Good News So Far

On Friday, I headed to the hospital and got there shortly after 7:15a.m. When I got to the floor he was on, and let me tell you Hopkins is huge and extremely confusing, I found that they had already taken him back. They directed me to the family waiting room where I found my 2 older half brothers. My dad is in his late 60's and has 3 kids from his first marriage which means that I have 2 half brothers and a half sister that are a lot older than me. Jimmy is 48, Doug is 47, and Cheryl is 46. They are old enough to be my parents but anyway thats not the point. I don't feel comfortable around them. Jim and Doug were there waiting in the waiting room. They brought dad to the hospital so they'd been there since before 6 that morning. Jim told me that I had missed him by 5 minutes. That upset me. I started to cry at that point, I didn't want to cry but I couldn't help it. All I could think was that if something went wrong, then I didn't get a chance to say good bye and I love you to him. But they told me not to get upset. My sisters weren't coming til later so I was there with them the whole day. It was very odd. I see them once a year around Christmas and thats never comfortable either.

Anyway, dad's surgery took about 2 hours and everything went well. I went down to the lobby to call Ali and Amanda to tell them that dad was out and doing well. I got a call from mom saying that Amanda got lost. It was too funny but she finally got there. I got to see him shortly after he got out. He didn't look good but I mean he just had surgery. What did I expect? I just don't think I was prepared to see him that way, you know? I don't think anyone is really prepared to see a loved one look that helpless. Anyway I stayed with him for a while, and then I let him sleep.

He looked a lot better on Saturday although he was still in ICU. They were trying to get him a room which he couldn't wait for. There were only 2 visitors at a time allowed back in the ICU so we had to take shifts sort of. On Sunday, he got his own room so I headed back up there to hang out with him and keep him company. He was doing really well and I don't think he was all that nervous for today. He asked me not to come up there to see him today though. He doesn't want us to see him hooked up to a machine and all that stuff. I won't go up there because the last thing I want to do is get him upset. It's taking a lot for me not to go though. My brothers are there and they're going to give me updates when they know something.

It's going to be a long day, but I'm hopeful. Considering how quick he seemed to bounce back after Friday, I take it as a good sign that he'll bounce back relatively quickly from this one too. Someone has to stay with him for a bit when he comes home. Jimmy is going to stay with him for a while and then we'll work something out. I'll get down there as often as I can. I'll make time for it.

Alison finally made it up to see him Friday after sitting in traffic in D.C. for nearly 3 hours. I'm glad she went up there to see him. She doesn't always see eye to eye with dad. I don't either but I look at it this way, he's my dad and nothing in this world is going to change that and I love him to dearly no matter what's happened throughout the years.

Anyway, thats all for now. I'll know later how things went with this surgery but I'm sure he'll be fine.