No, I haven't given up on blogging yet; I've been living my nightmare. August 17th, Dad went in for the heart procedure I mentioned in my previous post. The procedure was supposed to be non-invasive and would only require a one night stay in the hospital. He came through the procedure beautifully, so we thought. As he was in the recovery room with my mom and my brother (only 2 family members were allowed), Kevin texted me that Dad was joking and all went well. The next thing I knew, Mom and Kevin were walking into the waiting room where I was sitting. They said that Dad started bleeding and they were working on him. As my Aunt Zell explained that this happens sometimes, the voice over the PA announced, "Code Blue Room 66" several times. I said, "That is Dad's room". Next out to see us was his nurse, tears in her eyes, accompanied by the Chaplain. I was both confused and in shock.
It has been a very, very hard 11 days. 2 days ago, they had to shock dad's heart back into rhythm and perform a separate kidney surgery. As soon as that was over, Dad has seemed to finally make progress. The plan is that tomorrow he will be discharged from he hospital and head to rehab to build up his strength.
The nurse in the ICU told me that it is a miracle he survived. She told me that none of the nurses thought he would make it and in her book, it is a "true miracle". Thank you Jesus.
Oh and by the way, they discovered that a wire they were using had torn his artery which set off a firestorm of complications to include a heart attack.
I took this photo just before we left for the procedure.
As traumatic as these past two weeks have been, we are so excited to put the past behind us and move forward in getting Daddy home as soon as he is ready.
