Hi all.

I've been rather tight-lipped about Papa TriSec of late. He is currently in Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital here in Boston. (Henceforth BIDMC). He had surgery on Friday, and is now improving somewhat.

As you are aware, your loyal TriSec is always quick to point out how much better Boston is than any other city. (meaning yours). Today, not so much.

I am appalled by the care he is receiving at this so-called premier hospital. We of course have too many hospitals to count here in Boston, and many of them are truly narrow-focus on a handful of specialties.

BIDMC, for example, is a terrific hospital for neurological issues, cardiology, and strokes. Cancer and diabetes? Not so much.

From Thursday when he was admitted, up to yesterday, he did not receive any insulin. At one point on Sunday, his blood sugar was over 400. Yesterday at last, some case managers from the nearby Joslin Clinic imposed themselves on the nursing station and read them the riot act. Pops is back under control, yesterday his sugar was passing down through 280 on the way back to normal for him.

But as a side effect - four days after surgery today, and he still is unable to eat or drink anything. He couldn't even keep down water yesterday, because his body chemistry is so messed up from the sugar imbalance.

Of course, we're still waiting for the lab results and analysis from the mass they took out. We don't yet know how far it spread, or just how malignant it was. Not overly upset over this delay - my own diagnosis took over 10 days before I heard from the lab.

But even then, the doctor later told us that they couldn't get all of it out, as it was "beyond their capabilities". Excuse me? With Dana-Farber Cancer Institute literally across the street? Why didn't you send him there in the first place?

So we remain in 'wait and see' mode. But now, I am facing the slight, yet real, possibility that I could lose both my parents in the same year.