Checking In With My Dad~

My dad went in for gastric bypass surgery on Tuesday. My mom said he was excited and ready to get started in hopes of feeling better. She was told that after the endoscopy, he would be sedated so she should go home. My parents live in Germany.

She went outside and discovered that his car had a flat tire. Back and forth with the German version of AAA, she was finally (about 3 hours later!) able to get the spare tire on (but since it looked and acted like a tire from a clown car they advised her to not go faster than 50 miles/hour - not very safe on the autobahn!).

She got home and called around, the one shop that can do the work will have to order the tire and it will be in by Fri/Sat. So she got in her car to go to another shop, only to discover that her car had a flat! Geez...long story, long, the one shop can get her tire fixed tomorrow so she didn't have a car to go back and be with my dad.

Following his surgery today, which the Drs said went "zuper!" he will stay in ICU for 24 hours and they will have him up and walking around tomorrow. My mom was able to talk to him and he said he felt a little "rough" ... and uncomfortable, if he moved a certain way but otherwise, ok.

She heard that they are planning to now keep him until Sunday (instead of the Friday release).

As a side note, my mom sat next to a man in the lobby that was the same general stature of Dad and he asked about dad getting the surgery. He shared that he had the same procedure, lost 70lbs (about what my dad needs to) and is so grateful he did it...said it was the best thing he ever did and to tell my dad that he will be feeling so much better (even after just a few weeks!). Good news :)

Afterwards, they are trying to keep him still but he is starting to do laps on the floor. The only issue is that he is off of his meds and cannot drink anything for 48 hrs. They have a cotton ball with some drops of water that he can put in his mouth to moisten - yuck!

His blood pressure is 177/92 so they are concerned but have given him some spray thing to bring it down. My mom goes back today but they will be keeping him until Sunday. It was 4 hours round-trip for her after work last night, so she's exhausted. My guess is that he's pretty content to sit and watch FIFA and be on a morphine drip!

All week long I've been stressed and worried about him. My parents are a lesson to me of what will not become of my life.