Tuesday

Well, I'm pooped. Just thought I'd put that right out there. To update you, they did a heart cath on my dad yesterday and unfortunately found blockages. He has 1 smaller blockage, 1 diseased artery, and here's the kicker....his main artery is 90% blocked. He'll be having open heart surgery this week. His heart doctor wanted to confer with another doctor, so we should know more today as far as what and when. My dad, as always, is in great spirits. The rest of us are worried. I really appreciate the continued prayers! I'll let you know what we find out today.

So, after our sink problem on Sunday, Hubby talked to K-dog a couple of times and he was able to shut off the sink water and turn the rest of the water back on. We used every towel we had to sop up water, so we had to do a load of towels so that we could take showers and go to the hospital. My dad wanted to see Piglet, so we finally got ready and went over there. While we were there, Minister came by with one of his daughters. She made dad a picture. It was so sweet. Minister stayed for a bit, prayed with dad, and then left. Hubby and I stayed until about 7 and then left. Piglet was getting restless. She sure loves her Papa, though!

I stayed home from work yesterday. Partly b/c I didn't have a babysitter for Piglet and partly so that I could be at the hospital for dad's cath. They prepared him ahead of time for surgery, just in case they would have to do emergency surgery on him. Piglet and I got to the hospital and waited with my brothers. I guess my dad had come out, so they paged my mom and she went back there with him. She was gone for quite awhile, so we didn't know what was going on. Finally she came out, after they both met with the doctor, and told us the news. I know she's so worried, but she's handling everything very well! I'm proud of her.

Piglet and I went over to where Hubby works and visited his co-workers for a bit and then we went upstairs to dad's room. He wanted to hold Piglet so bad, but he couldn't. He had to lie flat for 2 hours and take it easy. The cutest thing happened while we were there. Rightrev (or Uncle BooBoo) was holding Piglet and I knew she was so tired, so I expected her to start waling at any minute. Well, he was holding her and all of a sudden she laid her head down on his shoulder and went to sleep! It was the sweetest thing! I know it made Uncle BooBoo's day. By the way, we just came up with Uncle BooBoo yesterday. We figured The Chad could be called Uncle Bubba, so it was only fitting that Rightrev be Uncle BooBoo.

Anyway, Hubby had an appt. with one of the neurosurgeon's at 4:30, so we left Piglet with Mom and ran over (to the attached physician's building) and went to his appt. This neurosurgeon really seems to take into account all the factors and he seems to care about Hubby. He doesn't want to jump into surgery (unlike the previous surgeon) b/c of Hubby's age. Hubby's going to try an epidural injection and do some back exercises at home. If it hasn't helped, he's going back at the end of the month to talk about surgery. This doctor is suggesting a different surgery called a diskectomy (sp?). Basically, they would just go in and shave off the protruding disks. He said it wouldn't take away all of Hubby's back pain, but it would at least take the pressure off the nerves, thus reducing his pain. This is a much easier and less riskier surgery that would have less repercussions down the road. The problem with having the major surgery that the first surgeon wanted him to have is that it would cause Hubby to have more problems in the future since he's so young. It would affect all the disks and that wouldn't be good. So, that's the scoop on that. Pray that this epidural works! The doctor said it could (assuming it works on him) last anywhere from a day to 2 years! We're hoping and praying this works and helps Hubby's pain! This would solve his pain mgt. problem. The bad thing is that if it doesn't work the first time, then it won't work at all.

K-dog came over yesterday to look at the sink. He took the hoses that needed to be replaced and said he would be back in the afternoon. Well, I talked to him later and he couldn't find the hoses we needed. I guess they don't make them anymore, so now he's also going to have to replace the faucet hookup dothingy (I have no idea what it is) too. One more thing.....arrggghhh! He's coming back today to fix that, so hopefully it will do the trick and I can have my sink back!

Well, that about sums it up for me. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm going to try to catch up on journals. Love you all!