The Highs and the Lows

I thought I was going to die last night, and that wasn't one of the lows to which I refer...

On Saturday, LC and I (and Funsize) attended our third wedding of the year. This was for one of my colleagues, and I was once again called on to play the pipes. It was a lovely day - hot and sunny, with a small but intimate party present, in wonderful surroundings.

Unfortunately, Sunday was less successful. When we returned home, it was to a text message from Captain Ric to the effect that he'd just been to see Grandad and that if we wanted to see him again then it would be wise to drop everything and go and do that.

So on Sunday I sent an email to work indicating that I wouldn't be in, and made preparations for a long drive. (I'm extremely lucky in that I have an employer who is very reasonable about such things. It's likely that I'll have to come to work on Saturday to make up the hours, but otherwise it's fine.) After some consideration, G decided to join us, thus ensuring that all five of the siblings had the chance to go.

Yesterday was therefore a day dominated by long drives. Fortunately, FS took it all in her stride, remaining asleep most of the time and fairly content most of the rest. Of course, we had to make additional stops to ensure she had a chance to get some air/stretch out/feed/change, which meant that the normal three-and-a-half hours each way was considerably longer.

It wasn't a comfortable visit. The sad reality is that the person we said goodbye to wasn't the man I knew.

But, crucially, that visit did allow us to say our goodbyes, and did provide closure. (Indeed, as I mentioned briefly before, I felt that my last visit had been deeply unsatisfying, precisely because I felt it didn't give that closure. So it's a massive relief to have made that one last trip.) So, while it was horrible and painful, it was still to the good.

As for nearly dying... (I should note that you might well not want to read this...)

Getting home late last night, we proceeded to order too much food from Dominos, which we then scoffed. A couple of hours later we went to bed, still feeling rather uncomfortably full (or, at least, I was).

About three o'clock, I woke up feeling very distressed. This was shortly followed by the mini-sick, but with a very nasty twist... See, with my mouth being so dry, I suddenly found that I wasn't able to swallow properly, which meant I suddenly found that there was a blockage.

Cue several anxious seconds of gagging and choking until I finally worked it free and was able to actually breathe again.

It's fair to say that it has been an eventful few days...