November 17, 2006

An Early Thanksgiving

My Dad is a very active guy. He used to play ice hockey. He plays tennis, goes to the gym and has been into hang-gliding since he was in college. He’s been hang-gliding for over 30 years and has never had a problem. . . until a couple weeks ago. He had a problem with his landing and took a header from about 15 ft. above the ground. His hang-gliding buddies didn’t expect him to get up, but he did. In fact, he popped right back up and seemed fine. He insisted that he didn’t need medical attention and didn’t go to the hospital.

Then the headaches started. They got worse. He had a CAT scan done a few weeks ago and there was a bleed. He had another CAT scan done two weeks later and it looked like things were resolving without the need for medical intervention. This week, things took a bad turn and the headaches and pressure got to be too much. A CAT scan yesterday revealed that intervention was necessary. My Dad was admitted to the hospital last night and had a craniotomy today to repair the bleed and drain blood that had accumulated and was causing the pressure.

Saying goodbye to him before he was wheeled off to surgery was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.

It was a nerve-wracking day with a five hour wait until we found out that the surgery went well and that he was going to be o.k. He’s got a new hair-do and is going to take some time to recover, but we are so thankful that he made it through the surgery without any complications. When things like this happen, it makes you realize that life is so very fragile. My family may not have a Thanksgiving dinner on the day we wanted to this year, but we have so very much to be thankful for tonight.

Edited on 11-19 to add: There have been some complications as of today. My Dad’s brain began to swell and he was unable to speak for some time. They also believe that he had some frontal seizures. He has been started on steroids and we are hoping for a big improvement by tomorrow. My family needs all the prayers we can get right now, so please pray for my Dad’s complete recovery. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Edited on 11-20 to add: What a difference a day makes! My Dad is doing much better. He looks like a new man. The swelling has gone down and the drains have been removed. He will likely be moved out of ICU tomorrow. Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and very touching emails.