2009 and ARDS

February 2009 my Dad went for an outpatient oblation. That was another hard phone call to receive, that the oblation had gone wrong.  Later we found out he had spent seven minutes with no pulse and no breath.  As my Dad's work-mate Chris said "the dude is a fighter!"  He came out of that but unfortunately aspirated upon resuscitation and had a serious lung injury, ARDS.  He spent seven or eight weeks in the ICU, intubated.  I am pretty sure they came up with the word "misery" for situations like the one he was in up there.  Many friends, family, and strangers joined in praying and fasting for his recovery (THANK YOU!).  We learned this was something he was unlikely to recover from but we held out hope for the best outcome.  The doctor there told us he would almost certainly have permanent lung damage and require the use of oxygen to infinity and beyond. The hospital had sent him home with a little machine to check his oxygen levels.  If he was above 90, they were happy and he didn't have to use the oxygen.  My Dad had a miraculous although difficult recovery.

I was so thankful that he was able to be there to meet my son the day he was born.  Little Jimmy was hours old when Poppy held him for the first time.  While hospitalized with ARDS, I was expecting and I remembering just hoping and praying he would be a part of my child's life. I am so glad he is still here and continues to be an important part of all our lives. Although wrapped in a blue blanket, this is a photo on the right is of my first child, a daughter, being held by Poppy when she was a few days old.  My daughter was the first to wear diapers in my family since the youngest brother, John.  Although John is still a big baby, it was fun to have  one small enough to hold. (heh heh heh)

Dad was taken to the hospital on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 in a coma and seizing.  Only the Wednesday before that, he had gone into the lung doctor who declared his lungs had miraculously healed completely!  I emphasize the miraculous part of his recovery because his chances were so bleak that it is utterly unexplainable without Divine intervention that he recovered so well, so quickly. Though the rest of him never made it back to 100% before the stroke, he really had an amazing ability to mostly live and do as he wanted to.  We are so thankful and I know I spent that year feeling that every time I got to be with my Dad was a real gift from God to me.  I continue to feel that way!