My dad

Today was really really hard. I woke up to a phone call this morning from my mom telling me that my dad was in the hospital and it was believed that he had a stroke right before leaving work this morning. She hadn't yet made it to the hospital so Dan and I hurried out to Mercy. I talked to one of the PAs who was working on my dad and she gave me a brief run-down of what had happened. Basically, he had a bleeding stroke. His brain was bleeding and swelling. She said when he came in to the ER in the ambulance, he was conscious and talking and doing quite fine. He quickly went downhill and it became a major concern. She told me he was going to need surgery and a whole bunch of medical jargon that I can't even try to spell here. Basically, they had to put a tube into his head to vent the pressure caused by the bleeding and swelling and then they had to cut out park of his skull to get into where it was bleeding and work on it. Then they would decide if they were going to replace that piece or leave it out. So, immediately, I knew that it was much worse than I had anticipated but she seemed positive. My mom and grandma got there and we waited and waited for updates. The surgeon and the PA called my mom and I in for a consultation before the surgery. The surgeon told us that he had a big problem on his hands and that it was life-threatening and going to be a very complicated surgery. They were doing multiple CT scans and each one was getting worse and they did an angiogram and found that the bleeding wasn't stopping and there was a large mass of his blood vessels all knotted up. So, basically we sat for hours waiting to find out if he was going to survive or not. Finally he came out of surgery and was taken to the ICU. We got to see him for a little bit and it was an awful sight. I've never seen so many machines and tubes and he was bloody and it was just so much to take in. He was awake but so heavily sedated. He will be for a while and he's also intubated and using a machine to breathe until further notice. He'll be in the ICU for at least a week and then he's going to have a really really long road of recovery. It's too early to tell what damage has been done and I have no peace of mind because there's still a lot that can happen that can complicate things. We just have to wait and wait and hope for the best. For my friends that helped me through today with kind texts, messages on facebook, etc., I really appreciate it. Special thanks to Pat because I would not have made it through the day without him. I also have the best husband ever.