....To Me You Are So Wonderful!"
My Dad gave us all quite a scare this last week! His heart Dr. found an Aneurism the size of an apple at his 3 month routine appointment last Wed.! After an hour & half wait, he was more than ready to leave, and tried to, but Mom made him stay and the Dr. found it!
We count this as Blessing #1.
The Dr.'s never let him leave from that point on. He left their office about 7:30 pm, in an ambulance, 'knocked out' and taken to Mesa General! Mom & brother Curt were beside themselves with worry because the Dr. was very grim, only giving Dad a 50/50 chance of survival! They told him that this aneurism could burst at any time, like when tying his shoe, the car seat belt jerking to tight, or lifting heavy objects! It's called an Aortic Abdominal Aneurism (AAA) and Dad's was 7.7 centimeters BIG!)
At this horrible, scary news, I caught a ride down with Sonja, who was taking her grandkids back to Mesa. All four of us kids were together, luckily Curt was on his 28 days off.
Blessing #2
We spent alot of time in this little waiting room, right outside of ICU. Only 2 people could be in with Dad at a time, so the rest of us visited. We thought the surgery would take place on Thurs. but they had to get the cumiden (sp?) out of his blood. While visiting I found out from Mom that on Monday, Dad was getting ready to change some tires on his old truck and was just getting ready to get the big jack out when Garrett called him from San Francisco, its his 28 days on. He didn't want Dad doing that, and insisted on calling a friend, who came over and changed the tires for Dad, probably saving his life!
We count this, Blessing #3!
Steve & Sherry, and also Kara, spent lots of time there. Steve gave Dad a Priesthood blessing that really gave Mom lots of peace and comfort. Before the Blessing, Steve said he was worried, because he knew Dad's chances weren't real good. But during the Blessing he felt a warmth start at his toes and go all the way up through his body and into his hands. He knew the Holy Spirit was telling him that he could say that Dad was going to be OK.
This was Blessing #4
So here's Dad not long after his surgery. They were able to take his breathing tube out lots sooner than they thought. Because Dad has a little emphysema, the Dr.'s thought he would need the breathing tube in longer, but he was breathing good enough on his own.
And Blessing #5
The biggest blessing of all is that we still have our Dad. I know that he is 84 years old and that I've had him a long time, but none of us are willing to give him up yet! We are so very thankful that we were given all these wonderful blessings so that we could keep him around a little longer. Mom made the comment to me, "You're Daddy is my whole life, what would I do without him?" What will any of us do without him? I can't stand the thought!
Dad got to go home yesterday, (Thursday) and was up taking care of some bookwork!
Isn't that amazing? We are all thanking our Heavenly Father!!
