Update on Dad

Several weeks ago at his annual physical, my dad decided at the last minute to mention to his doctor that he was occasionally having a little heartburn at the end of his workouts. Yes, workouts because my dad is healthy. He eats healthy; he exercises; he plays endlessly with his 6 grandkids; he unloads hay bails and rides his 4 horses. He almost singlehandedly packed up our house last May, and then moved us into our new house in October, not to mention he runs his own very successful business.

So when he went in for the angiogram Wednesday, we were certainly not expecting anything other than good news. In fact, my parents did not even tell their church or family. So to say that it was a shock that he needed open heart surgery would be an understatement. Turns out he had major blockages, and his surgeon told us that if he had been a smoker or sedentary or an unhealthy eater that this would have happened 10 years ago.

I snapped this picture Thursday morning as we waited around in his hospital room. My dad felt great. It was so hard to send him off to surgery because he felt so well. In fact, he was kind of ticked off this was happening. ;)

He ended up needing 5 by-passes, and it took him FOREVER to wake up from surgery. They were hoping to have him extubated by late afternoon, but he still wasn't awake when we left the hospital at 8:30 last night. Fast forward to our first visit at 10:30 this morning, and it was a completely different experience. He was awake and already bored out of his mind. I'm pretty sure that when they make him get up out of bed (which should be happening soon), pain will overtake boredom, but it was SO good to see him awake and talking without that horrible tube down his throat and all the puffiness mostly gone. I don't have much experience being on this side of the hospital/surgery experience, and it is not a pleasant thing to see your family members in such an awful state.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. My mom especially felt them yesterday. It was a long day, and I'm not sure I've ever been so tired in my life, but there were many, many laughs along with the tears. Continue to pray. He is probably going to be in ICU until tonight and then hopefully home on Monday. My dad owns a financial planning/tax business so, obviously, the month before April 15 is the worst possible time to be gone from work. My mom is under alot of strain to re-arrange things as much as possible. But God is good and is giving the strength to manage along with the peace that comes from knowing He is in control and in being together.