Algorithms for the Masses by Julian M Bucknall

Those of you who follow me may have noticed a that I've been somewhat offline for the past week. The reason is that my father had a cardiac arrest overnight on Saturday/Sunday, 12/13 December, just over a week ago. Since then he's been in the Cardiac Care Unit at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. I flew out from Colorado the next day, arriving the Tuesday, to see him. For the past week, I and my sister have been taking turns at looking after my mother and driving her to and from the hospital (it's over 90 minutes away). There's not been much time for being online, besides which I have to borrow a neighbor's broadband with which to do it.

Yesterday, Dad seemed to be doing OK -- he'd been up and down all week, with the best day being Saturday -- so I decided that it was safe enough to fly back home to the US for Christmas. I drove down to London to stay at a little hotel in Eton that we like, ready for getting up early in the morning to make the quick trip to Heathrow and my flight to Chicago. I'd no sooner arrived after a 6 hour drive than my sister phoned to say that Dad had had another cardiac arrest and was now in ICU and that they were driving over to the hospital straightaway.

Last night, at quarter to 11, he died. He'd been sedated and so never recovered consciousness after the second attack. The last time I saw him was on Sunday when he was admonishing me for having brought Mum over despite some of the crappiest freezing icy weather England's been suffering this past week. Despite the admonishment, I think he was really pleased to see us and thank heavens I did do the journey. I'd be even more devastated than I am now if I hadn't.

So, bye, Dad. Thank you for being the best Dad ever.

Posted via email from Julian's posterous

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