The untraditional Xmas

Hello to all
I recently (as of friday) had a very untraditonal Xmas. Why you may ask ? Well my father who turned 80 this past July and despite having a slight stroke in 2002 and taking heart medication is fairly healthy for his age.
Last Tuesday he had extreme case of lower stomach pain. So much so he had to be taken to the emergency room at the local hospital(which is about four blocks) by an ambulance.
The first time I saw him in the emergency room he was curled up on the gurney clutching his stomach and complaing and cursing. Now my father doesn't curse all the time (he does some) and is a fairly easy going guy but he was giving the nurses and doctors a hard time. After a CT scan and Xray they discovered that his lower intestines or bowels were obstructed.
The solution then was to pump his stomach which involves sticking a tube down your nose and throat into the stomach.
At first he wouldn't have it no he said just take me home and get me something to eat I'll be ok and he also believed that it would cause cancer(a larynscopy was done to his uncle and his cancer was already in the later stages.)He was being stubborn and obstinate about it.
The doctor, my mother, and I assured him that this wouldn't be if he'd just cooperate finally he said Ok. I didn't see this procedure but from the sound it wasn't pleasant.
They pumped his stomach for about six hours and got alot and I mean ALOT of fluid out of it. The doctor after studying the scans and x rays suggested that not only was the lower intestine blocked it was "twisted" like a hose. They'd never seen it before in man of this age and he'd never had any surgery in his stomach.They'd have to send him to Memorial Hospital in Springfield,Il for potential surgery.
About ten pm after being in the emergency room for nine hours he was transported to Memorial Hospital. The surgeons and staff looked at him more closely and suggested that they would continue to pump his stomach until morning and maybe only have to do a laproscopy to check and see if would clear itself up.
My mother and I left the hospital thinking that it would be better in the morning we got two blocks from the hospital and the cell phone rang.
The surgeon decided to do the laproscopy that night and possibly operate on his lower intestines. So back to the hospital we went and they prepared him for surgery.
The surgeons were extremely nice and I got the impression they were really concerened about this obstruction and that it couldn't wait until morning.
There was scar tissue wrapping around his small intestine and causing him all that pain.They made an incision below his belly button took out the intesting cut out the "kink" and sewed it back together and put it back.We waited in the surgery waiting room for about three hours and around four am the surgeon came in and told us my father would be OK !
If the surgeons didn't do this he'd either gotten gange green or perrinitis or could have died. I'm very glad that they were vigilant about this problem and treated it as life threating.
He spent five days in the hospital recuperating and I knew he was feeling well when he was joking around with the nursing staff and doctors.
So I'm very thankful to the surgeons at Memorial Hospital in Springfield Il. They are very skilled and nice people and would highly recommend them any day.
Although, it was an untraditional Xmas it would ensure traditional and uneventful ones to come.
A very big THANK YOU and Congratulations to the surgeons and staff at Memorial Hospitial in Springfield, Illinois.