We didn't talk to the doctor until 3:15pm. Yesterday, they told us it would be done by 1:00pm. The waiting was beginning to become agonizing. And then hearing other people talk in the waiting room ("there trying to see if there is any brain function... and then we'll decide what to do") made it worse. The doctor with all his bedside-manner spoke very flat and gave the facts: He did 4 bypasses instead of 3, there was some damage to the heart when he had the heart attack, his blood pressure dropped very low several times (but his heart never stopped beating), his breathing tube was still in and (unfortunately) based on what he saw, he will probably have to have another one in the future. They were settling him into ICU, so it would be an hour before we could see him.

When we went into the room, I was worried I would break down, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He was a little swollen, and had tons of gadget, tubes and everything else plugging in or coming out of him. He opened his eyes and looked at us. He wanted to talk, but couldn't. We told him he looked great (and he did, when you consider they just made an incision in his chest and cracked him open like an egg) and we loved him. He pointed at his chest and looked at the ICU nurse. He said, "you need some pain medication?" My Dad nodded "yes." They gave it to him pretty quickly, but they also had to clean out his breathing tube. He started coughing (which isn't really coughing because the tube is in the way) and they had to suction. It was horrible to watch him go through that. Then the pain medication kicked in and he was out.

I stayed with him until about 8:15pm, while he slept. He would wake up every once in a while and see me. I would smile, he would wink and then fall back to sleep. When I told him I was leaving, he opened his eyes. I said I would be back in the morning and to get some rest. I told him I loved him and I could see him trying to mouth the words back to me. I said, "I know you love me, too" and he nodded. I told him I would see him in the morning. I kept it together (actually, until now) and the nurse said he would be much more interesting tomorrow with that tube out. I smiled and headed out.