity is pervasive. I choose to be positive and dwell on that which is good.

When things seemed to turn good, I heard, “People often get better before they die.” If you sent these people a truck full of money and they’d complain because they’d have to do paperwork at the bank to make the deposit.

The final straw was when one of the family members asked the nurse for an update and the nurse noted that all his vital signs were stable but, “He’s a very sick man.” They considered calling in the entire family for a wake at the sound of that. “Gee, he’s been in intensive care for a week, but I had no idea he was sick,” I said with my best stupid voice. There aren’t many healthy people in ICU — no, most of them are in the waiting room doomsaying.

Sunday evening I went in to talk to him and said, “We’ll get you out of here soon if I have to break you out.”

“Tonight?” He joked.

I just shook my head and laughed a little. Faith and positive thinking have great power.

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