Just got back from Arizona. Was there since last Wednesday. My Dad was going in for heart surgery to replace his aortic valve and I wanted to see him beforehand. The surgery was considered high risk, especially due to his age - 80 next year. He got to see Eli which was great - I had to leave Noel and the girls at home in Idaho. I stayed with Mom and got to see Sherri.
We saw dad into the hospital and then we all stayed in the waiting room for it to be over. The surgery took about 5 hours all told. 2 hours just to get him open and on the bypass machine, and another 3 for the operation. He's lucky he didn't end up needing the other bypass or valve replacement that they had talked about.
He came out of the surgery and we got to see him before heading home. He was on the ventilator right after and was sleeping so we couldn't talk to him. The next morning we found that he was awake but wasn't speaking - just saying "Mm-hm" if you asked him anything. He also couldn't move his eyes past mid-line to the left. Let's just say it was pretty scary. Stoke was foremost in our minds, but the doctors felt sure it was just a drug interaction with the anesthesia. (He was on lots of meds prior to surgery). The 2nd day he would say a couple words or a short phrase here and there but couldn't hold a conversation. He'd act like he was about to answer you or say something and then he would just trail off and look at the tv or something. He could read though - I was helping feed him at one point and he said "Stryker" and I looked around and saw that it was the name of the over-the-bed table they have. We were really scared because he was having trouble with certain words, it seemed. He wouldn't say our names. That was bothering my sister in particular. When you asked who we were he would look at you like he was thinking 'of course I know who you are!' but it wasn't until the 3rd day that he finally could say, 'that's my daughter' or 'that's Sherri', etc... But by then we knew it was a drug interaction for sure - they had done CT's of his head - and we knew he was going to be okay.

So, he has to do his physical therapy and as long as he keeps up with it, he should regain his health and energy within 4 to 6 weeks. It'll be a long haul though. Mom's going to have to help him with a lap belt, which goes around him and just gives her some leverage in case he falls. He has to hold a pillow to his chest - in lieu of a cast - for support.

So, big relief. Other than that, I had a good time with Mom and Sherri and getting to see my brother, sister-in-law and their kids. We put puzzles together and played a dice game called "Zilch". The TV wasn't on once which was pure bliss for me. The only TV I saw was when dad was watching it on day 2 post-op and it was all about the congresswoman and several other people plus a child who were shot in the head by some wacko. Evidently happened at a Safeway where there was a rally or get-together or some such thing. Pretty awful.

That's it for now. More later!