A Day I Wish Had Never Happened

This past week was not a good one. On Thursday, January 5, I received a call from my brother Vince on my cell phone while I was at lunch with some co-workers. I knew right away that this would not be a pleasant call. Vince advised me that my father had a heart attack and they were performing emergency surgery on him. (Above is a photo taken in 2002 of my dad and I).

I had to get back to Michigan right away. Unfortunately, my car had a problem with the radiator and was in the process of being taken to the shop to be repaired. We only had Christie’s van and she needed it to be home with the kids as they are in school.

Fortunately, my friend Jeff Whetzel from work drove me up to Michigan in his car along with his brother-in-law Lucas. When I finally made it to Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, my father had just come out of surgery and the doctors had spoken with my mother and sister. The doctors informed them that dad had a 90% blockage in one of his arteries and as they were preparing to perform an emergency angioplasty, he had a heart attack right there on the operating room table. Fortunately they were able to hook him right away to the heart-lung machine they use to perform the angioplasty. They also performed a triple bypass surgery and mitral valve repair.

The doctors said that after the surgery he only had about 30% function in his heart. He went into surgery around 12:30PM and he didn’t come out until about 6:00PM a few minutes before I arrived at the hospital. Those next several hours waiting to be able to see him were quite trying. We were finally allowed to see him for a few minutes. He was hooked up to all kinds of machines and IV’s. To be honest, he looked terrible. I said a short prayer and left the room to wait for the next step.

Around 10:30PM the doctor came out to the lobby waiting room. He told us that dad’s blood pressure was very low and that there were two things causing it, one of which was fixable. He said that there either is a blood clot in the fluid sac that protects the heart, which can be fixed, or that there was just too much damage done to his heart and there really wasn’t anything he could do. The severity of what he said hit me like a brick.

The doctor said they would have to open him up again. My mom, sister Viki and I immediately wanted to see him before he went back to the operating room. I felt numb as we walked down the hallway to his room. As I entered the room there were about 4 or 5 medical personnel getting him ready for the surgery. Dad’s body was shaking and his arms and legs were twitching as if he were trying to get up off the table. It is a sight I will never forget. I stood as tears flowed down my face and I placed my right hand on dad’s left thigh and lifted my left hand up facing God and began to pray. I’m not sure what I even said or if I even said the prayer aloud or to myself. I was oblivious to anything else that was going on around me. When I was finished, I said “I love you dad”, and walked out of the room.

As I was walking down the hallway towards the 3rd floor lobby, the realization that I may have just seen my father alive for the last time began to overwhelm me. I could hear my sister and mother walking behind me, but I just couldn’t look at them. I initially wanted to immediately go to the hospital chapel to pray, but I didn’t know where it was located and I was just to upset to try to find it. I found a quiet corner in the lobby area, sat down and prayed quietly. Dr. Silver initially said that dad would be in surgery for about 1-2 hours.

I called Christie on my cell phone to give her the news and to have her pray as well. She was back in Indiana. I wanted her here with me at this dark hour, but I knew that she had to stay back with our boys. I don’t remember what I even told her, but I remember her crying on the other end saying, “oh my God, I’m so sorry”.

The next 90 minutes seemed to last forever. Finally around midnight as my sister and I were walking down the hallway towards the surgery area, we saw Dr. Silver emerge from the surgery wing. He gave us a reassuring nod, so we knew that he had good news for us. We tried to contain our excitement as we continued walking with him down the hallway towards the anxious lobby area. He proceeded to tell us that there was indeed a blood clot in dad’s heart sac and they were able to remove it and that his blood pressure began to improve. This was fantastic news! He then proceeded to tell us that because of the swelling in his chest cavity, they were unable to close his chest fully and they had to keep it open to relieve the pressure on his heart. We weren’t sure what this meant, so Dr. Silver explained that his chest cavity would remain open and it would be covered with a special sterile cover. Once the swelling went down they would close him back up.

Later that night we were allowed back into his room to see him. The sight of him lying there with about 15 IV’s, respirator, and many other machines hooked up to him gave me a sick feeling him my stomach. I thanked God that dad was still alive and I knew that the next several days would be harrowing.