An update on my dad....

Hello Everyone!  I want to begin by saying thank you so very much for your sweet comments and emails about my dad.  It means the world to me and my family that so many people that I only know through this blog are concerned for my dad!  Thank you for your prayers, good thoughts, and kind words!

So now on to the update.  My dad made it through surgery just fine.  In fact the surgery went so well that they didn't even have to take him to ICU like they thought they would.  His doctor said it was a textbook surgery.  They had absolutely no complications or surprises.  In fact it went so well that following the surgery, the doctor said he didn't see any reason that Dad couldn't go home in the morning.  WHAT?  Which is what my mother and I said back to the doctor.  Of course they won't make that determination until tomorrow but as long as there weren't any complications tonight, he should be home by tomorrow afternoon.

That sure beats the 3 to 5 day stay they initially started out saying.  And when we told my dad what the doctor said his response was, "You mean I might get to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night?...YES!"  So hopefully everything continues to go well tonight and they get to come home tomorrow.  Of course I have to work tomorrow morning so they will have to keep me notified so I know where to go tomorrow afternoon....to their house or back up to the hospital. 

I have felt all along that this surgery was going to go fine.  I kept telling my mother this morning as we waited that he was going to be fine.  I knew this.  I could feel this.  I knew that we had luck on our side.  We have been blessed through this entire process that I just knew deep in my soul that he was going to be fine.  It was a true blessing that the problem was initially found.  And then we were blessed that the blockage was found and fixed.  And I just knew that the aneurysm would be fixed without a problem.  Since he had had no symptoms and both problems were found before anything bad had happened, I knew this was going to go well.  I had faith. 

My brother and my dad at my brother's wedding.

Now I will head to bed, saying my prayers and thanking the Lord, and those wonderful doctors and nurses, that I am lucky enough to continue to have my dad in my life.  Thanks again for your kind words and good thoughts.  I am truly blessed. 

Random things....

Hi Everyone!  I hope this finds you doing well.  I don't have anything finished to share with you.  So I thought I'd give you a peek at a couple of projects I'm working on.

 This is a sketch I'm working on and have started darkening the lines before I paint it.  Can you guess what it is?

 And here's another project I'm working on....any ideas what it's going to be?

And this crazy man is my dad.  The big day is finally here.  Tomorrow my dad is having his AAA (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm)  repair surgery.  He has to report to the hospital tomorrow morning at 5:30 AM.  His surgery is to start at 7:30AM.  So it will be a very early morning.  My parents are already there.  They went up this afternoon so they wouldn't have to get up so early and then make the drive.  I will get there in the morning before the surgery.  And I pray that everything goes well and they are able to repair the aneurysm.  And now I must get to bed as it will be time to leave before I know it.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Random things...

Hi Everyone!  I don't have a finished project to share with you today.  I have finished a couple of pieces of artwork, but it's too dark to photograph them now, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow.  Instead, I have a couple of random things.....and some random pics from past posts....

Do you ever look at your Stats pages and are you ever surprised by what you see?  I normally stay away from those pages because I really don't want to get caught up in the number of page views, but every now and then I look.

The last couple of times I've looked I've been surprised to see that Russia is the second most viewing country of my blog.  And I'm intrigued.  I wasn't surprised that the US was first, that makes sense to me.  Russia has been second the last few times I've looked.  The United Kingdom is third.  So here's a shout out to all of those reading this outside the US.  Thanks so much!  It's humbling.

And most of the time the Keywords aren't surprising, but every now and then there's a surprising one.  Like this one....... pinky tuscadero volkswagen beetle from happy days....now how did this one get to me, not just once, but twice.  I saw this and started laughing.  Although I think I might have mentioned Pinky once as an answer to a question.  I get a lot of them for headboard benches which totally makes sense to me. What are some of the strangest keywords you've seen?

I've noticed some very strange traffic sources and often wonder how that ever directed anyone to my blog, especially after clicking on them.  Have you checked out your traffic sources lately?

And completely off the topic of the Stat pages, I just thought I'd update you on the condition of my Father.  If you've been reading for a while you know my father has had some health issues, you can read about those here, here, and here.  A week from this Friday, the 22nd, he is going back in to the hospital for surgery to repair his Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA).  First he had to wait four weeks before having the AAA repaired but then they pushed it back to six weeks but by the time they got it scheduled, it will end up being seven weeks.  And boy is he ready to get this taken care of.

So if you could please keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers, I would really appreciate it.  Well, I think that's enough randomness today.  Thanks for stopping by.

Another good day....

Hi Everyone!  I hope you have been enjoying your weekend.  Just wanted to let know that my dad came home from the hospital today.  I came home last night, took care of the dogs, tried to sleep (couldn't) and then went to work this morning.  Mom called and said Dad had a good night and they were releasing him around Noon today.  I normally work until Noon and I had their vehicle so they wouldn't be going anywhere until I got back up there.  So I left work a little early, drove the hour to the hospital and picked them up.  Drove them home and then ran errands for them while they rested.  Dad looks so much better than he did.  He has some restrictions but is doing so much better.  He has four weeks to recover and get ready for the next surgery.  But at least we don't have to worry as much.  The Dr. told him to chill out about the aneurism rupturing.  He's confident that it won't.

