Unexpected Start for the New Year

A week after I returned from my holiday visit to Tulsa, I got a call from my sister Jeanie that my father was in the ER with severe pain in the right temple and uncontrollable vomiting. I finished my office hours on Monday, December 29th, and booked a ticket back to Tulsa the next day. Dad was in bad shape when I arrived, on codeine around the clock for the pain. He had a hemorrhage in his right eye, causing such pressure in the eyeball that it couldn’t even be measured. He had eye surgery on Friday and was much better by the time I flew back on Sunday. I left him with a freezer full of single-portion servings of the food I know he likes – when under stress, I cook. His vision is slowly returning, and we are hoping for the best. Won’t know for a couple of weeks how much he will be able to see, but already he can walk his beloved dogs, Buddy and Sandy, and maneuver around the house.

Nicole was there for me in this emergency, and I can’t thank her enough for stepping in and managing 3 labors in 5 days, 2 at once the day I was on the plane coming back! We had 7 clients due in the month of January – how crazy is it that 3 people had their kids while I was gone! She did a fantastic job with some long hard labors, and all the babies got born vaginally. She has earned her place as a CBS midwife par excellence!

My sister Daphne, my Dad (before eye problem), me, granddaughter Kendall, grandson Kieran, daughter Amy