On Tuesday evening my parents decided to head up to Lifetime Fitness to workout. My dad did 4 miles on the elliptical and some chest exercises on the machines. Nothing overly strenuous for what he is used to. He started to feel light headed, and when they arrived home he was very pale. He tried eating and drinking some water thinking that might help. He continued to be pale and went to lay down. A little while later he began to feel as if something wasn't right, and tried taking his nitroglycerin. That did not help so he called for my mom. At that moment, the whirlwind began.
My mom and sister took my dad to the nearest hospital while I stayed back with the girls. By the time they arrived he was in a lot of pain, and it was quickly decided he needed to be transferred and that another stint would be put in. At this point, Rachel had Josh leave work to come home so we could meet them at the hospital. Because we were experiencing a huge amount of rain they were unable to Care Flight him so they arranged for the ambulance to take him to Denton. Our excellent neighbors came right over and took care of the girls.
Upon arriving at Denton, where they were waiting for him, he was immediately taken to surgery. My mom rode with him in the ambulance so she was able to see him before they took him back. She kissed him goodbye, and then we waited with her during the surgery.
After 32 minutes the surgery was complete, and the doctor came to tell us how it went. We were told that right after my mom kissed him goodbye his heart stopped. They were able to get it going again and perform the surgery successfully. They placed a stint inside the stint he already had. This is called a "stintwich". They also did some sort of balloon type thing. We were able to watch it on the screen as the doctor talked us through it all, but I'll be honest, it made no sense to me.
From surgery my dad went to ICU where he has done quite well. So well in fact, that his original date of release (Saturday) should be moved up to tomorrow (Friday)! My mom and sister have stayed with him the entire time at the hospital while Josh and I are holding things down at the house. My dad is currently waiting for a bed to become available so he can be transferred from ICU to a room in the cardiac unit. The girls can't wait to see their Popo!
At this point, things seem to be going well. It is our belief that this will continue to be the case, as God's hand in this has been very evident. For those of you who know my dad, his normal workout consists of a 6 mile walk/jog through the neighborhood and surrounding areas in the middle of the day when the rest of us are at work. This trip was his first one to Lifetime Fitness. We feel so blessed that this out of routine workout happened and that he was not alone far away from home or even here at the house alone. We are also grateful that this did not occur while he was home alone with Hadlie who he watches one day each week. By chance, my dad's heart doctor was not able to be reached when this all occurred so they had to have another doctor do the surgery. This was a man that had come into the shop where my dad works so they knew each other. We never would have asked for this to happen, but we are not blind to God's presence along the way. And we are so very grateful for our faith as it sustains us.
Again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your thoughts and prayers. The outpouring of love has been a beautiful testament to the amazing people we have in our lives. May God bless you all!