I want to thank you all again for your support, concern, emails and comments.  I am truly blessed.  Thanks again for stopping by.

A good day....

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are all getting ready for a wonderful weekend.  I thought I would update you on what happened today.  It started for me at 2:50 am.  I had to get ready, get the dogs out to the barn and leave my house by 4:00 am so I could get to my parents so we could leave by 4:30 am.  So I'm running on 5 hours of sleep.

We got to the hospital and they took my dad back right away.  He was the first procedure of the morning and by 9:15 we were being taken to the conference room to meet with the cardiologist for the results.  My dad ended up with two of the three arteries around the heart having 90% blockage which resulted in two stents being put in.  The third artery is closed.  My dad has had a heart attack and didn't know it.  And that artery has been closed for some time.  Maybe for a long time.  So it's actually pretty amazing that he hasn't had any problems until recently.

It was a relief to know that he shouldn't have any cardiac issues for the next surgery.  And the next surgery can not happen for 4 weeks.  He has to be on Plavix for 4 weeks and then they can do the surgery.  His cardiologist and his vascular surgeon both told us that his aneurism is not going to rupture.  The cardiologist was able to look at the inside of the aneurism and although it's serious and absolutely needs repaired, they are both confident that it isn't going to rupture.  We ALL needed to hear that.

Dad should be coming home tomorrow late in the day and will have a follow up on Wednesday with the cardiologist.  They will do the ECHO at that time.  Then he'll just need to wait the four weeks for the next surgery.  I want to thank you for your comments and emails of concern, well wishes and prayers.  We ALL really appreciate it.  I'm so happy I'm apart of such a wonderful, caring community of ladies.  But now I really need some sleep.  I hope to have projects from last weekends craft fair ready to share with you next week.  Thanks for stopping by.

Results of tests....

Hi Everyone!  I hope your week has been going well.  I have missed reading what you are all up to and I can't wait until I have time to sit down and read what you've been up to.  So....I only have a few minutes, I need to head into work tonight and do payroll because I will not be at work tomorrow.  The results of my dad's test were not great but not terrible either.

His stress test came back as abnormal.  They told us that the cardiologist would not clear him for surgery on Tuesday.  They told me this while my dad was getting his MRI.  They said he needed to have an ECHO cardiogram and the earliest they could fit him in was next Wednesday.  Once he came out of the procedure, we (my mom and I told my dad).  It was sort of devastating because my dad just wants to get this fixed.

We went back to see the surgeon's nurse and then called to see if we could find out exactly what was abnormal about the stress test from the cardiologist.  They told him to come back and they would fit him in (partly because we were a bit pushy and partly because we were still in town-it's an hour or so drive to Omaha).  And then they called my mom and I back and had decided to go a different route.  Tomorrow morning we have to be back in Omaha by 6:00 AM and they are going to go through the groin with a catheter and see what they find.  If it's blockage, they will take care of it then, but if it's something else then they will exit and regroup.  We are hoping this will take care of it so he can be cleared to have the surgery and stop the time bomb in his abdomen from rupturing.  So that's what's going on here.  Please say a prayer for my dad and I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.  Thank you so much for your emails, comments, prayers and concern.  You have no idea how much it means to me.  Thanks for stopping by.

More tests....

Hi Everyone!  I just wanted to let you know that my dad is going in today for more tests.  He has to have a stress test, not the physical kind, but the medically induced stress test.  He also has to have an MRI.  I am going with them today.  I didn't go with them on Monday but I've always felt bad that I didn't go.  I think it's harder to sit in the waiting room...waiting while the tests are going on...and I don't want my mom to go through that again today.  Well, I've got to get going.  We have to leave in less than an hour.  Thanks for stopping by.

An Update....

Hi Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I promised you an update on things earlier this week so now seemed like the best time to do that.  As you all know, I have been busy getting ready for the craft fair.  Well, that was this weekend and now I'm sitting here, dog tired and relieved that it's all over.  It went well.

I really didn't know what to expect since I had never been to this fair before.  It was a two day fair which I had never done before either.  I'm happy with how I did.  I learned a lot and now know what I would do differently.  I promise to share pictures with you soon. I met a lot of really wonderful people (especially Lynett and Heather) and made some contacts that may result in some orders.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.  I will share more of the details soon.  I have a lot of things to share with you!

So now on to the other news.  It has been a really long week and we (my family and I) have several more long weeks a head.  My dad hasn't been feeling like himself for a while.  He went to the doctor this week thinking that his bad back was getting worse and they discovered he has an abdominal aortic aneurysm (they call it a triple A).  Which if it would rupture...well, let's not go there.  So my dad is having surgery on May 8th to repair it.  And we are all on pins and needles until then and waiting.  It's been pretty stressful around here but the distraction of the craft fair was good.  He goes tomorrow (Monday) to have a CT scan so they can determine which type of surgery they will be able to do.  We are all praying for the easy surgery (through the groin area) instead of the major surgery.   In case you don't know what an AAA is, it's what the actor John Ritter had, only his ruptured and they didn't diagnose it until it was too late.  We are VERY thankful that my dad's doctor discovered it in time to do something about it.  So if you could all say a prayer for my dad, I would really appreciate it.  I will keep you updated.  But now I really need to go to bed.  It's been a long week and weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!