Dad's OK now, but it was a very dramatic few days. It went from "He has no heartbeat or pulse" to "you can go home now." The ambulance that came to transfer him to a bigger hospital contained one of the EMTs who was there at the initial scene. He was so happy to be there: it's not often we get to ride with someone again after a call like that (meaning they usually die. In fact, Dad only had less than a 15% chance to make it. Even then, they expect some heart damage, which he sustained none!). The only thing different about Grandpa now is that he suffered a number of days of short-term memory. Here's some video from the ICU before we had him transferred to get his cath scan and eventual stint. Prime example of him not remembering...he looks at this video now and doesn't remember it. "I look coherent," he says, "but can't remember this at all."
Monday, January 22, 2007
After a number of days everything was "fixed" and calm enough for Ava and I to return home. Paul and Tina met us at the airport. We opened up the door on Tina's side so she could see Ava. All week, the two of them had been asking where the other was. Upon first sight, Tina let out a giant, "AVA!" and opened her arms wide. Daddy held Ava in front of her and there was a great big hug and about 10 minutes of giggling on our drive home. Ava insisted on holding Daddy's hand (who she hadn't seen in days) and Tina insisted on holding mine. Both Paul and my arms fell asleep in that awkward angle, but we didn't care. It was nice to see the girls so happy to have their complete family around them once again.
