Thanks everyone. I'm ok at the moment--maybe it hasn't really hit me yet? OTOH my dad's been declining a lot since he broke his hip on Thanksgiving so it's not unexpected. My dad's quality of life has sucked this last month or so.

I have to whine a little--you know what the Shawano ER doctor (or maybe it was the EMT) said to my brother? "Your dad's basically fucked." In those words.

What a hell of a summer.

That's not a whine. That's a ... Well, assault worthy. I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry, tommy.

That's an epic fail at being a human being by the Shawano person.

I've decided small town hospitals in Wisconsin suck. Years ago my sister and her wife had a car accident--the wife was injured and she ended up in the New London hospital. Her nurse called her a baby because she was in so much pain she could hardly make it to the bathroom. Eventually she was transferred to Madison where the doctors discovered her broken back that the New London doctors missed.

Oh, tommyrot, I'm so sorry. That sounds so difficult.

And, dang, that is a couple of horrifying stories about medical professionals. I am agog.

Wow that makes me not want to be in a Wosconsin hospital, that's for sure!

Oh tommy, that's so hard. Taking your mom to see him is the right thing to do, even if she can't quite take it all in. I hope however things resolve for your father, that he is comfortable.

And I'm sorry the ER doctor spoke to your brother that way. It wasn't kind.

Hubby forged my signature on the DNR. We'd discussed it a lot, and I thought we'd covered all that in the paperwork. I suspect he didn't want me to have to actually sign that particular paper.

Geez, Tommy, that sounds hard all around. I'm sorry.