From blah to blurred

From being in no mood at all the other day and being in a slump, we've been thrust into a flurry of phone calls and activity. My husband's sister is in a hospital after having a heart attack. The information has been slow in coming and hard to obtain. Her friend with diminished abilities called hubby's brother to deliver the news, but he had a hard time making sense of anything she was saying. He did get the name of the hospital and called, confirming that Sis is a patient there, but little else could be told because of HIPAA laws.

My hubby tried calling Sis's house (four and half hours away from us) in hopes of speaking to Sis's husband. No luck there. He called Sis's friend and found out that Sis's hubby went home with his parents while Sis is in the hospital. His mom has remarried. We don't have her current phone number and don't know her new last name. To get any information from the hospital, we have to have a code. Sis's husband has the code, but hasn't called anyone. This isn't a slight on his part, he is challenged also and either didn't think to try to call either of his brothers-in-law or he couldn't find our numbers.

By leaving a message with an understanding charge nurse, hubby and his brother have finally spoken to their brother-in-law's mom. She called and updated us on Sis's condition as soon as she got our message (and phone numbers). Sis had a heart attack, had fluid removed from around her heart and a pacemaker inserted. The good news is that she is stable. Hubby and his brother will be leaving here tomorrow to visit her.

Sis is the oldest of the three siblings. Like most women everywhere, she is the keeper of birthdays, anniversaries and phone numbers in her household. I recently made a list for my husband of what I pay online, which utilities are automatically paid from a separate account, links and passwords for various things I do online and a list of the few message boards that would wonder about my absence if something happened to me. I added this blog to the list. Hopefully he will never have to post dire news, but at least he has a cheat sheet now. Have you made a similar list for your family members?

On a less serious note, storms rolled through this area last night taking out power here and there. Our power went out twice, but it was so quick both times, only one digital clock needed resetting. That has to be a record for us. The power is out at my older son's place. Yesterday and today are the hottest days of the summer so far. Isn't that always the way?

My lesson in all of this is to remind everyone to have names, phone numbers and other pertinent information available to family members in the event that you are incapacitated and can't tell them where to look or how to spell Aunt Marge's last name.

My other lesson is to never admit to being in a slump and having nothing to write about again. God read that and gave me plenty!