Happy Happy Birthday Father Dear...

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday!!! He will be 52 years old! Every year when his birthday comes around it gets me to thinking about how lucky I am to have him. 12 years ago, we didn't know if he would GET another birthday.

(I LOVE this picture...Look how adoring he looks at her!)

My dad and brother had just come back from a trip to Idaho to pick up my brother's birthday truck from my grandpa and bring it back home. They had not been home a week and our world stopped. It was Wednesday morning, I was in 5th grade, everyone was doing their thing to get ready for the day. Everything seemed normal, my parents were gone(they left first), Kindra was up getting ready for school. Jeremy had already left for his A-hour class. Courtney was in our room getting ready and I was in the kitchen making my lunch. Nothing felt out of place, nothing seemed wrong, this was our routine. As I was leaving the kitchen, the phone rang...it was my aunt. As soon as I answered the phone, I KNEW something was wrong. My aunt skipped the small talk that normally happened between us and with a shaky voice she asked to talk to Kindra. A little confused, I gave her the phone and stood close by to hear what was going on. I don't know exactly what my aunt said but looking at Kindra's face, I knew it wasn't good. She calmly called Courtney and I into the room and told us to hurry and get ready, Aunt Roni was on the way and we were going to pick up Jeremy. I was SO confused...I was supposed to be going to school! Why were we going somewhere so soon before school.

A few minutes later our aunt arrived, gave us each a long hug, and told us to get in the car. Her face was sad and worried. It wasn't until then that I put it together that something was wrong with mom and/or dad. We stopped by the high school and picked up Jeremy. Being the only one not at home he was the most confused. My aunt was staying quiet and wouldn't say anything about what was going on or what had happened. The only thing she told us is that we had to meet my mom at the hospital. My 10 year old heart sank as all the possibilities ran through my mind.

We arrived at the hospital emergency room as my mom was walking through the doors to meet us. I ran over to her and gave her a hug. With tears in her eyes she hugged us all and told us to follow her. When we got to the waiting room of the surgery unit of the hospital she filled us in on what happened. Her story went something like this:

It was about 4 in the morning and I was being woken up by dad wrestling around in bed. I asked him what was wrong. All he could say was there was a pain. He was holding his left arm and told me not to worry, it would go away. I rolled over and tried to sleep. About fifteen minutes later it happened again. He now told me that the pain was going down his left side and through his chest. I told him we should go to the hospital and check it out, it could be serious. He told me he wasn't going anywhere, we don't medical insurance and we can't afford to go to the hospital for nothing. We argued for a few minutes and finally decided to let it go and see if it was still there when he woke up for the day. At 4:45 the pain was back, a little worse this time. I got out of bed and told him to GET UP! We were going to the hospital and that was that! We headed to the Emergency Room of the nearby hospital and were taken right back. They hooked dad up to some machines and looked at his heart. They told us that we were smart to come in and if we would have waited 10 more minutes he may not have made it to the hospital at all. They said that dad had had 3 minor heart attacks at home and one major while they were watching his heart at the hospital. They said they were going to need to get him into surgery as soon as possible to stop what was happening.

My heart stopped because in my little child mind, my dad was dying! The last person I had seen in the hospital was my 80 year old great grandmother and she had to go through so much therapy and rehab to get out of the hospital. My dad had JUST turned 40, he didn't drink or smoke! My little innocent mind had no idea what was going on and was full of questions. My mom patiently answered all of them as we waited for the doctor to come out and update us.

I don't know how long we sat there before the doctor came out but it seemed like hours. He walked through the doors with papers in his hand. He didn't look like he had bad news, but not good news either. He called my mom over and explained what was going on. He could see the worried looks on us four kids' faces and so he explained it loud and in plain terms. He said that my dad's heart was hurting and that they were getting it fixed. He had pictures of what my dad's heart looked like before and after the surgery. He said there was a blockage in one of his arteries and he pointed to it on the picture so we could see it. He said that they were able to get a balloon up to his heart and blow it up with air to help keep the artery open. He told us that our dad was very weak and needed some rest but we would get to see him soon. We all sat down while my mom made all the necessary phone calls to family members and friends to update them. As soon as she was done we could see the doctor pushing my dad on a bed out of the doors. My heart started beating really fast as I looked at my dad all tangled up in wires and cords with machines beeping and buzzing next to him. He looked tired and sad. He was to high up for me to hug him but he grabbed my hand and told me he loved me. I immediately started bawling as they wheeled him away down the hall. The doctor stayed behind to tell us what we were to do next. He said he was taking him to the ICU where he would be watched for a couple days until everything was stable without the machines. He said that in the ICU there was a limit on how many people could go in at a time and how long they could be in there. We took turns going in the room and watching my dad. He slept alot and there was always a nurse checking the machines and his vitals.

He was in the ICU for 6 days. Us kids visited him everyday after school. It never got any easier for me to see him with all of the cords around him, looking so weak. He was my dad, my superhero! Why did it have to be HIM laying on that bed so helpless?! Everytime we left the hospital I cried the whole way home, not knowing what was gonna happen, thinking that I may not get to see my dad again.

After the week in the ICU they moved my dad upstairs into a room. I liked this a whole lot better, we could all be in there and there weren't so many machines and cords. My dad was awake more and was actually back to his sarcastic self. We joked with him that we didn't recognize him because his hands were so clean and his face was getting so hairy. He wasn't able to shave because of the blood thinners they had him on to help his heart pump the blood. He was in a room for 4 days before they let him go home. He was told to watch his diet and get lots of rest. He was not to go back to work until he had medical release. Getting home was a hard transition for all of us. We were a family who ate red meat ALOT and we drank whole milk. When we got home...that all changed. We started eating egg PROduct, 1% milk(aka white water) and turkey meat in everything. My mom's feelings got hurt alot because us kids got a little mean sometimes when she tried to feed us "fake food" as we called it.

My dad faced death and walked away from it! He has gone to the cardiologist once a year since 1998 and everytime they tell him he is doing great. Being my dad and having the dry sense of humor that he does have, he always jokes that he could die any day, he escaped it once but doesn't think he will get away with it again. I love my dad! Now that I am growing up I am realizing that he is a human. He may not be a "superhero" to the world but he is MY SUPERHERO! He is the kind of dad I want Jimmy to be for my kids. He makes mistakes and learns from them. He has taught me many things and has always been there for me. He is always willing to go the extra mile to help someone in need. He has always said "my dad is the nicest person in the world...he may live by the motto of 'people are no damn good' but he would give the shirt off his back to a stranger on the street". I am proud to say so would my dad!!!

I thank my Heavenly Father EVERYDAY for letting me keep my dad, for letting me have my dad at the temple with me on my wedding day and for letting me dance with my dad at my wedding to hear him say "geez, there must be something wrong with me...everytime I dance with a girl she cries!".


I love my dad so so much and don't know where I would be without him. Happy Birthday Dad!!!!