Dad's heart surgery and my time in Wisconsin

My dad had scheduled heart surgery on Wednesday, September 19th at 7 AM. I went home to Wisconsin to help out my mom and to be there for my family for a week or two. My dad was suppose to have a single value replaced and a single by-pass done. This was to b a 3-4 hour surgery with a few day recovery in the hospital and then a steady improvement so that he would be far better in health than he was to begin with in a few months. Funny how things don't go as planned...


My mom and 2 sisters (Sue pictured here with my mom) spent the day of the surgery in the waiting room watching TV, chatting and playing cards. If not for the circumstances, it was a great bonding time for us since we seldom have that kind of time together.


My dad's nurse would come in each hour to give us an update. Dad was fine but they found that a 2nd valve needed to be replaced as well. No big deal they said. Better they do this now and not have to open him up again later and encounter all the risks of surgery. 7 hours later (2 PM) he is in the recovery room and all seemed well considering the longer surgery and the 2nd valve replacement. Dad starts to have problems in the evening around 8 PM. Blood pressure is very low and there is a lot of bleeding. We are getting quite concerned when things seem to stabilize about 10 PM. It's been a long day so we all go home planing on returning the next day. Once again, things don't go as planned.

About 1:30 AM I get a call on my cell phone from the hospital. Dad is not doing well. His blood pressure is dangerously low, there is a lot of bleeding and he is visibly in distress. They need to operate again. I get my mom up and we meet my sister Sue and the Dr. at the hospital at 2:30 AM. Not to worry, the Dr. says (Yhea right! This is the most worried I've every been in my life), this can happen. He will fully open dad up again and see where the bleeding is coming from and this should "fix" things. 3 hours later, dad is back in the recovery room. They didn't find any significant bleeding and all the original surgery items are working as they should. The Dr. says, he should be fine and we'll have a slightly longer recovery time.

Here dad is in the intensive care room the next day after the surgery. He has 9+ IV's and more monitors hooked up to him than the space shuttle. We are optimistic that all will be well and wait for him to wake up in a day or two:


Dad does not "wake" up in a day or two. He transitions from rest to thrashing and struggling every few hours. He grimaced and groans (very loudly, almost like a bear) and moves around so much that he needs to be strapped down in his bed. It was a very difficult time for all of us. My mom, 3 sisters and my older brother all take time to spend in the room with my dad. Her remains in the state through the weekend:


Here my mom and my older brother Al, pass the "restful" time playing cards. The "waking" times are spent physically holding his legs down and trying to keep him in the bed:


Milwaukee's Archbishop Dolan, came to visit the hospital one day. My mom ran out of dad's room the talk to him. She explained that a fellow Irishman was in need of him. Archbishop Dolan can into dad's room, spoke to all of us and said a prayer for dad. Luckily I had my camera ready and snapped a quick picture. My dad has no memory of this happening and had always expressed the desire to meet the Archbishop one day:


During the time we were not at the hospital, I spent time helping my mom at the house. It was a beautiful end of summer, beginning of fall in Wisconsin. I spent time cutting grass and doing other chores around their house:




Finally, finally, dad actually started to come around. He began by recognizing my mom, myself and my sisters and slowing worked up the strength to sit-up in bed and finally to sit in a chair. This photo was the first time dad was able to be in a chair. A woman with a therapy dog happened to make a visit. This was taken on Tuesday, the 25th and is about the first time my dad has memory of since his initial surgery a week earlier:



The next several days dad made some very good progress, but stayed in the intensive care room. I took these wonderful photos of their backyard and pond:





I had given my dad an RC boat for father's day. It was perfect break for me to drive it around the the pond:



I took these photos one night when the moon was full. An eerie fog hung around the pond and up onto the bank. It was amazing to see:




Finally by end of the week dad had graduated to a regular room. He was weak but doing much better. His progress was quite amazing considering how awful things were to begin with:


My mom and I went up to visit my Great Aunt Jo. She is my grandfather's younger sister and we spent the time chatting and I recorded an interview with her to save with my family tree information:


Here is my mom's cousin Celine with my mom and Aunt Jo:


We had to attend a funeral for a distant cousin that day and had the opportunity to visit with my Aunt Helen, my mom's youngest sister:


My nephew Jim was in town for a wedding and he got the chance to drive the RC boat as well:


Even my mom tried her hand at driving the boat!:


On Friday night, the 28th, I went to the homecoming football game for Germantown High School. My nephew Michael is the kicker and was on the homecoming court. He's number 2:





We caught up with him after the game and got a quick photo:

Michael and his mom, my sister Sue:

My dad was moved to a rehab hospital to do physical and occupational therapy. He really made remarkable improvements and got stronger every day. My nephew Jim came up to the rehab hospital to visit before going back to Las Vegas:

Here dad is doing some of his exercises:

This is one tough scar:

We spent more time playing cards than I've ever seen this family do to pass the time:


Mattie drew a huge "Get Well Soon" picture for Grandpa and mailed it to us in Wisconsin:

I could hardly believe he was walking with a cane at this point:

This was funny. They had a simulated car in the rehab hospital that dad had to pratice getting in and out of as part of his ocupational therapy:


My nephews, Brian and Schaun came out to the house one day to help me move wood down to the house for the winter:

One morning the fog rolled into the marsh and pond in the backyard. This really made for beautiful photos:

I was going to spend a few more days in Wisconsin in order to allow my dad the ability to to get home and help him in that trannsition but Mackenzie had gotten very sick back in Denver and was rushed to the hospital one night. She had a hand, foot and mouth virus that made her sick and give her a rash all over. Kim was a trooper taking care of the kids for 2 weeks straight and really needed my help so I made plans to come back to Denver on October 2nd. Kim's mom actually came out and spent time watching Mattie and Mackenzie when Kim had to go on a business trip while I was gone. Many thanks go out to Claudia and Kim for allowing me to be in Wisconsin during this time.

I thought all was well and things were going in the right direction when I left. Boy was I wrong! For the next 3 months my dad was consatantly having setbacks and found himself in the emergency room and admitted back into the hospital at least 3 or 4 times. He spent the better part of the next 3 months in the hospital. I made another visit to Wisconsin in December that I will document in an upcoming blog entry.

Viewing the Elk with Grandma and Grandpa

Well, we made it back to Denver from our trip to Las Vegas. My mom and dad had another day to spend in Colorado before they had to return to Wisconsin. We spent the day up in Rocky Mountain National Park checking out the elk.

Before we went, Grandma had to feed Mackenzie:


It was a beautiful day up in the mountains. Unfortunately it was a few weeks before the color of the trees would peak:


We saw quite a few elk but not as many as we have seen in previous years. Here are a few big bulls we saw:



A coyote even made an aperance in the brush:




The elk eevn took over one of the local golf courses:





Back in Denver, Grandpa reads "What Grandpa's Do Best" to Mattie:


Mattie was still on a "high" form the wedding on Las Vegas. She dressed up her animals (notice the veil on the one giraffe, and the tie on the other" for a wedding. So cute:


Time to say good-bye to grandpa and grandma:




Here's Mattie at her preschool:


Kenzie loves to take the cushion off the chair so she can climb in all by herself: