My Dad

I'm a little stressed out today because my 73 year old father is having surgery in his abdomen to remove an aneurysm that has plagued him for years.

The aneurysm has been there forever, but it's grown enough that it's time for it to come out. Unfortunately, they usually like to do the surgery by going in through the groin. They aren't able to do that with my Dad, so apparently, and I just found this out today, they are going to go in THROUGH HIS NECK. What the? Why they can't just go in directly through his abdomen I don't know.

I spoke to him last night and he was a mess of nerves. In fact, at the end of the conversation he said, "say a FINAL goodbye to my grand-daughters." Gee, that's optimism at it's best. One of the hard aspects of this is, my Dad now lives in North Carolina with his new wife. He's having surgery a long, long way from his children. We have to rely on updates from his wife. She's been very good about keeping us in the loop, don't get me wrong. It just makes me sad that we are here, and he is there. We can't visit or offer physical support. That however, was his choice. So, I should hear this afternoon via cellphone.

The surgery itself is four hours long. They have to clamp off each side and then drain or take out or whatever they do, the aneurysm. If it bursts, well.....let's not think about that. It's not going to burst. He'll then be moved to ICU for two to three days, and then to a regular room for another seven to ten days. Hopefully.

My Dad smokes so he had to stop smoking and won't be while in the hospital. I joked with him last night that with the aneurysm out, he won't have to live in worry. And with the smoking stopped, he'll be a new man! Another twenty years of health! I actually don't doubt he'll live another twenty years.

So today I'm trying to stay busy and hoping to hear he came through with flying colours. I KNOW he will. Like the rest of my family members, he's too stubborn not to!