You don't know what you've got until its gone

You know when something is wrong when you have 4 missed calls from your mother and a message saying "please don't panic, just call when you get this".

This is something that's actually quite familiar in my family. We seemed to be jinxed with bad health. We've already had 2 visits to A&E this year and I had that heart wrenching feeling that this could be a third in just 5 months.

I call Mum. Shes asks if I'm sitting down. Oh god, it must be bad. "Its Dad, he's had a fall, and its bad". I check which hospital it is, tell my colleagues and I go. In situations like this, I am calm and collected. I hold back the tears, think logically and can drive. I don't panic.

I make the stupid mistake of answering the phone to my mother whilst driving - foolish and stupid and something I would never normally do, but this was serious. There was no where safe to pull over and the road was quiet. I had no choice but to answer to make sure the situation wasn't worse. I'm on the phone for no longer than a minute to hear that he's going for x-rays and they are checking his heart. I put the phone down, only to see blue lights in my rear view mirror. Shit. I move into the inside lane, indicating and slowing down. The unmarked car slows down, does a phone signal and shakes his head. I apologise and signal that I will pull over. He shakes his head and drives off. I was left bewildered, confused, and unsure as to what happened. To be frank, I had more important things to worry about.

The 24hrs that followed are a blur. No Heart attack or Stroke, No brain damage. A dangerously high blood pressure and a messy, large wound to the back of the head. Poor sod. I helped mum with 15 minute obs and keeping him awake. I do my usual of trying to make people laugh. Keeping them going.

When I leave 48 hrs later the shock kicks in. I cry. I realise my parents are getting old, that at some point we will start taking care of them rather than the 25 years they have taken care of me. The roller coaster of not knowing what was wrong with him and seeing him in that state was truly devastating.

He went to the Docs today and they have given him some good drugs to sort out his blood pressure. He needs to take it easy. And we'll just have to keep everything crossed that the bloods don't throw anything bad back at us.

I always thought that 25 was too young to have elderly parents, but maybe you just can never tell.