It's a miracle!

On Monday my darling older sister called me. I could tell that she was pretty upset. She told me that our dad was on his way to Utah Valley Regional via ambulance. He had slipped and fallen three weeks before and hit his head. He had fallen on black ice. He had gone to the Dr, but was told that everything was fine. Last Sunday he had gotten a really bad headache that got even worse on Monday. So, he had gone to the hospital where they had done a CT scan. There was a big hematoma(pool of blood on his brain). Now, one doesn't need to be a medical person to know that having blood on one's brain is not great. She told me that she would call us with any updates. She called two hours later and told me that the ER Dr had told them that the Neurosurgeon would probably want to do the CT scans again to get an update. He had just started a case in the OR and would be down to see my dad when he was done. My dad was admitted to ICU where they were waiting. I, in no way profess to be medical. I was trying to remember when B worked on ICU and when he would come home and tell me stories about things of this nature. The only thing that kept coming to memory was that it's bad no matter what, but it's really bad if the patients speech is affected. I asked my sister if dad could still talk normal. She told me that he could, but sometimes the wrong sounds came out or it would take him a really long time to be able to answer the question right. He could still answer yes and no questions. She told me that they were still waiting for the Neurosurgeon and she would call back. She called again two hours later and said that the Neurosurgeon had just left. He told them that looking at the recent CT scan it showed old blood along with the new blood. So, when he fell three weeks ago, the bleeding probably started. He said that he wanted to do surgery within the hour. He told them that he would drill a hole in his skull, place drains to drain the blood and hopefully that would fix the problem. By this point my dad could no longer answer most questions. If he did, the wrong word came out. Like when the Dr held up his thumb and asked what it was, my dad said thug. Now, I tease my dad because he truly is old. I tell him that his social security number is 1. That he went to high school with Moses and Noah and other things of this nature. But I kind of imagine him living forever. Of course I know that he'll eventually die, but I don't imagine it happening in the near future. When I got off the phone with my sister, all I could do was pray. I hated that we were so far away and that I couldn't go be with my mom and siblings as they waited for dad to be done with surgery. I hated that we weren't there to see him and tell him that we love him and that we're praying for him. I hated that if something happened, I don't know if my Dr would let me get on a plane and go to Utah being this pregnant. I just really wanted to be with my family. It made it even worse that B wasn't home to calm me down. Add on top of that, the offspring totally refused to eat dinner and I'm huge and pregnant. All the above made me sit down and just cry and cry. M and K just kept staring at me. Of course I had told them what was happening with grandpa, but they didn't get it. They didn't know why we were saying so many prayers and why I was still crying. My sister had told me that she would call us when he was out of surgery. I tried my best to stay awake until she had called. I lasted until 11:55 but then I just couldn't do it any more. Thankfully, she called at midnight! She told me that the Dr had just left. He had told them that everything went well. He said that my dad's brain hadn't handled the surgery very well, so they had put him on anti-seizure medicine. He will have to be on that for awhile, but other than that, it went well. He said that dad would have to be in ICU for the week and then they would transfer him to the neuro floor for awhile. The Dr told them that he hoped that dad would be able to talk again. All of us were just thankful that he had made it out of surgery ok. I called on Tuesday to see how he was doing. My mom said that he was doing amazingly well. He was talking and even trying to be funny by saying things like, "The reason I'm not in pain is because they have a saying, no brain no pain!" She said it was a night and day difference from the day before. She called us yesterday and told us that they were home from the hospital! He didn't even go to the neuro floor, he got to leave right from ICU. He was sent home with a walker because he's a little unstable and he can't be left alone for another week, but he's home! What a miracle right?! I know that the picture is tiny, but I think he looks awesome with a bald head! I think this was right before surgery. 

                                                                    
                                 
This is his CT scan. You don't have to have any medical training to see the blood on the right side of the scan. The blood was pushing on his brain and causing it to move to the left. That's bad. I am so thankful that there are smart Dr's that know what they're doing and that we live in a time where he can have surgery on his brain, drains placed, head stapled shut and still be home the same week. Miracle's happen and my dad's one of them!