It's so hard

Living so far away from my family.

Last week, my father went into the hospital to have an arteriogram, and the doctors found out that two of his arteries were almost 100% blocked. They offered to do open-heart surgery to unblock both at once (dad was conscious) but he declined and had one done (it took three stents to unblock it) and will have the other one done next month.

Today, my sister called this morning to say daddy was back in the hospital again. He was having pain last night and this morning he asked to be taken to the ER. (If you knew my dad, you would realize how unusual this is for him.) He had to have an emergency appendectomy tonight and his appendix was apparently very infected. If it had burst...

Anyway, the surgery was dicey because he has been on a blood thinner since Thursday...but he came through okay so far. I got to speak to him just briefly tonight and my heart just broke, I was so happy to tell him how much I love him, but I just want to get in the car and drive down...

If I did it would mean taking unpaid leave from work, so I really shouldn't ... but I am so torn...what if something happens? It's only money after all and this is my dad we're talking about...

We have a trip down scheduled on the 15th...and everyone is saying just wait until then...but then I remember what happened with my brother...

I don't know what to do. My heart says one thing, my head another. If I lived in Florida, I'd already be at his bedside.

I wish I had more money. I hate living like this.

Another SS/HG Christmas Exchange Rec

This is a wonderful fic. It has a wonderful story and manages to weave in many of the canon characters like Poppy, Professor Flitwick and Hagrid. I sat down to read one or two chapters (there's ten in all) and wound up reading the whole thing in one sitting.

Title: Tidings of Comfort and Joy
Rating: M
Warning(s): HBP spoilers/torture
Genre/Category: Drama/Romance
Summary: Hermione Granger has been absent from the wizarding world for more than five years. When Severus Snape runs into her in a Muggle bookstore, he discovers why. An old promise made to Albus Dumbledore prompts Snape to offer his help to his former student.
Go, read!

I loved it. It was a pleasant distraction from the worries of my dad.