My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

done frequently since having the problems leading to the stent, he was sleeping
downstairs in a chair. During the early morning hours, after Eva was asleep, my mom
heard my dad call for her. She came downstairs and found my dad on the floor with blood
everywhere. My dad remembers clearly what happened, and told me today that he had
tried to walk to the bathroom but fell. He tried to get up and then fell again, this time
hitting his head on the door to the bathroom. While telling the story, he smiled and said
"after the second time, I figured I should ask for help." The blood was from the cut on his
head. My mom stayed downstairs for the rest of the night, staying awake to keep watch
over him. Thankfully, Eva slept through this and only saw a somewhat cleaned up scene
when she awoke.
Eva's mom Margaret is my ex-wife, but over the past few years she has become best
friends with my current wife Dana and we have been blessed with a strong co-parenting
relationship. My mom called me in the morning, before Eva awoke, and after briefly
speaking with Dana, we called Margaret. There was a little difficulty reaching her
(understandable, she is remarried and has a newborn baby and was probably enjoying
the hour or two of sleep her newborn affords her). After a little delay, she got the
message and quickly called. She got right in the car and picked up Eva. Eva was well
aware that her papa had fallen and was experiencing a turn for the worse, and her mom
spent most of the day comforting Eva and crying together with her (Margaret has known
my dad for almost 20 years).
I was out of town with Dana and scheduled to come back late Monday. However, it was
Sunday and I was going back and forth by phone with my mom as to whether to return
early. I told her that the only priority was honoring her wishes and my dad's wishes, and
doing what would make things easier for them. She said she did not want me to come
back yet, but she would let me know if that changed. She was holding off on calling Dr.
Flam because she did not want to wake him so early on a holiday Sunday. I strongly
encouraged her to just wake him up (if you're reading this, Dr. Flam, thank you for taking
the early call). She did wake him up, but he did not seem to mind. He said to hold off on
going to the hospital and just monitor him for changes. I asked my mom to call me
immediately when anything changed. I'm afraid I didn't give her quite that much courtesy,
though, since I called her a few times just to check in (although to be fair, my cell
coverage was spotty so I wanted to make sure she hadn't called and failed to get
through).
Some time later that day (probably mid-afternoon, but it is kind of a blur) she called to say
she was in the car going to the hospital with my dad and Herb Boro. Basically my dad's
temperature had gone to just shy of 101 degrees, which I am told for patients in my dad's
condition is a level indicating possible serious problems (as we learned later, probably
sepsis). I asked whether I should drive home but my mom said I should hold off. She
didn't think things were critical at that point and she said she without a diagnosis of an
imminent medical problem, she didn't want me driving home with my wife and two
younger daughters at night. I said OK.
Around dinner time, perhaps a bit later, my mom called saying that my dad was not going
to just be admitted, but was going to be sent to either the cardiac ward or the ICU. His
heart rate was ranging between 110 and 130 and his blood pressure was way up and
down. He had also seen his fever rise to 103 degrees. At this point I was gripped with
uncertainty and self-doubt. I could drive home right away, but if things progressed even
linearly, he would be unconscious or worse by the time I got there (it was about a 4 hour
drive). My mom hadn't slept on Saturday night for more than an hour or two, and was
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