Washington Trip 2014 - My Dad's Surgery

Well, I've finally made it to my 8th and last post about our trip to Washington.

We were planning on going to Washington this summer.

Originally, we were going to go the last week of July

 and stay on the coast for a week with my parents.

But then Lexi switched schools and tracks

and was going to start school the week we were scheduled to be in Birch Bay.

So we bumped up our trip to us arriving on the 4th of July.

...

Then the night we got home from Rexburg, at the end of June, I got a call from my parents.

They told me that my dad needed to get open heart surgery. A double bypass.

It was scheduled for the morning of July 3rd.

I was a wreck! I bawled uncontrollably and frequently.

...

We hurried and unpacked from our Rexburg trip

and immediately started packing to go to Washington.

We left that same week. I wanted to have time with my dad before his surgery.

It was really important to me that my kids got time with him before his surgery.

...

The night before his surgery, I cried a lot.

I felt scared and overwhelmed and unable to control my emotions. And I couldn't sleep that night.

I made sure to take lots of pictures that night...

 

Grandpa read the kids bedtime stories that night and tucked them into bed.

 



I didn't get any pictures of him reading to Lexi though.

...

The morning of the surgery, my parents and I got up really early and left for the hospital.

We went to Providence hospital in Everett.

My brother showed up just after they took my dad to get him prepped for surgery.

Then we got to go see my dad and say a quick goodbye and he was off to the operating room.

We waited and watched the morning news, then got breakfast from the cafeteria,

then waited some more in the waiting room. Time seem to slow down.

...

My mom finally laid down in a private room and fell asleep.That's when a nurse came out

and told me that they found another block and needed to now do a triple bypass.

I woke up my mom and told her. Now, I started to worry a little more.

Soon after that, Sean and the kids came to see us.

It was my birthday, so went down to the cafeteria for lunch and ice cream.

Not long after that they told us that my dad's surgery was done and we'd see him soon.

The doctor informed us that they found some growth on his lungs and took a biopsy.

They weren't sure what it was but they said it wasn't cancer. Perhaps the start of an infection.
(The next week we found out it was scaring from pneumonia.)

...

Sean and the kids left. I didn't want them to see my dad.

My mom, brother and I went to my dad's room. We were told to come back in 20 minutes though.

So my mom went and made a dozen phone calls.

A little bit later, I went back to my dad's room and just sat and watched him.

(My mom was still on the phone and my brother was waiting for her.)

He was hooked up to so many tubes. There were wires and machines and monitors everywhere.

My dad started saying, "Help." His throat was dry and his voice was raspy but he kept saying, "Help."

It was very hard to see him like that. Soon my mom and brother joined me.

After my dad realized my mom was there, he kept calling for her.

He said over and over, "Brenda, help. Brenda, help me."

...

I wrote down a few of the things he said that afternoon...

 

"I just don't know what the heck is going on?"

 

To his nurse he said, "Miss Lindsay, what can we do to make you more miserable?"

 

To my mom, "Why did you let them do this to me?" My mom replied, "So you'd live."

 

To my mom, " Can you scratch my left inner cantis?" (I think that's the tear duct.)

 

"I'm just feeling overwhelmed."

...

He had a bit of anxiety attack. Finally, after several hours of him being uncomfortable and repeatedly asking for help, the nurses figured out what medications worked for him and he could finally sleep.

And we could go home and sleep too.

...

The second day (Friday) he was much more pleasant and easy to watch.
He made great progress. He got up and walked several times.
In fact, he did so well that he came home on Sunday! And he only had his surgery on Thursday!
Several times I got to "babysit" my dad while my mom ran errands.
Lexi was so proud that her job was to get the mail for my parents and walk with Grandpa.
 



I could write so much more about the whole experience but choose not to.
It was a week that I will never forgot and yet want to.
I'm just grateful everyday that he is now doing better.
And pray that he'll have many, many more years with us here on earth.
...
Four weeks after his surgery,
my dad got the okay from his doctor to drive again and go back to work.
At first he just did half days at work and then just worked in the back office doing paperwork.
He's slowly easing back into a regular routine.