HyperbAllea

My grandfather has been making slow, but steady progress over the past few days, and I seem to be making my way out of this depression weirdness. I think I’m going to have a good weekend…

I’m kind of surprised at how down I’ve been for the past week. It’s not like me to be depressed or even to worry that much, but that’s exactly what I’ve been doing since the weekend. It’s kind of sad, really, and I’m rather ashamed of myself because I know better than to behave in this way. I feel like a silly kid whining for attention. I guess I just want someone to ask how I’m doing…or ask how my grandpa is doing…or just tell me they’re praying for him. That’s all.

But then it occurs to me that not many people really knew he was having surgery until after the fact, and I haven’t tried to call anyone and tell them what’s going on.

I just want to snap out of this funk soon. I hate feeling this way.

Sidenote: To those of you who have expressed concern, I really appreciate it and it means a lot. I’m not trying to get attention or sympathy here, just trying to get everything out…get over myself, ya know?

I cannot believe the rollercoaster ride that the past few days have been. As I wrote in my previous post, my grandfather had open heart surgery last Wednesday. He had a valve in his heart replaced with a pig’s valve, which is beyond my comprehension. When I wrote the post on Friday he was doing well…

Thomas and I drove to Charlotte on Saturday morning. I got to go in to see my Paw Paw that afternoon, and aside from the fact that he had a giant wound running down the middle of his chest and various tubes and monitors attached to him, he seemed to be doing fairly well considering his chest had been sliced open three days earlier. He was having a little trouble breathing though, and had extra fluid in his lungs, around his heart, and throughout his body tissue.

Overnight on Saturday they decided to take away his plain oxygen mask and put him on another machine that would instead push air in, opening the airways and increasing his oxygen. His oxygen continued to decrease throughout the day Sunday, and by the evening they decided to put him back on the respirator, which meant he would have to be sedated. We went home scared and discouraged, not knowing what the next morning’s visit would bring.

On Monday morning, he was stabilized on the respirator, but was completely unresponsive when we went in to visit him because of the sedative. On Tuesday they decided to start weaning him off of the respirator and the sedative. I had to leave on Tuesday afternoon, which was so hard. Tuesday evening he was moved into his own room, and today he’s off the respirator and doing a little better without it than he was last time.

I can’t imagine the pain and discomfort he has been through this past week. He’s so discouraged right now and doesn’t feel like he’ll ever get better. I’ve heard that heart surgery can really mess with a person’s emotions, and I think that’s what’s happening to my Paw Paw right now. Please pray that he would be encouraged and comforted, and that he will keep heading in the right direction in his recovery.

Tuesday was Thomas’ birthday. I took him to The Melting Pot per his request for a delicious dinner. We emerged nearly three hours later stuffed and happy.

Wednesday my grandfather went in for open heart surgery to have a valve replaced. The surgery was a success and he’s been doing well, but he still has a long way to go to full recovery. Please keep him in your prayers. Thomas and I are leaving in the morning to drive to Charlotte and visit him for the weekend.

Thursday I made a hilarious JibJab video that I’m dying to post. I need to wait until I get the stars’ permission though.

Today I got a lot of stuff done. Laundry, dishes, sorting a laundry basket full of old papers, photographing dishcloths (yes, I realize this sounds incredibly strange). Still need to fold some laundry and pack some clothes for our trip to Charlotte.

I’ve had lots of ideas for posts this week, but just haven’t had the time to sit down and write them. I really want to be a good little blogger though. Encouragement, anybody?

In what now seems to be an annual occurrence in the Cary/Apex area (remember last year’s giant chemical fire that required the evacuation of over 10,000 people in Apex?), yesterday we had another towering inferno in our little suburban paradise. Apparently, the road construction crew was drilling and hit a gas line, cause a continuous giant fireball in one of Cary’s busiest intersections (Tryon and Kildaire Farm). My mom’s office building just happens to be in that intersection (it’s the 2-story rectangular building you can sometimes see diagonally across the intersection in the video), so she saw all the action first hand. In fact, a lady who works for another business in her building was driving through the intersection at the time and happened to throw a cigarette out the window at pretty much the same time as the fireball was ignited. For a moment she actually thought she caused the explosion. Of course, she didn’t, but I bet she thinks twice the next time she tosses out a cigarette butt.

I do think it’s kind of funny that last year’s explosion was almost exactly a year ago (Oct. 5, 2006). Makes me wonder what’s going to happen next fall…

Oh yeah…and no one was hurt.

I don’t have anything to write about, but for some reason unbeknownst to me I feel compelled to post anyway.

That is all.