Colins birthday party in Myrtle Beach, Todd has a heart attack, my birthday, we moved Scott back to NC, our Anniversary, Scott started his new job, Illan born and now this party! I am just so overwhelmed. No matter what I do the party is gonna happen, I was late getting out invites, really wanted to find more people that knew daddy back when to come, but I have just ran out of time! Thankfully this time I have more help with the other stuff. Misti and Lisa have been God Sends! Ooo will have to do something nice for them.
No matter what, it will be fun...lots of fun. I am just so blessed my daddy ... my poppy is still here with me. He has not had it easy. His dad died when he was really young, then his mother ran off and left him and his brother with his grandfather who was then killed so Daddy and Leon pretty much did it on their own. He had rheumatic fever as a child which affected his heart. They didn't' know that until later on in life...he was working for Hanes and went to the doctor and they found that both of his valves were in really bad shape, nothing helped and in 1991 he had open heart surgery and they did the rare thing...replaced both valves at one time. He did well and survived the surgery. But the ticking of the valves nearly drove him mad...or should I say that his fear of not hearing them. He was then diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and started on Coumadin - which means lots of blood work every month. Then about 5 or 6 years ago, he was getting so weak and he went to see the doctor and Dr. Hearon...who I adore...said he needed a pacemaker...and not just any ole pacemaker...a bi ventricular one! Only put in in larger hospitals. My dad protested to go to Baptist Hospital in Winston, his step father went in for a simple surgery and died there from a staph infection. We all, me included convinced him that that is rare and it won't happen to him. He went in for the surgery, should have been a 2-3 day ordeal...nope. Because of the Coumadin (blood thinner) he spent over a month in Winston. He came home and things were going good. He finally was released to be able to do things, and went fishing in Santee, SC. He was on the boat reaching up to the dock to pull himself up and the boat jerked and he felt a little something around the pacemaker, and within 24 hours he was in intensive care with a staph infection. He went to the hospital in Columbia. The doctor called and my mom and I got in the car and raced to the hospital. The doctor told us to come right away that he wasn't doing well. We get there and he barely can talk, he is shaking with the worse chills I have ever seen. The doctor came and got me and said he couldn't get much info from dad because he was not with it due to the fever and such. I told him that he just had a pacemaker put in a few months back and they said it had to come out and he walked away calling doctors and such. But, I knew this was a special pacemaker, not just anyone could take it out. So I called doctor Hearon and he told me to stop them, not to let them do anything or they would kill him! Then he said let me talk to the docs there. I carried my cel to the doctor and after 10 minutes they were loading him up to go to Winston Salem Baptist Hospital to do it. Family met us there and at one point the doctors told us he may not make it through the night and wanted us to be prepared. They took the pacemaker out, put in a pic line (like an IV sorta...goes in a large artery and can stay for a long time) and put a pacemaker on the side of his neck...STRANGE! He was in the hospital for a long time 2 more months and they transferred him to Hickory again. Then because I worked with Dr. Hearon, arrangements were made that he could come home with me, with a pump and injections and every other day trips to the hospital for dressing changes. My mom and I gave him shots in the belly and flushed Heparin through his pic line and mixed his antibiotics and such every day...twice a day. Finally we took him back to Baptist and they put the pacemaker on his right side and he has done pretty good since.
We are all just blessed to have him still here. I can't wait to celebrate his 75th birthday!
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