The procedure worked!! It only took one shock (eek!) to get my Dad's heart back into a normal rhythm which is a very, very good thing. Before the procedure, his heart was functioning at 20%; it went up to between 50-60% functioning level just after! He was happily released from the hospital last night and is in very good spirits. He's not completely out of the woods yet as there is another minor heart issue to deal with, but the worst is over. Thank you to all of you...the texts, the twitters and e-mails were all very uplifting and served as such a sweet reminder of how lovely and close and real these blogging friendships are. You guys are the best.
Though I never take my parents for granted, this whole situation made me realize more than ever how much they mean to me and how truly deafening the loss of one of them would be. It also brought to light that sure enough, I am my father's daughter and my sister is my mother's daughter. While my mom and my sister aren't negative people, not at all, they braced for the worst and treated it as such. My father and I, on the other hand, expected, perhaps naïvely, the best and thus had a hard time hearing what the doctors were saying about life and death. It was a good balance to have all of us in that hospital room, equal doses of reality and humor and hope to pull us through. Again, thank you for keeping us in your prayers. Life, thankfully, goes on.
I have a big announcement to post tomorrow (no, I'm not pregnant) so make sure you stop by because it may or may not involve the words "contest" and "giveaway" and "Wii". Woo hoo :) Stay tuned!