Christmas in Hospital

I was too emotional to post anything about this earlier.

My Dad was admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve with breathing difficulties. He has asthma and has just had a chest infection. He was not able to get enough oxygen into his system. I knew that the only place he should be was in the hospital.

He was responding well to treatment and when she went to visit him on the evening of Christmas Eve, one of he patients opposite came over and told her that Dad had looked absolutely awful when he had arrived in hospital 6 hours ago, but was looking so much better now. My Mam thought he looked utterly awful, but was very much reassured that he was looking better than before.

Each time Mam went to hospital she saw a marked improvement in him, and he was discharged early yesterday evening. There is a huge list of the drugs he has to take, and which ones he must not take, the things he has to do, and the things he must not do.

In the midst of Dad's illness, I was also worried about my Mam being alone at Christmas. My Dad has had way more than his fair share of illness of the years, but this is the first time he has been in hospital for Christmas.

Mam received at least two calls saying "You must come and spend Christmas with us." There would be lots of people at both celebrations, and she felt she just could not cope being amongst so many. She did pop in on her sister, and her family for 30 minutes after evening visiting at the hospital.

It is times like this when having the Irish Sea separating me from my parents feels like such a bad thing.