A friend went into the hospital last week. He was in a bad way; internal bleeding that required several units of blood. Every time they thought they had gotten it stopped, it started again. He was transferred to a larger hospital that has a good reputation for care in crucial situations.

I went over one evening to sit with his wife, and the following day she decided she was going to travel to be with him., so I went back over to learn the routine to take care of their new kittens (one is sick and needs eye drops and probiotics).

Another mutual friend was going to split kitten duty with me (she would do evenings and I would do mornings), but we never actually had to do anything, because our sick friend got released from the hospital the same day his wife went up there. So they came home that evening.

Which was a good thing, because the friend who was going to do the evenings got a call. Her mother (who lives in another state) has cancer and the nurse called with the dreaded 'it's bad, you should get here," message.

Once she got there (a four hour drive), she found her mother had improved and was not at imminent danger of passing away, which was such a relief.

So that was Wednesday - Friday.

I'm not sure if it was all the stress and worry, or if I managed to pick up a nasty germ, but I spent Saturday having the intestinal flu. Blarg. So today I'm rehydrating and eating yogurt and all that stuff.

@AngelaPreston Rough week. Hope you're feeling better. We've been dealing with a dear life-long friend undergoing chemo for leukemia. It's not working, and our friend may only have months to live, or less. We don't know yet. And this is just coming off my sister in-law's funeral who battled Parkinsons. Lots of challenges at work this year so far too, 2023's only been here a couple of months but it's been presenting itself as a tough one so far.

@Gleng2 I am so sorry to hear about your friend and sister-in-law. That's a lot to deal with.

@AngelaPreston Sounds like a rather emotionally draining week. I’m sorry that your friends are going through all that but am glad that things were better than they’d seemed at first …