Prayers Needed

On Thursday morning my father went in for a heart cathaterization due to an irregular stress test, about a half hour into his test I got a call from my mother telling me that my father was going to be transfered to Catholic Medical Center as he needed a quadruple bipass. Needless to say I was in shock! Brian and I went up to the hospital after he got home from work and from the hospital my sister and I stayed at our mother's house so we could be with her to go to the hospital in the morning. We went to the hospital for 9:00 saw my father and they took him into surgery at 11:30. Then the waiting began. We were told to go to the family waiting room in ICU because that is where he would be comming out. We had brought things to keep us occupied, carsd, word searches, magazines, snacks. We took walks, went to the chaple and said prayers. We tried our best to keep things light for all of sake. None of us wanted to broach the subject that he wouldn't make it through the surgery. We reassured our mom that no matter what happened we would always be here for her. At about 4:30 a nurse came out and called the Clarke family, our stomach's dropped, surely he couldn't be done already, it had only been four hours, we had been told this surgery could take up to 8 hours! The nurse saw the nevousness in our eyes and quickly told us he was done and doing great! We would be able to see him in about an hour. We waited and went into ICU when they called us. The image of my father laying in that hospital bed with tubes comming out of every part of his body and a tube going down his throat keeping him breathing will forever be burned into my memory. He was covered in blankets, even his head, all we could really see was his nose. I had all I could do to keep my composure, I almost felt as though I was looking into his casket. I quickly brought myself back to reality and tried to stay strong for my mom and sister. I went over to my dad, held his hand and told him he did great. I told him he had come through the surgery in record time we were told and he only needed a triple instead of a quadruple. My mom and sister both said a few words and we shed many tears, The hardest part was leaving him with that image in our heads. They told us he wouldn't wake up until the next morning. The next morning my mom and I went up first thing in the morning. The breathing tube was out and he was doing better. Although a few oxygen concerns kept him in the ICU for an extra day he was finally moved to the CCU and is doing so well. We're hoping he'll be off the oxygen tomorow and coming home on Wednesday. I can't tell him how proud of him I am, He has taken all of this in stride. Many men may sit and play the why me game,but not my dad! He's looking at this as a new lease on life! He can get himself healthy so he can see all of his grandchildren graduate from college and get married and see their children, and one day be called great pappa!!!! We're cheering for you Pappa, you are forever our hero and we're your biggest fans!!!!!