An Update on Dad

Yesterday was utterly exhausting. Something about kissing my dad goodbye before surgery made the dam finally break loose. Of course when they came in to tell us they had made the first incision, which got the tears flowing again. At that point we said a family Rosary in the waiting room and my mom and I cried our way through that as well. Knowing he was on the heart and lung machine was not easy either.

The rest of the morning was spent laughing over Modern Family and YouTube clips with my brothers, reading and chatting. When they came in to tell us that they were closing him up and that everything looked great, there was a collective sigh of relief and a lot of "Thank You Jesus" remarks. Instead of 4 to 6 hours of surgery, they were done in an hour and a half. Amazing!

It would be at least an hour before we could see him so we grabbed a bite to eat in the cafeteria. Have I told you how much I love my family? In a tremendous time of stress, we were there. My mom, my brothers and myself waited it out together. There were no harsh words or arguments. Instead there was laughter, prayer, some hand holding and yes, tears.

When at last we were allowed to go in together to the ICU there was a unanimous feeling of fear of what we would see but a strong desire to see him with our own eyes. Walking into that ICU seeing my dad on a vent with tubes coming out of almost ten different places on his body was overwhelming. He looked, well, not there. It was perhaps the hardest moment of the day for me.

We took turns staying with him through the rest of the day. By 4:30 he was doing well enough to be taken off the vent which made a big difference in his overall appearance. By 9:30 last night when I left, he was talking (although he was so loopy we were fighting over who got to sit with him in order to hear the hilarious things he said), sitting up and drinking.

So far today most of the tubes and wires have been removed, he's been up and walking - first with the walker and now without - and he's out of the ICU. Everyone at the hospital has told us how strong he is and how he's been one of the fastest bypass patients to leave the ICU.

You and I both know that none of this is short of miraculous. After all, when the doctor looked at his pre-bass heart, he said he only sees hearts like that in corpses. I thank you for your prayers. Among all the other emotions I felt yesterday, I felt a tremendous sense of support and love for all the people praying for us and checking in on me.

I don't know what people without faith do!