Update on Dad / When Squirrels Attack

My dad, Lloyd Grizzle, is now at the LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) unit of Kindred Hospital in midtown Atlanta. He continues to suffer complications from acute pancreatitis but his condition has stabilized. He is still in a lot of pain. His doctors will be meeting with our family this week to talk about a plan of action. The plan is still for him to rest and continue to heal so he can be strong enough to have the surgeries he needs: at least one, maybe more, to remove the parts of his pancreas that have become nectrotic, and one to remove his gallbladder. The doctors believe his pancreatitis came about when a gallstone became lodged in his pancreas.

One morning last week, as I was driving to Jasper, GA, to pick up my mom to drive her to the hospital (she is unable to drive because of vision problems), I passed beneath a tree branch with my convertible top down and a squirrel jumped down, landed on top of my head, and scampered into the back seat and jumped out of the car. Thankfully, I was wearing a baseball cap and survived the attack without injury. The squirrel left behind in my car some leaves and bits of the small tree branch it had jumped or fallen from.

My brother Jason said he read somewhere that squirrels are beginning to attack humans. I don't know if this was an attack or the result of a squirrel misjudging the strength of a tree branch. I did find this photo, though, at the website of Relevant magazine, which seems to support my brother's theory.


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