My Dad & Mom on Christmas Eve 2005So, at 22 years old, the average person never expects to have to worry that one of your parents may not be here tomorrow. Well, what the hell is average?!
My Dad went to the doctor on Monday and was admitted straight in to the hospital because of diabetes (newly diagnosed) ... Tuesday night my Mom calls to tell me that they are taking him in an ambulance to St. Luke's because his heart is only functioning 18%! Sooo, I make plans to come down on Friday. We got to The Woodlands and my Mom calls to tell me that Dad got some tests back and "it's not good". His regular Dr. didn't make us feel any better ... and neither did the nurses! I have come to realize that their job isn't to make us feel better; they don't want to be responsible for our heartache after giving us loads of hope and then something going wrong.
Sooo, my Dad has congestive heart failure. On Monday, he has the surgery to put in the pacemaker/defibrualator. I will never know how to spell that word, I sware ... Anyway, without the above, he has less than a 3% chance of survival while with it, his chance of leading a somewhat normal life is over 50%. Not great, but something we are going to have to learn to deal with.
He is in generally good spirits; my Mom is not. He is visibly having trouble breathing and it's hard to watch but he's still full of jokes and laughs. He met his surgeon today (the one who will do all of the things to his heart on Monday) and absolutely loved him! I think they joked around for a good thirty minutes. I'm glad because my Dad needs that ... he needs to be around happy people! I have been trying to stay strong but it's hard; especially when you see your Dad, always the tough one, laying in a hospital bed with your Mom combing his hair and telling him she loves him every three seconds!
Well, he still has the strength ... and the nerve ... to join with everyone else in asking when Mark and I are going to get engaged/married. He told the nurse today that he is pulling for grandchildren! He turns in to Bampaw more and more every day but I absolutely love it ...
I never thought I would have to deal with this so I never thought about what would happen if one of my parents weren't around; such as my Dad! I'm not even going to go in to all my what if's!
So, I am going to have to be strong for the both of them. I cried a lot yesterday but today I was good - no tears! He had a good day and that makes me happy! My Mom and I were in his room quite a bit today (only two can be in there at a time - he is still in ICU) and he kept telling us how nice it was to have his two girls there with him. Sunday was a sad day, too ... when I told him bye and walked out of the room, all of us teared up and my Dad closed his eyes. It was touching ... but extremely sad! I am going to make a silent promise to myself and to him that I will call him every day just to say Hi and see how he is feeling.
I just have to add that I have the best friends ever. You know who you all are! I love you guys!
Please keep him in your prayers ... he really needs it right now!
Update (Monday): He is out of surgery and it was completely successful! I have talked to him and he says he feels like he has just been hit by a truck ... but it will get better I am sure! He still has a sense of humor, though ... three nurses were standing over him testing out some new equipment and my Mom was feeding him and she told him not to eat so fast!
Please continue to keep him in your prayers ... we aren't exactly out of the woods yet!
