Saturday, December 29, 2007

The case of the missing cuff

A few days ago, I ventured into Dale’s closet to borrow a shirt to sleep in. I spied a long sleeve t-shirt hanging amongst his wardrobe and removed it from the hanger.
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NI, bitches

I put it on, and it was not until an hour or so later that I made a discovery:
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One of the cuffs had been cut off.

Now, I should say that I have been known to cut up t-shirts myself. I sometimes cut the collar off thus creating a roomier space for my neck while sleeping. Also, I like to pretend I am Jennifer Beals from Flashdance
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Any-hoo, after examining the sleeves, I asked Dale,
“Why is a sleeve missing?”
A slow, half grin spread across dale’s face and after a moment he replied,

“some day, I may tell you.”

Then he walked away, leaving me utterly confused….as usual.

The suspense is killing me!!!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Hi, how are you?

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Merry Christmas!

Dad is at home recovering. I want to thank you for all of your prayers, and ask that you continue to pray for him as he recovers.

Dale and I are gearing up to visit his family in Mesquite. The laundry is going, the presents have (mostly) been purchased, and I am on my second cup of coffee. We will be back in Austin on the 26th.

When my dad feels better, he and my mom may come to Austin for a late Christmas celebration.

Man, I wish I had some milk for this coffee….

Today, I woke up and thought I had to go to work. Then, I realized that it was Sunday…SWEET!!!

So, what are we doing for new years? Anybody know of any good shows going on?

The Lions are playing Emos outside on the 4th. Wanna go? It’s gonna kick ass!

I threw away all of the Christmas candies that were given to me at school. Seriously, I have probably gained 3 pounds in a few days because of the seasonal treats that keep finding their way into my belly. Here is to dropping a few by new years.

I want to find a good pilates class.

I better go. Gotta get ready for the trip.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Luke 2 :1-20

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The longest day of my life

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My dad made it through his triple bypass surgery but, damn….it was a bugger.

He went into surgery at 7:30. The Doctor told us that he anticipated it to be a 4-5 hour surgery. It was closer to 7 hours.
My family and I sat in the waiting room for what seemed like an eternity. We watched as different doctors would come in and sit next to anxious men and women, telling them that their loved ones surgery went well and they were in recovery. Finally, my dad’s doctor approached the door and had us come out into the hall. That is never a good sign.
He told us that they ran into some complications that needed to be taken care of before they performed the bypass. Dad’s pericardial sac (it’s like a double membrane of tissue that surrounds your heart) was inflamed, thick, and tough. They had to dissect a chunk of it so that his heart could distend properly. They sent the dissected portion to the lab to find out what is going on. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
See that? That is the pericardial sac. That is a normal one. My dad’s was like half an inch thick (roughly speaking).
They also found over a liter of fluid in the upper lobe of his left lung. That had to be drained. Again, they are not really sure why that was there. 10 years ago, he had a tremendous amount of fluid in his lungs but the doctor did not seem to think this incident was related.
They could not remove his heart very easily because it had attached itself to the thoracic wall (I think it was the thoracic wall). Also, one of the veins they needed to work on was not exactly following the typical anatomical location. It was a squirrelly vein, dipping and diving all over the place.
The doc told us that the following 6-8 hours were critical. If my dad were to have a stroke or heart attack, it would most likely be during this time. Yeah, those hours sucked. Plus, dad was intubated (post surgery) for like 7 hours. That was way longer than we had expected (we were told he would need the breathing machine for a few hours). We were told to wait in the ICU waiting room and somebody would get us shortly so that we could see dad. I sat down and cried. The tears I tried to choke back all day (hell, all week) would not listen any more. I had no control…they just came. My head hurt and so did my heart. It was good though, I needed to cry. I never wanted to because I knew that meant I was scared. If I were scared, then that meant that my dad was in danger.
We waited for over an hour for somebody to get us so that we could see my dad. Finally, my mom decided to take matters into her own hands and she and I breached the ICU. I looked in every room as I searched for my father. When I found him, he had a million tubes running into his body. There were monitors everywhere, and a nurse was working diligently by his side. I looked at my mom, who had not seen him yet, and told her he was in the room we were standing in front of. She asked how he looked, and I did not know what to say. The nurse spotted us and apologized that he had not yet gotten us from the waiting room. He was busy, and we understood that. My dad was in and out of awareness as they continued to push morphine through his system. He had a chest tube, a breathing tube, several drainage tubes, and a bunch of IVs (four of which were in his neck). It was very hard to see him in that state, and I never want to go through it again.
He really wanted to communicate, but obviously could not speak. Instead, he traced letters on my wrist and I would figure out the word he was trying to get across. Mostly, he wanted to know what time it was, how long the surgery was, if he did have the triple bypass (they were not sure if they were going to do 2, 3, or 4), and how my mom was doing. He also wanted me to clean the protective lubrication out of his eyes (they coat that crap on during surgery) and to tell the nurse to suction his breathing tube.
The next day, which is today, he is doing better. They had him walk a little and they took the chest tube out. They were able to stop giving him blood and he is drinking clear fluids. The doctor says he may be back home by Thursday. He will have to be out of work for at least a month, however. I came home and fell asleep immediately. Emotional exhaustion takes a toll. I feel like I just completed a semester of grad school in two days. I think I aged 5 years.
Things are looking up, though. Dad is tough and I really think he is going to recover quicker than expected.
Thank you for your prayers.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

7:30

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My dad is having triple bypass surgery, tomorrow morning.
The surgery is scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
Say a prayer for him, ok?

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

The house

Greetings!

I am blogging to you from my back deck nestled in my modest, yet beautifully shaded back yard paradise.

Look, it’s my favorite tree:
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I totally could have lost this back deck, and the house in front of it, due to this:
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Yeah buddy, Dale done grilled way too close to the casa. Oh he totally ignored my request to move the grill.

Here is more:
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Thank goodness I was under the influence of Vicodin. Otherwise, this incident may have bothered me. Instead, I took a billion pictures of the flames because they were “pretty”.

Everything turned out ok:
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Now, here is what happens when Sarah ignores Dale’s advice and decides to add bubble bath to the Jacuzzi tub.
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Now I know better.

Two more:
Look, Juan! You are on the blog!
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First cigars smoked in the new house

And the first beers to christen the house:
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That is all for now.
Oh, are you excited that it is Christmas time? I am!!!! YAY!