The highs and the lows of Saturday

My father underwent surgery on Friday for a potential triple bypass. They were only able to do a double bypass due to the size of the vein they worked with during the surgery. I saw him after the surgery and he was on the ventilator and looked good.

On Saturday my sister arrived home from Iraq due to a Red Cross emergency leave. I made her a sign with my scrapbooking stuff that said "Welcome home from Iraq to my sister, my hero." Seeing her at the airport was the high point of the day. We hugged and cried and took some pics on her camera.

Then we went straight to the hospital from the airport. My dad was responsive the moment he heard my sister's voice. His eyes opened and he looked at all of us. We haven't seen my sister for 15 months so this was a nice surprise for him, I suspect. He was still on the ventilator so he could not speak but he tried to mouth words and he smiled. He could move his hands and feet and was supposed to come off the vent sometime that day.

My mom got a call later that evening saying he was still on the vent because he seemed to be bleeding out somewhere and needing more blood. I guess going off the vent would make his heart work too hard.

Later on the hospital called again and my father had gone into shock (because of the blood loss maybe?) and they said we should come right in. I had taken my night time meds and had about 90 minutes of sleep in me and was in no position to be able to drive so a friend picked me up and dropped me off at the hospital around midnight. My dad was in surgery again and they removed some blood clots and put in a balloon pump for his heart. I have no idea really what the purpose of the pump was because I was so tired I thought I was going to just fall down and listening to the surgeon was like listening to the buzz of bees.

He will need another surgery in a few days to get the pump out.

My brother is also supposed to be coming home from Iraq through a Red Cross leave.

Dad is completely sedated and did not wake up when my sister and mother went to visit him today. My mom told me not to go because I am so wiped out and I listened. I am exhausted and worried and I hope he sleeps peacefully through tonight and the next night and so on without any more complications.

I'm going to say the rosary which I never do and if prayer is your thing, I'd appreciate you remembering my family now.