The Funny Farm

Daddy's surgery went well on Wednesday, but nothing could have prepared us for how he would look when it was over! My mom and I walked into the room he was in and it echoed with sounds from an array of busy machines surrounding him like I have never heard before - pumps, puffs, beeps and constant humms. The wires and cords covered his head and body like a maze. And there was my poor, very swollen daddy beneath it all. We wept like babies. How could this be? He was so lifeless and distorted. Luckily, there has been daily progress, but it has been slow. He takes two baby steps forward and one step backwards, and we have learned to accept this happily. He had five bypasses and a maze procedure to hopefully correct the afib condition. They took veins from both legs and his chest to replace the blocked ones - so he really is sore all over! He is now having problems with his lungs and taking deep breaths, which hurts clear through to his heart. One doctor thinks he has pneumonia in his left lung, but another doctor doesn't quite agree - so who knows. He is just so SAD. He has cried a couple of times (NEVER have I seen my STRONG Daddy weep) and keeps apologizing for putting everyone out so much. I think this must be the hardest surgery on your body you can have and survive it. The nurses keep reminding us that depression occurs in many of their open-heart surgery patients, but we hope this is just fleeting sadness and he will be back to his happy self SOON.
He was officially moved to a regular room on the heart monitoring floor yesterday. We couldn't be happier to be out of the CV-ICU. We could only be with him for a few hours at a time when he was in there and it seemed like he would improve while we were in there and then go downhill when we left. It has all been very frustrating with many hours (5 days and nights!) spent in a very uncomfortable, small waiting room. My sweet mother never left Daddy. She has spent every night at the hospital since election day when this whole thing started. The five sleepless nights on the hard mini-love seats were especially uncomfortable, but there was no way she would choose to be in a comfy bed while Daddy was just down the hall going through so much. She kept telling each of the nurses (and he had many) that she was just down the hall. I hope last night was better for her. She could sleep right beside her true love and listen to him breathe. I think that kind of contact is healing for both of them. Many, MANY people would tell her to leave and let the nurses do their job, but she would hear nothing of it. He would never leave her and she would never leave him - they have obviously made a pact. Mother's sisters Delores and Betty switched off staying with her at night and I am very thankful for them. My children needed me too, so Mother would hear nothing of me staying the night, but I felt so guilty leaving her.
I must run to the hospital while the kids are in school and encourage my daddy. I want to see him smile again. I love him so much! I want his pain to lessen and for him to be glad that he agreed to have such a big surgery. He has whispered how he wished he hadn't. To regret is to dwell on the past and I want him to see that brighter, happier, painless days are ahead and just around the corner! He has made it through so much already and I am so proud of him. With everyday we are going to see his strength building up. I will blog again soon and add a couple of pictures. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!