Dad's Surgery

Dad made it through his surgery in pretty good shape. It was a little difficult, but not in the way they expected it. The Dr.'s did both the trach and inserted a tube in his stomach, but they were more worried about the tube in the stomach. Too make it the easiest surgery for Dad, to put the tube in the stomach they put a scope down his throat and insert it that way. With the way his throat has been obstructed they were worried it may not work very well and that they might have to open him up to actually get the tube in there. It turned out not to even be a problem. The scope went right in. They had a harder time getting the trach done because of the tumor. The surgeon said that it was the hardest one that he'd ever done before, but he knew that it had to be done, so he forged ahead and was able get it done beautifully. Dr. Dixon is making Dad stay at the hospital until Wednesday so that he can really learn to breathe with the trach and give Mom and Dad good instructions on how to clean and care for it. I know that Heavenly Father is listening to your prayers and has guided the hands of the wonderful Dr.'s to give my Dad this little bit of precious time with us. We are all SO grateful for all of you and your love and concern. Every time I tell Dad about all the prayers and well wishes from you he tears up and gets all emotional, which gets the rest of us going too. He is such of strong man of faith! I love him so much. When we were told that this was it, and it was just him, myself, Gary and Mom in the room, we were all crying and he looks at us and tells us that he isn't crying for himself, but for us. He knows that he'll be taken care of better than any of us can even imagine. He's at peace with it all. I know that since he got his diagnosis he has been preparing himself and he's ready. He just wants it to be as easy as possible for the rest of us. I can barely read this through the tears running down my face! So, I'll leave it here for now. I just want to tell you all again, Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart! It really helps bring peace to my heart and soul to hear from you or read your heartfelt sympathies. I love you all!