You should have seen the other guy!

The dog found me out, and hadn't even seen the suitcase yet! He just knew. He's too smart for his own good!

As I was driving to the Tampa airport at dark o'clock, my cell phone rang. Beth said Dad had fallen and they were having trouble stopping the bleeding from his face, nose and arm. The neighbors, Don and Mim, were helping (Mim is a retired nurse) and they finally got him patched up. I don't even want to know how fast Don drove to get them to the airport, but once there, with the help of an awesome and friendly Skycap named Winston, we got to the gate and were the last ones to board. Dad looks like he's been in a prize fight - but you should have seen the other guy, whom Dad claims was George Foreman, all because Dad wouldn't buy his grill! It's good to know he's kept his sense of humor through all of this, as he's got to be hurting and sore. So... we're in our seats on the plane...

Then the stewardess asked us questions about Dad's very obvious condition, as he had started bleeding again a little bit. When they found out he was on Coumadin, they booted us off the plane. The medics checked him out, but airline policy prevented us from reboarding until a doctor certified he was OK to fly. Beth asked if that doctor could be Dad himself. Uh, no. So we drove back to Sun City Center to the emergency room where they began a thorough exam including X-rays and CT scan. They diagnosed a broken nose, patched him up with better (and pricier) bandages that apply pressure to the elbow to help with bleeding. Eventually he left with a doctor's note saying he was cleared to fly.

The airlines was wonderful in accommodating the situation, and got us on the same flight Monday. We even got Winston as our Skycap when we got to the unloading area at the airport. He remembered that Dad has a pacemaker and Mom has 2 bionic knees, and got us through security as efficiently as possible. We arrived in COS as uneventfully as you can traveling with 2 wheelchairs, a worried mom, badly bruised and black-eyed father, a tired and somewhat stressed sister, and a tired me.

Beth and I drove around looking for hotels and places to have the rehearsal dinner for the February wedding, then Deb's in-laws arrived and we headed out for dinner at Biaggi's, a nice Italian restaurant near Deb's house.

Dad has been coming up with great jokes about his black eyes and swollen nose and face: His parachute didn't open, those prizefighters aren't all that great after all, etc. All in all, the one day we missed out here was a day Debbie didn't have anything planned, so all's well that ends well.

Stay tuned for Tuesday!