Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Grandpa's surgery and Max naps and naps and naps

I took this photo of Max napping a few weeks ago when he was recovering from an ear infection, eye infection, rash and a cold. He's all better now but the cuteness never ends!

On Friday Jan 7th my father went in for double bypass surgery and a valve replacement. Jerry, Max and I went down to San Diego and stayed at my parents house so we could help out. Here is a photo of my dad just before going in to surgery with my brother Jeremy ( who I haven't seen in over 3 years ) my mom and myself. My uncle Bix and Aunt Christine joined us about 5 minutes after this photo was taken and spent the weekend at the hospital with us. Thank goodness they were there! We so enjoy them and their company was refreshing. This surgery was surreal. My father has NEVER had surgery for anything in his life. Plus this type of surgery could possibly be life threatening - more so than other surgery....although we all know that any surgery could potentially be life threatening. So in the back of my mind I knew this and it wasn't really registering until my father wrote me a letter before the surgery. You know - the kind you write in case you don't make it. I've been carrying that letter with me everywhere I go. I wrote him one back. Not that he could take it with him if he didn't make it - but it was for me a way to share with him how I felt and know that I had said everything I hadn't already said to him in person. Such a crazy experience to go through with my dad....who I love calling "papa". Luckily the letters will just be momentos of a time we went through because here he is............
What seemed like a thousand hours later my dad comes out of surgery. Of course he didn't look like this right away - he was drugged up for many hours and didn't open his eyes for a long time. But when he did he was happy to have it be over...although the pain was clearly intense...and look at all of those tubes he is hooked up to.

This is what Max looked like during my father's surgery......

A day or two later - My father is walking around the hospital floor. Smiling to be up and about. The doctors are so impressed with how quickly he is healing and want to send him home early!

And yes here is yet another napping photo! Papa and Max both sleeping with their mouths open and snoring. Lovely. But so cute of course.
Here's my amazing father - looking handsome as ever - getting ready to leave the hospital.

Now he is home - doing great. I'm staying with them to help my mom out. Max is here for the healing effects of his smile, and Jerry visits on weekends.

Every day my father gets stronger and looks better and feels better. I'm so glad we were able to come down and help him out. It's nice to spend time with him and help out. Max LOVES his Grandma and Grandpa and it's fun to watch him grin from ear to ear when he sees them.

Now that our house is in Escrow (!) our days are numbered here in Southern California. So this extended time with my parents is really nice for us even though it was brought on by this intense surgery.

ok...must go check on my father and see if he needs anything.....
xo
*c

1 comment:

Tara said...

Your dad looks great! So glad it went well. Max is as adorable as ever, too. :)