Dad's okay!
Removal of the aneurysm was a success! Friday's surgery took 3 hours and of course, the waiting was the worst. When he had his quadruple bypass surgery, Doh and I went to Serramonte to kill time! This time, I went back to my parent's house and tried to rest up. Pops was in good spirits before the surgery...even after having been pricked numerous times by the nurse who said she just couldn't find a vein for the I.V. and having another one insert a catheter up to his bladder. Now maybe I missed that episode on ER, but I didn't really know what a catheter was. It basically enables the patient to empty the bladder through a tube that's inserted, well, up through where it comes out of...think about that one. Just seems more painful for men, I think. (Ouch!) My Dad became a star on Friday...of a training video for med students! The doctor asked permission to videotape the surgery and my Dad consented...NOT that we'd be able to see it...NOT that I'd want to anyways 'cuz it'd only be close-ups of the incisions, but nonetheless "cool." Can you imagine? "Hey guys, check it out! This is the part where they make the 1st incision...this is where they insert the stent...oh, and hey, check out my Dad's aorta!" Um, no. With the major surgery done and after staying in the Recovery room for a few hours, Dad got the thumbs up from the doctor to proceed to his own room and not to I.C.U. Today, Dad was up doing his exercise of laps around the hospital floor. Doing well and walking fine, considering where the incisions were. Got to see the battle scars today. I had heard that staples were used to close up the wounds, but I wasn't expecting METAL STAPLES! (y'know, the shiny silver ones!) It looked like someone got an ordinary desk stapler and went down the line! Was somewhat traumatized momentarily and thinking about it still makes me cringe. Don't even want to think about how they're going to take 'em out...

What is it?
What my dad actually had was an AAA, or abdominal aortic aneurysm. Basically, it's an aneurysm in his stomach. Before he was diagnosed, I originally thought aneurysms only happened in the brain. Many relatives on my mom's side have passed on because of this and it turns out that aneurysms are hereditary. Greaaaaattttt. There are other things that contribute to this, that being high blood pressure, smoking, nutrition and exercise. But the scary thing is, these will usually go undetected unless one is given some kind of x-ray. Thankfully, that's what happened to my Dad. We had no idea. Had he not gotten his quadruple bypass, we would never have known about the growing aneurysm in his stomach. According to studies, women are more likely than men to have abdominal aneurysms; vice-versa for the brain. What it really comes down to is being cognizant of our own body and its pains. We often dismiss headaches and other such ailments as nothing, but only WE can determine if it feels normal or abnormal for us. I'm not saying that a headache signifies an aneurysm, but it's happened to the most unlikely people in our lives and the best thing that we can do about it is up our awareness on things. Google it. Check out the research. Read the FAQs.

Maraming Salamat
Just want to say thanks for keeping my Dad in your prayers. Prayer is truly a powerful thing and I believe that each and every one of them were heard. Much love...