Not as hoped...

Good news: nothing is broken, it's apparently just a muscle thing.
Bad news: unless he's able to get more mobile (partly a matter of being willing to, working against the pain), he may wind up going to a rehab center for a while.

This sucks. I mean, the good news, is it sounds like it will eventually get better if not totally better, but it just kind of sucks. And this is a bad time of year for it to happen.

Also, apparently being on a "Cardiac menu" in the hospital REALLY sucks, and my mom says she doubts we'd be permitted to bring him Thanksgiving dinner if he's still there. (Good lord, hospital. The man is 82. Let him have one decent meal while he's there).

The other good news is my mom says the nurses are good (well, this is a hospital that is, or at least used to be, affiliated with a big nursing school, so one would hope so) and the doctor said he understood what the pain was like, as he apparently had the same injury. (Which gives me hope that they can do something to improve my dad's status)

My brother is apparently still going to bring his whole menagerie, and they will be there before I get there.

I'm just....I'm tired of holidays being such a jumbled up mess where someone's hurt and everything's chaotic.

I hope Christmas is better.

I really hope my dad doesn't have to go to a rehab center :(

Don't get me wrong: I'm grateful that he's improving and I'm glad it was nothing worse than a strain on an already painful muscle, but....part of it is the not-knowing. Not knowing if he'll be home for Thanksgiving, or if I'll have to find my own way from the train station (and back to it on Friday), or whatever. (Dangit. I should have got more cash. Well, I guess most taxis take credit cards, if it comes to that. Or maybe my mom's friend Debbie can get me, if she's in town.)

On the other hand: I am not having the gloomy thoughts I was having last night, when I didn't know the full extent of his injuries for sure - apparently is is just a muscle that is involved, nothing spinal. So while it sucks, hopefully he will be coming home soon, with more comfort and better mobility than he had had.

Now I'm glad I have a couple of those vintage British mystery reprints saved back; will take them to read on the train and also if I need to escape from the chaos while up there. (I do not plan on really doing much, if any, knitting - won't take the knitting out of my room with 2 untrained cats, a dog, and a small child there, none of whom understand that chewing on yarn or pulling needles out of projects is not cool).