We Interrupt this Programming

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We’ve got some news to report about the man behind the woman who is (mostly) the subject of this blog. That’s my dad, chief consigliere Ron Peterson. He’s in the hospital in Reno right now. Last weekend Mom, Dad and Mike went to Mammoth from Menlo Park on Thursday, so as to enjoy a little fishing and to celebrate the milestone 50th wedding anniversary of their friends, Jim and Shannon Clark. Friday, Dad and Mike fished on Rock Creek while Mom kicked it old-school back at the condo, just observing the mountains; Molly joined the party already in progress after interviewing some hatchery managers up I-395 for work. We all went to a barbecue for the Clark family, and returned to the condo early, around 8 p.m. Then Mike proceeded to guess the hell out of who would win the Daytime Emmys based only on the clips they showed for each soap opera actor. Seriously. 4-for-4 at one point.Dad went to bed around 8, fully clothed; the next morning, he had slept for 12 hours and still felt “like {unprintable}.” So we took him to urgent care at the Mammoth Lakes Hospital.After some hours, we found out was that Dad had a heart incident, which we later confirmed to be a small heart attack.Dad was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Reno, and Mike and Mom, and Molly, drove from Mammoth to Reno to be with him Saturday.While he was sleeping away and waiting for an angiogram on Monday, we stayed at a place that some consider a magical wonderland; we found it, uh, scary, after the natural beauty of the eastern Sierra. (When we checked in, Mom said, “I want to eat at the place that makes me feel like I’m not in the middle of all of this.” (We failed.)) “This” being arcades full of cowboys in town for the Reno Rodeo and parents toting beers and children with sippy cups (in that order).Dad saw some very nice doctors at St. Mary’s over the weekend, and today had an angiogram. The doctors in Reno are recommending that his heart disease be treated with outpatient cardiac rehabilitation, medication and behavioral modification strategies (We’re taking comments at the following email address…just kidding). Which means no bypass or stents, and which means Mom and Dad and Mike will likely be breezing over the Donner Pass on Wednesday. (We did regale dad with tales of the beauty of Bridgeport and Walker Canyon on the way to Reno Saturday afternoon.)It also means Mom’s next chemo — the 96-hour EPOCH drip — is postponed a little bit. Not too much, Dad warns. He’s still trying to exert the power commensurate with his status as Chief Consigliere to mom, of course. We’ll let you know when they’re all back home, safe and sound.Dad’s feeling okay. Okay enough, certainly, to unleash his loose-cannon humor on the nursing staff of the cardiac care unit; not okay enough to brush his hair, so he looks like a bit of a punk. And Mom is a champ. (Though not at the slots: while she, like Katie, loves the slots, she’s also disciplined enough to lose only 3 dollars of Dad’s hard earned money…so far.)My fantastic cousin Loretta Sullivan stepped up too — she flew up to Reno Sunday AM and drove back down to LA with me. Well, technically, maybe it’s more accurate to say for me; she drove most of the way. I couldn’t have made it back to LA without her, and I wouldn’t have made it back to Atwater without her fiance Sam’s chicken soup.But my nominee today for Employee of the Month is my brother, Mike. Who has been sleeping on crappy fold-out beds since last Thursday, in two states, with nary a peep of whining. Who is a soap opera savant, and who caught 4 quality sized fish on Rock Creek (Dad got his share too, though). But perhaps his greatest feat: getting mom to watch “two-thirds” of Blades of Glory on Circus Circus pay-per-view.Though I suspect a chick flick is flickering away in there tonight. Can’t win ‘em all.Mike and Mom are loitering around the cardiac unit; so’s Dad, but he’s in a bed. They’ll have more news Tuesday.

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Filed under End of Civilization, Ron's Little Adventure