Last Tuesday I got a call from my Mom that my Dad was headed back to the hospital due to chest pains, but that the pains weren't as bad as last time. The only favor my Mom really needed from me was to take Josh with me to pick up my Dad's car and drive it home. Later that night she said not to worry, that it was fine where it was and we'd worry about it later.
They ended up moving him from Arcadia Methodist where he had been taken to Glendale Memorial, a hospital that was covered under his insurance. That morning, they decided they needed to do another Angiogram to see what was going on and discovered that he had multiple blocked arteries, and the stent they had placed after his heart attack in May was failing. They decided that he needed to have bypass surgery.
My Mom and Dad were both frightened beyond belief, as was the rest of the family. The surgeon decided that the surgery would take place the next day, Thursday at Noon. Luckily, the surgeon reassured us that my Dad was a great candidate, and because of his healthy heart, and that he didn't have anything else wrong with him like high blood pressure, or Diabetes, it should go fairly well.
Josh and I arrived Thursday morning around 10am to spend some time with him before they took him to Pre-op at 11. I was doing my best to stay strong for my Mom and Dad, but when Josh hugged my Dad and started to cry, I couldn't hold it together and started to cry too. It was very unsettling to think that I might have been seeing my Dad alive for the last time.
The surgery began right at Noon. They knew they would be bypassing three arteries, and possibly a fourth if needed - which they would decide once they had him opened up. He was put on a heart and lung bypass machine - because they had to stop his heart to perform the surgery. The machine kept his body alive. At around 3:30 a nurse called to tell us that they had decided to bypass all four arteries, and so far the surgery was going really well. About 45 minutes later, the surgery had ended, and my Dad was doing well.
They kept him fairly sedated the rest of that night. He had a breathing tube, a tube to his stomach to drain any secretations, two arterial tubes, a chest tube to drain any fluid from his heart, and about 50 IV's. I chose not to see him during this time and I know that Dad wouldn't have wanted people to see him like that either. Later that night, they removed the breathing tube.
The next day, he was doing so well, they moved him out of CCU and into his own room to recover. They had him up and walking around - just a little bit, and by Saturday morning, all the tubes had been removed, and they were only hooking him up to two IV's periodically.
Then on Sunday, they sent him home because he was doing so well! He gets tired if he's standing up or walking for more than a couple minutes, but given the situation, he's doing great!
He'll be out of work for three months, which brings me to change #2. Because my Dad will be out on disability for three months, which only pays a partial amount of his normal salary, and because he will be limited to what he can do around the house, Josh and I are moving in with them to help subsidize his lost income, and to do chores and such around the house. It's both a help to them and also to us, as we'll be saving around $700/month in rent and other bills we'd normally be paying. Saving that extra money will definitely guarantee that we'll have reached our goal of saving $20,000 to put as a down payment on a house once we move. If Josh works consistently until next June/July, we might even be closer to $25,000 which will help us furnish the house once we get into it.
Hopefully this will all work out and by this time next year, I'll be the owner of a beautiful house that I can call my own, and be proud of.
No comments:
Post a Comment