Around 1:30am last night, my sister called me.

I always know that when my sister calls me after 12pm, it's never good news! I picked up the phone and I could hear my sister rushing and almost start to cry. She said, "Jaz- Papi's in the hospital. He collapsed after complaining about pain in his kidneys and an ambulance is taking him to St. Josephs now!"

I asked if she knew what happened to him since I know he has high blood pressure and he had been complaining of chest pains a few months ago. Immediately, I thought he might have had a stroke, or heaven forbid a heart attack! My mind was racing, and I had a gazillion thoughts in my head. I thought that I might have to fly out in case it was serious, or that something bad was happening to him and that I couldn't be there. I was really upset.

I told my sister to call me as soon as she talked to him and talked to doctors. I laid there waiting for what seemed like an eternity. I tried calling my dad, but he couldn't answer because he didn't have reception. He finally sent me a text saying he was fine, but I knew he was just being nice, so I waited until my sister called.

Finally, she called and told me that he might have kidney stones and needed a catscan to verify. All in all, my dad was fine. He had a little bit of pain still, but was doing better. She told me my dad would call me when they released him to talk to me. I told her to hug him for me and tell him I love him.

At 4am, my dad called me, and although I knew he was tired, he used his perky voice to tell me he was fine and it was just a kidney stone that was passing through. He told me he'd call me in the morning but that he was fine. I was half asleep so all I could say was, "Damn you dad, take care of yourself, I love you, don't scare me like that!" He laughed and told me there was nothing he could do to prevent a kidney stone.

I waited to call him from work this morning and when I did, he said, "I'm fine now, but I swear I thought I was dying!" He said he had never felt such horrible pain in his life, and it scared him. The pain was so intense that it caused him to collapse. He will be seeing a radiologist this week to figure out if there is another one or if there is a followup treatment to follow.

Needles to say, I was incredibly frightened last night and all I wanted to do was be home. I think I realized how far we are from family, and that scared me. Even when my sister called, my first instinct was to get up. But I had no where to go, and that was a horrible feeling. :(

On the bright side... today was a beautiful day in NYC. I found out that a good friend of mine passed the NYC Bar exam and she referred me to an Bar/Essay coach that helped her pass the NYC Bar. I think I am going to invest some money into her 3 day essay writing course.

Although it was a beautiful day, it was HOT and humid, and that hotness did not help the stench in our apartment. I'm determined to get a discount on our rent for next month because this is beyond disgusting. :)