New Thing 62, New Thing Every Day: Rush to Indiana After My Stepfather's Stroke

[Note: This post is a day late, for reasons that should be obvious.]

Here are 10+ things about this experience.

1. My mother called me, crying, from an ambulance, rushing to a hospital 45 minute from our small town, with my stepfather, following a stroke he had at their house.
2. It was my job to find his kids and let them know (they live on the east coast).
3. It took a while because I did not have anyone's phone number (we mostly communicate over Facebook). With Facebook and Google, I got to phone numbers within an hour or so and let everyone know what was happening.
4. The stroke was pretty serious and Sam is not expected to recover.
5. My mom told me not to come, but I was on the road within an hour. I got to the hospital a little before 1:00 am.
6. Because of my physical limitations due to MS, my stepbrother was concerned that I could not help in the ways that would be needed. I explained that my MS does not affect my stamina or energy, and that if there was something needed that I can't do, I have enough money to get someone else to do anything we may need in this situation. Relatively small amouts of money really can solve most short-term problems.
7. There are many, many things at which I am not the guy, but I am absolutely the guy you want in a crisis. That is kind of my thing.
8. Sam's three kids are on planes, rushing to get here as quickly as they can. The prognosis is that he is not going to last, but nobody can tell us when he might go.
9. This morning, I had to tell Sam's sister what was happening. That was a treat.
10. In 2004, I was basically in this same situation -- sitting in a hotel room for a few days, mostly just my mom and me, waiting for my dad to go. In that case, he was on life support and I had to make the call to pull the plug. Definitely not something I would wish on anybody.
11. Thank goodness for laptops and wifi. It could be a few days of sitting here and I have a lot of work to do.