Dad

On Thursday March 20th my father had emergency double bypass surgery. He had a heart attack at some point, but they are not sure when exactly. Apparently a migraine saved his life. Who knew one could be grateful for a migraine!

He had had the migraine for about a week off and on at which point he finally went to the doctor. They gave him some Immitrex for it and then detected an arrhythmia. They took an EKG and referred him to a cardiologist with the recommendation of being seen within the next week. They went ahead and sent the EKG along to the cardiologist who told him to get in to see him immediately. He went. They called an ambulance and sent him to the hospital right away for a cardiac catheter at which point they let me know that I should come to Wilmington.

By the time I got there, a few hours later, thinking that I am just going to sit around while they do this test on him, I was notified that he was already in surgery for a possible triple or quadruple bypass. It turned out that it should have been a triple but one of the areas that was blocked was where the heart attack occurred and was atrophied so they couldn't bypass it.

It is now Saturday and he is doing ok. Not great, but he is making progress. There was a blip with his blood pressure this morning, but they got it stabilized. They were hoping to have the breathing tube out yesterday but his vitals aren't yet strong enough to do that. We are hoping very hard that it is done by Monday (although tomorrow would be better!). It would mean that his vitals are very good and that he can communicate effectively.

When visiting him today he was lucid and aware when we were there (although we are told due to the medications that he won't really remember these days) and was able to interact in a manner with us. The GREAT news is that he still has his sense of humor. When he was told that a family friend, a straight male no less, asked what his favorite flowers are so that he could send him some, I noticed his hand moving and realized that he was giving the finger in response! I asked him if he was in fact giving the guy the finger and he nodded a clear yes! So this is all good news. His color is great and the nurses say that his lab work is coming back looking right on target, so we have every reason to believe that he will make a full recovery (albeit a slow one).

I am scared because this is the first real sign that I have had to deal with that my father is in fact mortal, and I don't like it one bit. I think that if I lose him (and I don't expect that to be any time soon!), I will fall apart, because he is my best friend. And yes I realize that I said if and not when, I am not even ready to deal with the difference yet!