What a great day. . .I took mom in to spend the morning with dad before her doctors appointment. She was really happy to brag about dad's good day in therapy. She told me how he was really working so hard at his sitting/standing exercises - where he is in the wheelchair and the repeatedly stand him up and sit him down. . . trying to strengthen his muscles involved and mastering this skill to make transfers better. They also introduced a pivot disc, which he stands up on and then they pivot him to the spot they want to take him to, i.e. from wheelchair to therapy table, or from wheelchair to bed or recliner. Mom said he did really well with everything and was absolutely exhausted afterward - he almost fell asleep in his wheel chair while waiting to go from therapy back to his room.
This afternoon we took mom to her Heart Surgeon - Dr. Roberts. He explained the entire open heart surgery to us and really put mom at ease with how he will go in and cut the bad valve out and replace it with a new one. He said - since everything looks good around the heart - he will go in and fix the valve and be out within 2 hours. He told her that her aortic valve was like a rock right now, not allowing the strong flow of blood through that valve needed to get blood to all the essential parts of her body. After this surgery, she should feel so much better. He wants to do her surgery now while she is feeling great - so we are scheduled for next Thursday, April 17th first thing in the morning at Winchester Hospital. She should stay in ICU a day then move out onto the Cardiac ward for about a 5 day stay. She will then require 24/7 care at home for a week, then hopefully she will be a "free bird" again! She is actually relieved to know that he is doing it so quickly. She told Dr. Roberts that she wants to get it done and start feeling better because she needs to take care of her husband when he comes home!
Thank you God for a great day - we are learning to praise you even when the day brings news of things like surgery because it eventually means good health. . .we celebrate the little victories with dad when his ankles look less swollen or he stands up stronger. And even though dad is currently unable to take a step or take a shower or use the bathroom like we all do - we are praising God because the most important thing is that we still have our dad and his mind is better than any doctor ever predicted it would be. . . yes we did receive a miracle because we still have dad's wonderful sense of humor, we have his loving and encouraging personality and his Godly advice to help us through the difficult times. We may be in a season of stormy weather - but rest assured, the storm clouds will rise - the sun will come out and our parents will shine brightly for all the world see that our God is an awesome God and that any trial we face will not conquer us, but build our character. We will prevail!
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