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I left work “early” today (I still worked more than 8 hours, seeing as I’d arrived at 8am and worked through lunch) because I got a call from my Dad and Bro from the hospital where Grandma currently is. She’d been taken by ambulance a couple of nights ago to the hospital for a procedure on her lungs. She made it through the surgery but still had some sort of lung infection. Sometime last night/yesterday morning, the doctors felt it was necessary to move her to ICU.

My Dad and Bro got there around 1:30 in the afternoon but my uncle was already there. Grandma was having a very difficult and painful time breathing. My Bro said he was worried because G’ma’s breaths were short, deep, and fast. They called me and told me about it around 3:30ish. I told Bossguy I had to get out of there as soon as possible and he concurred.

Dad called me just before I stepped out of my office with the message: “Please call Mom and tell her to get a plane ticket back from Taiwan. It’s any minute now.” I freaked out and talked to Mom for 40 minutes while rushing to the hospital. (Boy am I going to hate my cell phone bill when I get it.) I was scared I wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time.

I was stuck in horrible L.A. traffic for an hour and by the time I arrived, it was close to 6pm. Luckily, Grandma’s condition had improved and somewhat stabilized. She didn’t seem to be in as much pain, I’m told. While we were visiting, we each held her hand (not Dad, he’s got a cough and has to wear a mask when entering ICU) and she grabbed us and wouldn’t let go.

At the staff shift change, we got kicked out of the room so we went to have dinner. Dad took us to a restaurant called L.Y.L Garden (500 W Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. 626-289-8329.) I was disappointed because I forgot my camera and they had Geoduck on the menu. Bro and I kept joking that it was the name of my Pokemon character (if you pronounce it incorrectly as “GEO-DUCK” instead of “GOOEY-DUCK” it does sound like a Pokemon, doesn’t it?). On the way out, I grabbed a business card. They have their hours listed as:

Hours: 11 am - 12 am
Lunch: 11 am - 3 am
Late Dinner: 10 pm - 12 am

What?

Anyway, I also noticed that the restaurant had a ‘C’ rating which was (funny enough) hidden behind a plant so I didn’t see it as we were walking in. Nice.

Bro pointed out that if we got food-poisoning that we’d already be at the hospital. Very comforting.

We got back to the hospital and visited Grandma again, but she was sound asleep and we didn’t wake her.

Dad is staying at Grandma’s house so I had to give Bro a ride back to OC. We called Mom again when we got back to the house (no, we did not use Skype) and gave her an update.

I headed back to L.A. and got home sometime before midnight and I’ve been cleaning, which is a pretty good indication that I’m not myself.

I need sleep because I have to take Yoshi to the airport by 7:15 tomorrow morning and then be in the office by 8am. Plus, I’ll probably try to leave a little early again and see Grandma in the afternoon.

Grandma could still use some good mojo, so thanks in advance.