I realize many of you already know about this through Facebook or Twitter, but I feel like I should post here too. Thanks so much for all the positive messages and thoughts, support and prayers I've received so far. Every single one helps!

---

Last Saturday, my dad went to the ER with severe throat burning, and pain in his chest and shoulder. He had a mild heart attack, and stayed in the ER overnight for tests, which revealed he had major blockage in the arteries in and around his heart. Doctors said he needed to have surgery ASAP, so he was moved to Swedish in Seattle the next day, one of the top cardiac surgery hospitals in the area.

On Tuesday, he went in for what was supposed to be an intensive two-part surgery, the first to bypass the calcified arteries and also to replace his heart valve with an artificial tissue valve (he was born with only 2 working valves instead of 3). The surgery took almost 9 hours, and the surgeon found even more calcium deposits than tests showed, so he had to make the difficult decision not to do the valve replacement because breaking the calcification and that stuff entering the bloodstream would put him at a high risk of stroke. In addition, they were only able to safely do two bypasses.

This was a bit disappointing, but you have to respect the surgeon's call in risk vs. success.

Unfortunately, my dad had some complications in the days following the surgery. Normally the patient wakes up within 4-6 hours, but my dad had his blood pressure drop very low that night so he was kept asleep and given medication, and the next day the opposite happened, it spiked, and a blood clot in his leg was found among other minor things. It took a lot of work and tons of medications to just get him stable.

So long story short, as of now (4 days after the original surgery), my dad is still sedated and on both breathing and feeding tubes, and likely will be until Tuesday, because doctors feel his heart needs a chance to rest from all the trauma it has been through. On Tuesday, they will do a TAVR procedure on him, basically installing an artificial heart valve inside the nonfunctional valve using a catheter, going through the artery in his leg. It's a breakthrough procedure that is fairly new, and much safer than opening him up again, although there is that risk of stroke due to the calcium entering the bloodstream. It is still a risky operation, especially in his weakened state.

It's just such a sad, helpless feeling to see your dad suffering in a hospital bed with 10 (yes, I counted) IVs poking him like a human pin cushion. My dad means the world to me, he has been the most loving, supportive father anyone could ask for and I can only hope he pulls through and will be with us for many more years.

This was really a shock to my entire family because my dad was extremely healthy, and had never had any major illness or surgery until now, his 74th year of life.

In the days before he went in for surgery I told him about the outpouring of well-wishes all my "furry friends" were giving him and it definitely cheered him up a little, in addition to me and my sister going to the hospital nearly every day to check up on him and get the latest updates. It's been very stressful and I'm so thankful for the support I've gotten from so many people in the furry fandom as well as my family.

*hugs all*

[EDIT] Just found out from the neurologist that my dad did suffer a stroke during the initial surgery last Tuesday, which explains his slow response. The blood clot is at the base of his cerebellum which impairs movement and coordination, but they cannot remove the clot yet because with the post-op medication he is on, he would bleed to death. They're doing the best they can, it's just a really unfortunate situation.