Surgery #6

Oh man, where to start? It's been a massive roller coaster ride over the last few weeks. We think the last hill has been climbed and that the real healing can begin now.

Dad's surgery (the 6th one since July 2) went very well. The surgeon was able to amputate about mid-thigh, leaving a good portion of the leg to attach a prosthesis to later. He is very confident that this was the best option available to Dad, and we all agree. He says that Dad will spend a week or so in the hospital. After that, he'll go to a rehab center for another week. It won't be the same one that Dad had picked before - this will be an aggressive facility aimed at getting him back on his feet, not just taking care of his incisions. He'll come home after that. He'll be fitted for a prosthesis in 4 weeks or so, after the swelling goes down and things have a chance to heal more.

He's pretty much out of it at the moment, which is to be expected, but he's already looking better. His color is much better, and he looks more relaxed than he has coming out of previous surgeries. We all feel as though a great weight has been taken off of us. Everything that could have gone wrong has, even the worst case scenario, and we've all made it through.

We still have to watch for infection, but because Dad is in great health (other than the leg, that is...) and so young, he really doesn't have any other complications to watch out for now. He will have some adjustments to make and he'll have to re-learn how to do some things. He would have had to do that anyway, and there is no guarantee that the bypass wouldn't have failed 5 years from now, resulting in the surgery he had today. If all goes well, Dad will have most of the mobility that he had before. There is a good chance that he'll go back to work once he's able and got some practice under his belt, which will leave Mom to clean the closets out when she retires.

Life is good. We are blessed.

Many thanks for your thoughts and prayers,

Lori