6 days ago at 12:45 am I got a phone call. It was my mother. I then knew it was not a good one. With tears in her voice, if you know what I mean: "We're taking Daddy to the hospital." I don't remember anything else she said, less than 30 minutes later, I was in the Emergency Room at Our Lady of the Lake hospital waiting for a helicopter to arrive with my daddy.
Jason, Carey and I watched as the paramedics, my father intubated, rushed into the ER. I prayed the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and thought, "Please don't take my Daddy!" When I finally got to see him, I was so overwhelmed with emotion. Nurses and doctors had no idea what was going on. And we really wouldn't know for 4 more days. I initially thought I'd be going home without my Daddy. Bronchitis, fluid in the lungs, too much smoking, irregular kidney function...all a combination of things caused him to get weak and fall.
It has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my life but if it has caused my father to quick smoking, I'll do it all over again to see him quit. He was put in his own room today and I'm thankful to my heavenly father for His blessings and answered prayers.
I'm sorry that it takes life or death situations to make us realize how important life is. I need to start spending my time with my father and my friends, my nephews too! I need to get my husband to stop smoking before he ends up like my dad, with a breathing tube down his throat for 6 days. :(
I'm just glad to be home and can relax a bit. He's in a room and I'll go see him tomorrow and as often as I can. He is still a stubborn old man, but the first thing he said to Jason and I when the vent came out was "I'm throwing every G D ash tray I own away and selling all my cigarettes." Mom wasn't there to hear it because she had gone to Donaldsonville to clear up some loose ends. They took him off the ventilator early and said we could go be with him. She passed up the exit on the way back to the hospital because she was so excited. Two nights ago, or maybe one, I can't really remember, we were talking to him, he wasn't extubated yet, and Mom asked him if he would stop smoking or something of that nature and he started to cry. We were all crying, Jason, Mom and I too. We thought he was going to die. I didn't want to lose my Dad and Grandmother within 3 months of one another. I just couldn't think of how my Mom would take care of Maw Maw alone...I just prayed that he would be ok. I love my Daddy so much. He later told Mom that he was scared and that he wouldn't smoke again. This really scared him and he didn't want to be in that situation ever again.
Thanks be to our amazing and Awesome God for answering our prayers. I can't wait to go to Germany. Once the hospital bill is paid off Dad said we are taking a trip to Germany. He has always wanted to go there and so we may take a family trip.
I'm just glad he's alive. "Hey Dad!" is now embedded into my brother's memory.
I thought for a while we'd lost him; we've actually won him back, smoke free!
No comments:
Post a Comment