A Year and a day

For those of you that are counting - yesterday was the one year anniversary of Dad's heart attack. It seems so unbelievable to me that it was a year ago. The six months spent in the hospital and re-hab seem so completely out of time - that I can't connect those events with the reality of today.

Last night we (Dad, Mom, Sarah, Katie, Me and Claire and Connor) went back to Sinai to visit the people who worked so hard to save Dad's life. It was weird doing that trip one year later. A year ago, I wasn't quite sure where to go, where to park, what to do - anything. Last night it was like automatic pilot. The nurses in both the CICU wing and the Second Floor were SO pleased to see Dad - especially with him looking so amazingly good. We took them cookies and there were lots of hugs and some tears. It was really wonderful. The best part was when we all left Dad went with us!! I did giggle a bit, because what was a daily trip for all of us - dealing with the parking lot, the messy sidewalks, the weird traffic - was all new to Dad, but so old hat for us.

I had another moment recently where I marvelled that Dad was still with us - and doing so well. Last year the weekend before the heart attack we had Claire's sixth birthday party. We were all there. I took a roll of pictures - but in each one Dad was mostly in the background. It REALLY bothered me while he was so sick that the most recent pictures I had of him were so small and hard to see. I was mad at myself for so long that I didn't get a good picture of him with mom - or any of the rest of the grownups. This year at Claire's party I DID take a picture of him - with mom and Katie. Now - I just have to get them developed so I can post them here.

For those of you that are also wondering about Christmas last year. We DID finally celebrate as a family. I can't remember if we discussed it in this forum - but at the time we decided that we would hold off on Christmas as a family until Dad was home with us again. We had NO IDEA that this was going to be so much later. On June 25th (six months later) we did all get together to open Christmas presents. Mom made dessert. Katie and I made Christmas cookies. We all work red and green (shorts, t-shirts, summer dresses). Katie and I also wore our Christmas jewelry. We had such a good time. The funniest part though was that when we told people (my roommate, my neighbor, later that evening strangers at the bar Katie and I went to) that we were celebrating Christmas finally EVERYONE wished us Merry Christmas! The BEST part about it is consistantly they were all being serious! It was so wonderful.

Dad continues to do really well. He has gained a lot of weight in the last nine months - thank goodness!! His bed sore is completely gone (I guess, I have to say I have never looked at it myself). His on-going problem is still the hole they put in his stomach to put in the EVIL feeding tube. That STILL hasn't healed up. He is still leaking stomach acid - and is extremely uncomfortable because of it. I don't know what they plan to do about it - but I hope they can figure it out and fix it soon!!!

Mom could give you a much better and more comprehensive overview of his health - and I hope she does. I don't know if ANYONE is still checking this blog - but I hope so, because I have to say - once more - and as emphatically as I can... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU all for all of your prayers, support and concern through this long and difficult - but ultimately miraculous experience.