Time Out

Well, life threw a curve ball at me late Saturday night. After a great day at the beach, swimming in the ocean, grilling hamburgers and watching a couple movies on Saturday I got a call around midnight from my sister that my dad had a heart attack. I spent the next little while on the phone with her all the time wondering if I should go home. It was only a mild attack and he was conscious the whole time but it was a heart attack nonetheless and he was taken to the hospital via ambulance. They did an angiogram late last night and found that an artery on the left side of his heart was 100% blocked so they put a stint in. They also found another blockage on the other side of his heart that they would have to deal with later...

I talked to my sister, Jan, just a little but ago and originally this afternoon when we talked dad was doing pretty good. Now they can't keep his blood pressure or oxygen level stable so they are working on that. Also originally we thought he had two options for the 2nd blockage. Either another stint (probably a mediated one) or bypass surgery. With the stint he would have to be on aspirin and other blood thinning meds for the rest of his life. With the bypass it would be risky b/c of his lung disease. But today the doctor clarified that his only option probably is bypass surgery. So they will get him healthy from this round in order to do the surgery. Probably in a couple weeks....

I'm staying put for the time being and am in continual prayer for my dad. I would appreciate yours as well.

Also, today was the first day (afternoon) of COP (Candidate Orientation Program) at Pioneers and so far it's been a blast. I have two roommates, Abbi and Lisa, and we have had some fun getting to know each other this afternoon. Tomorrow is our first full day and we are looking forward to it. We've already been to the pool and hot tub tonight. They said we also could swim in the lake, and we were going to do that, but then they said, "as with any lake in Florida, it does have gators. But they won't bother you." Yeah right....maybe another time!

I've uploaded pictures of our beach day and you can see them here.