Kicking and Swearing

I figured I owed everyone an update after my downer of a post on Thursday. My dad is alive and well! I can't describe the relief I feel. I thank you all for your kind words and everyone because (1) its so much easier for me to read stuff than to actually talk about it and (2) its nice to know people care.

Here are the highlights of my day on Friday:

1. My mom couldn't tell me how to get into the hospital. Yes, I should have known but its been 7 years since I had been there and its a huge campus with lots of doors and craziness. So I asked my mom where to go and she said, "Its where all the cars are!!" Yeah. Its Baltimore City. Where all the cars are, mom? She might as well have told me its where the homeless people hang out. I DON'T KNOW!

2. After yelling lots of expletives (I get a little angry), I finally found her and we continued to whisper argue up the elevator to my dad's room.

3. My dad was in great spirits before the surgery and this made me feel great. Going in with a good attitude meant he was going to try to live. I know that sounds lame but it gave me hope.

4. I was in the hospital for 12 hours (12!) and finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl. Its really good and REALLY scandalous. Who knew that Anne Boleyn had a "homosexual ring" around her?

5. My dad's surgeon came to talk to us and mentioned that the next 24 hrs were very critical. Apparently they had to cut off the flow of blood to the lower half of his body so they were concerned about paralysis. But this doc came with pictures! He showed up how my dad's arteries looked with the aneurysm and then after the stint was put in. Crazy. Modern medicine amazes me.

6. The second surgeon came to talk to us about an hour later and said the same thing but he showed up the size of the stint. Its frickin' huge! I didn't realize that aorta's were that large. Anywho - he also mentioned the paralysis risk but said, "But he's been kicking and thrashing... so that's a good sign. He's also been swearing but I won't take that personally. haha". And that's my dad. So I was relieved to hear that my dad was the same guy. He apparently was freaking out when coming off the anesthesia.

7. When we went to visit yesterday, The Mr. called to see if I wanted him to bring lunch to the hospital. When I asked my mom what she wanted to eat and that he was going to our favorite italian sub shop, she said, "I want fried chicken." Seriously. So my husband risked his life to get my mom some fried chicken.

Anywho - I could probably go on and on and on but I am so unbelievably happy and relieved. Its even hilarious to see how tender my parents are being with each other because they generally bicker all the time (but not in a 'Jerry Springer' type of way... more like a George's parents on Seinfeld).

If you're wondering about the Christmas tree... we did finally find one. With it being 10 days before Christmas, it was a wee bit difficult to find a 7 1/2 foot multi-colored light tree ANYWHERE. We went to 2 Home Depots, 3 Wal-Marts and a Target. But we FINALLY GOT ONE. Sheesh. If I wasn't so happy about my dad's recovery, I would have called it quits halfway through the search.

Thanks again everyone!