Part Forty Eight: Dad Update

Here's just a quick Dad update for you.

I had reported earlier that Dad would be having surgery to get his dialysis port removed tomorrow, but it turns out the surgery was this morning. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had made this mistake. I was wondering why I was confused, but it seems as though the Friday surgery rumor originated with my parents. Thank goodness the hospital called my dad to remind him what time to be at the hospital in the morning!!

It seems crazy that you could be confused about which day you're having surgery... but then again, he's been in and out of that hospital so much over the past few weeks that I can see how it might happen.

Since I volunteered to open the store this morning, I wasn't able to hang out during the surgery. I did get up a little bit earlier and stop down at the hospital to see my mom. When I arrived, I ran into her near the elevators. Turns out, they'd just taken my dad into surgery right before I got there. If only I hadn't hit the snooze button this morning! Oh well. The surgery sounded like it would be fairly quick and routine. My mom said that some of the nurses and other folks up in the surgery area were asking about me. I'm not sure how much of that was really true and how much of that was just my mom trying to make me feel good.

I was able to visit with Mom for about a half an hour before I had to run off to work. During the visit, I learned that:

1) My dad gets to go home for good!
2) His creatinine level had dropped again to 1.6
3) They still haven't started him on his last anti-rejection drug
4) His "blood level" is up to "36" (Mom said 40-45 is normal for a guy? I don't know much about this.)

My mom called me later in the morning to tell me that the surgery went well. My parents were able to leave the hospital by 10am. Dad has a couple of new incisions... one below his belly button and another at the port location.

Although I didn't get to see my dad this morning, it sounded like he's doing better. I'm sure that going home will give him a real boost. Unfortunately, there will also be some sadness waiting back home for my dad. His sister passed away on Monday and the memorial service is this weekend. I'll be going home for the service, which will undoubtedly give me a chance to get a better assessment of my dad's condition and time to catch up with long lost family.

I will keep a tally of how many times I am referred to as a "brave little girl".