For those who don't my situation with my father, we have only been in contact since I graduated high school six years ago. It's hard to jump into a family when you're 18 but it has turned out to be such an amazing thing. I believe that because my father missed the first 18 years of my life I am very special to him and he has an incredible love for me that might not be this strong had I grown up with him in my life. I am so grateful that he is still here to enjoy this Father's Day!
On May 1, I received a call from my dad telling me that he had had a heart attack and would be going in for a quadruple bypass the next morning. I was already planning a trip to Arizona for graduation and told him that I would try to finish my classes the next day and drive down on Tuesday. He told me that he would call me after his surgery to let me know how it all went. I received a text on Monday afternoon about 2:00 saying that he had to go back into surgery. At that moment I knew where I needed to be and that was 11 hours from where I was. I loaded up my car with anything that I thought I might need for the next couple of weeks and left. About half way there I received another call from my brother saying that after the initial surgery his heart started failing and they had to go back in and do another bypass, for a total of five. His vitals were not good and they didn't expect him to make it. Talk about a knife in your chest. My oldest brother couldn't get a flight out until the next morning so we were both far away. On Tuesday morning I got to the hospital and he was on the ventilator, they had left his chest open in case there was any swelling or they needed to go back in. He was in the recovery room, which does not stay open for 24 hours but did just for him in case he needed to back into surgery. The surgeon spent the night in a recliner in the recovery room, talk about dedication.
The next few days sent us on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. They finally took the chance to close him up on Thursday, they didn't know if he would make it through the surgery, and got moved up to ICU that afternoon. Immediately after the surgery his vitals started improving. On Sunday they stopped all sedation medication so that he would start waking up and they could remove his ventilator. It took 4-6 days for him to fully wake up. The next Sunday they tried to take the ventilator out. Everything seemed good but then my dad started having anxiety and his respirations shot up and they couldn't get him to calm down enough to get them back down and he ended back up on the respirator. Somewhere in all that mess his lungs collapsed and they had to put chest tubes in to remove the excess air around his lungs so they could re-inflate. The next morning when I got to the hospital he was off the ventilator and doing well. A few days later he was moved to a rehabilitation center for physical therapy. On June 1, he was able to return home.
I'm so grateful that my dad is a fighter and fought his way through this tough battle. I'm grateful that we have many years ahead of us to continue to strengthen our relationship as father and daughter. Going through all of this was a big test for our family but in the end we all grew closer have become a much stronger family because of it. I hope that my dad has an amazing day today and I just wish I was in Arizona to spend the day with him. I love you, Dad!!
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