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Just called the cardiac ICU: They said they got Dad’s internal bleeding to subside overnight, and are getting ready to pull his breathing tube!

They’re in the process of bringing him up from the anesthesia, and he should be able to talk to us by the time the 9am visiting session starts (it’s about 8:15 right now).

PS: Thanks for the reiki, Tina.

Dad’s not out of the woods yet. He has internal bleeding that hasn’t ceased yet, so the cardiac staff’s not going to bring him out of anesthesia and off the respirator yet. This seems to fall within the parameters of what they’re used to in the ICU, but I was unable to handle the emotional roller-coaster of it, and had to leave.

I’m really hoping that, when I get up tomorrow morning and call the cardiac ICU, they’ll tell me that the bleeding’s stopped and they plan to remove the breathing tube in the next couple of hours.

For those of you who are into the thoughts-and-prayers side of things, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d devote some of those to us.

Dad succesfully underwent a quintuple bypass this morning! The surgeon says that it went well.

(Dad didn’t say anything, since he’s currently unconscious in the cardiac intensive care unit, but he oughtta be awake in a couple of hours.)

Thanks again for all the support! (We’ll need it during his rehab/recuperation)

Today was a lot better. Dad was in better spirits, despite his unerring ability to make The Wrong Comment (“They got me a single room, here on Death Row”), and all of us had gotten a bunch of much-needed rest.

I spent a few hours with him and his girlfriend at the hospital. A third surgeon came by today, and convinced Dad to go with a different procedure for the bypass. This one involves keeping the heart beating, rather than shutting it down during the grafting process, so as to prevent the brain from suffering any oxygen deprivation.

The surgeon also contended that he could bypass all six of Dad’s blocked arteries. By the time I arrived, Dad and his girlfriend had elected to go with this other surgeon.

The operation’s scheduled to begin (with pre-op) around 7am tomorrow. I hope to have good news to report by noon.

Following a scary missed (and mis-)diagnosis by his cardiologist last week, my dad had an angiogram this morning; he has 100% blockage of three arteries in his heart. He’s having a bypass performed on Wednesday.

I haven’t done much eating or sleeping these past few days, and I sure won’t be doing any blogging till after his operation. I appreciate the well-wishes I’ve received from some of you already, as well as those to come.

Thanks.

Update: Sorry to put up such an apocalyptic-reading post. I was pretty wrecked by the time I got home last night, and didn’t know what to write. I want to add that both surgeons with whom we consulted said that Dad’s a “perfect candidate” for this operation, and that there’s very little chance (0.5-2.0%) that anything will go wrong on Wednesday. So, while I’m still incredibly worried for my dad’s life, the surgeons aren’t portraying it as a very risky procedure.

Thanks again for all the e-mails. It means so much to me to know that I have such wonderful friends all over this world.

Because of family health issues, I’m not going to be able to post anything for the next few days.

Evidently, there are a ton of Jane Galt readers out there, and they’ve Galt-alanched my archives for the Budapest anecdotes about Statue Park!

Welcome! Take off your shoes and stay a while!

Today’s the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. Depending on how you define life, either 168 or 169 people were killed in the attack.

The DEA’s annual magazine, “Drugs of Abuse,” has been released. According to the agency:

This DEA magazine delivers clear, scientific information about drugs in a factual, straightforward way, combined with scores of precise photographs shot to scale. We believe that Drugs of Abuse fulfills an important educational need in our society.

But according to Mr. Sun!, it looks like the DEA is just trying to tempt us all into using (more) drugs.

On Sunday, Tiger Woods hit one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen, on the 16th hole to help him win his 4th Masters jacket at Augusta.

On Tuesday, Stephen Stanko got picked up by the cops. He was on the run from rape and double-murder charges in South Carolina. Where’d the cops find him? In a mall in Augusta.

Coincidence? Nope! Evidently, after allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl, killing his old lady (the girl’s mom), and killing a 74-year-old guy for his truck, Stanko decided, “I’d really like to see Tiger play.”

Let that sink in. No, no: Not that this guy, following rape-and-murder Friday, decided he wanted to watch some golf.

Instead, think about this: Stephen Stanko probably killed an old guy for a set of wheels, but even he couldn’t score tickets to the Masters.