Very thankful

My grandmother and granddaddy drove us to the airport on Sunday and everything was fine, or so we thought. On Monday after a few facebook posts from my cousins about a sick granddad sparked my mom's interest, she called her mom and found out that my granddad was admitted to the hospital and had severe blockage in his arteries. No surgery was going to happen until the next Monday (1/3), but it was going to be a quadruple by-pass. Talk about scary and earth shattering information. We didn't end up going home from our trip because he was fine and in good spirits in the hospital, but had to stay there to be monitored.

When my parents got back on Sunday afternoon, Jimmy and I picked them up from the airport and immediately went to the hospital that he had been transferred to that is the top cardiovascular hospital (I think) in Kansas City, so we knew he was in good hands. My mom's brother, one of her sisters and some of my cousins were all there with my grandparents and my granddad was doing great. He was in good spirits and showed everyone a diagram of where the blockage was and how exactly they were going to fix everything the next morning. The following morning, he was in surgery bright and early and it took about 4.5 hours. We went to visit him on Monday evening in the ICU and he still wasn't awake, but they said everything was going smoothly and he was responding to questions also! They said after he woke up they would have him sit up himself and then the next day he would walk a few times. AMAZING! I couldn't believe just one day after my 75+ year old granddad had his chest opened up and heart operated on that he would be up and walking. It is truly amazing how wonderful modern medicine is and I am so thankful for all those that work in the health care field. The ICU nurse last night was amazing and so helpful in answering questions and made us feel so much better!

My mom went up there today and he was walking a bit, talking, eating and feeling good. While there is a still a long road to recovery, what a blessing. And most importantly, thankful to God for his watch over my granddad and all those doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals that have the skills and expertise to perform these miracle surgeries as part of their everyday job. It's truly amazing and we should all be thankful for those individuals and their dedication to their patients and the field they work in. (shout out to Courtney, my almost doctor friend- so proud of you!!).

P.S. When we were leaving the ICU last night around 8:40, a nurse there called out my name and it turns out that we knew each other when we were growing up and played on opposing softball teams. It was so nice to see a somewhat familiar face there, in a place that can be quite scary for the normal person that is not used to be in a hospital. I was especially grateful that she assured me that they would take good care of my granddad. It was almost like she was there for a reason :) All I have to say is God works in mysterious ways that I'm very very thankful for!! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for my granddad!