Ho Ho Hospital Holidays

Interesting events have transpired. Every year, my lovely wife, Stephanie, and I trade with the ex's on who gets the kids for the holidays. This year, we had no kids for Christmas. So our plan was to leave on a plane for Vegas on the morning of the 23rd. The two days before, Stephanie complained of stomach pains. She has suffered these pains for years, and we figured they would go away.

The night of the 22nd came and I already warned my parents what was going on. The next morning we skipped the flight, thinking we would maybe just go to the clinic and then surprise my parents the next day by just driving down. The weather was improving, we could stay an extra day on the back end of the trip, it seemed a perfect plan. The doctor would just give Steph some pills and we can go on our merry way... right?

Instead, the day of the 23rd started with a trip to the clinic, with a result of her white blood cells being a little too high. So we were ordered to another place for a CAT scan. After a few more hours there, it was revealed that Stephanie's gall bladder was about three times too big and that she was ordered to immediately go to get surgery. So we moved to Utah Valley Regional and started our new life in our 2 square-foot apartment. Steph went into surgery and I sat for hours, not ready to eat, couldn't start a book. Maybe got through a game of solitare on my phone. That's about it.

She came out and it went well, pulled out a few stones. But the doctor told me there was more in another part (don't remember what it's called, the place where stones would pass... you know, that place). I stayed with her till late at night and finally went home... alone. I slept in the next morning and missed Steph going in for the second operation, going to get the other stones. They were supposedly not easy, and they had to cut their way in. Poor girl.

When I met her the next morning, she was in a lot of pain. They continued to pump her with morphine. Still more pain. Finally, she has been able to sleep at the time I am writing this. She also hasn't been able to eat. They won't let her till she passes the gas she has inside. So it has been more then 36 hours since she has eaten.

And now I wait... on Christmas eve.

Seems like I remember several Christmas eves being this eventful. In fact, it came to me that 20 years ago, in this very hospital, my oldest son, Forrest, was born. And again, on Christmas eve, I went home empty handed and alone.

I have had other great Christmas eves. This has just been an interesting turn of events. And has given me a lot of time to reflect on the many things about to happen this next year. The Last Eagle Scout is the big one. The day before Thanksgiving, the hard drive to the film crashed, causing a major delay in it's release. I was able to retrieve about 95 percent of the film, but still have work ahead of me.

Also, I am looking at re-releasing Handcart this year, as well as produce a documentary on Will it Blend. Blendtec also has some big things planned this next year, including a possible big-budget infomercial. We shall see.

I also plan to keep people more up-to-date on things on this blog as well as The Last Eagle Scout blog.

Merry Christmas