I am asking for prayers for my father as he has Triple Bypass Heart surgery tomorrow morning (Friday). I received a phone call early this evening with the unexpected news, while I was out to dinner with the girls and Dave celebrating his birthday today.
This afternoon, he was visiting Irene in the hospital (she is doing chemo and had an infection set in and was put in the hospital to be monitored a little closer) when he began to feel a little tightness in his chest and had a bit of shortness of breath. He knew he did not feel quite right, so he walked himself down to the ER. Upon examination, blockages were found in 3 of the arteries. They are not sure if he had a light heart attack or not. What they are sure of is that he was indeed in the right place at the right time and was able to get prompt treatment.
I spoke with him this evening and he was feeling quite well and sounded great. It put me at ease a great deal. He is in the hospital in Columbus, Ohio and Irene's children and friends are with him. He's in wonderful spirits and said the doctor expected everything to go well. He thought my sister was going to head down to Ohio tomorrow. At this time he said there is no reason for me to make a trip up there, but that Irene's children will contact me immediately with updates and word if I need to go quickly. We already have plans to head to Ohio Dec. 22 once school is out, so I am sure I will spend a good deal of the trip with him. Tomorrow will be a tough day for him, but recovery is fairly quick once you get beyond the first few days.
It was 5 years ago this week we lost my mother to cancer and the holidays are a little hard for us still. This news was difficult, but it seems we have every reason to be hopeful that things will go well. God was watching over him today and gave him a clear sign that something was up and to seek help.
I can't help but think what if he had been at home, what if he ignored the way he felt, so many other things. Thankfully those don't have to be concerns. After getting over my initial meltdown at the restaurant, I now feel a strange peacefulness that it is all going to be fine.
The poor waiter. I had just sat down when my sister called and told me. I started crying and was a mess. He saw something was up and just left us alone until it looked like we could handle ordering. Libbi was sitting next to me and she just hugged me and was so concerned. The girls of course asked if he was going to die and I said no, he was going to be fine and be made better. After we left, I called my Dad in the hospital room, and we had a great talk. Hearing him was just what I needed, because I went to panic mode when my sister told me. I know he is scared, but he is even more thankful things so far have worked out to his favor for hi LIFE.
I will go to work tomorrow. It won't be easy but it will be a good distraction. Of course by the time I actually start teaching his surgery could very well be over. He said they told him it would last about 3-4 hours if everything goes as normal. If that's the case, he'll be out of surgery by 9 am my time. This also brings me back to Dave's Mom going through quadruple bypass 8 years ago. I remember thinking it was some horrible thing to have to go through, and seeing her through the glass a few hours after surgery yes it looked pretty bad, but then a day later she was up talking to us and looking great. That also helps calm me down a bit. Dad could be home just a week from now.
I will update here sometime tomorrow night.
Today was very cold. It did not get out of the upper 30s. Last night the thunder woke the girls up and they ended up downstairs as I was heading to bed. I don't think there was anymore thunder after that, but they had a difficult time getting back to sleep. Niether slept well at all and that was clear this evening when I picked them up.
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