I have felt their unconditional love all of my life. It has sustained me through more hard times than I can list.
Daddy is having heart surgery on Monday. The last time he had heart surgery was February 4, 1993! Dr. George Noon put in an artificial valve - a St. Jude's valve at St. Luke's hospital in Houston, Texas. It's still working well from what all the doctors are saying.
Mama, Daddy, Kenneth (my brother), and I were at MD Anderson all day yesterday - January 27th. Dr. Oliverira went into Daddy's heart yesterday with the cath and found 80% blockage in one major artery -- but then they found a surprise -- he has a large aortic aneurism in that main artery feeding his heart. It's just above his mechanical (St. Jude's) heart valve. So they did not put in any stints and he's now been referred to a cardiac surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital - Dr. Caselli. He sees Dr. Caselli tomorrow morning/day sometime between the doctor's surgeries and then will probably have the surgery on Monday. We have been told that Caselli is one of the best in the world.
The doctors are looking at several options and may not know exactly what they do until they get in. They can replace the aneurism with a dacron graft, and do a stint on the blocked artery; they can replace the aneurism with a dacron graft, and do a bypass on the blocked artery; they can do the aneurism graft, and/or stint/bypass, and replace the 17 year old heart valve. So you can see that there are lots of possibilities. Part of this depends on the surgeon and how he feels Daddy can handle the surgery, how long daddy will be open, and other possible contingencies. Obviously the most optimum would be for the shortest time in surgery -- makes for the least trauma and a safer and easier recovery. They all have said that Daddy is in remarkably good condition for his age and so that helps with the surgery and recovery.
As far as we can tell from the other doctors that Daddy has seen recently -- because we have not heard this from the oncologist specifically -- Daddy's PET/CT scans are clear and not showing any evidence of the cancer at this time. So that is a good thing for sure. Continuing to beat Lung Cancer is Always a GOOD thing!!
One of the best traits that my parents have, among their many others, is their unbelievable ability to look at life in the most positive light possible. Included in this is their always looking forward to new adventures and challenges, not back at life's mistakes. Sure there might be some -- but they always look forward to a bright and positive future.
That's one of the reasons they are my heroes - their example encourages me to look forward and not back at regrets - look forward to hope for a brighter future and more adventures to come!
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