A Thanksgiving of Miracles

Tuesday, November 24, 2015 is one of those days I'll never forget.  At 6:00 am I got a call from Licia telling me that Dad was in the hospital and had suffered a heart attack.  It wasn't until a few hours later that I realized he was on life support and his heart had stopped for 15 min. The doctors made no promises about his recovery and said he had a 50/50 chance of making it, his ribs were probably fractured from the chest compressions, and there was no guarantee that he would have normal brain 

function.  Licia and I decided to get on a plane that afternoon to be with Mom and Dad. 

It's hard to express the range of emotions I felt while I was in Utah for the next 9 days.  It was one of the hardest things I've had to go through, but it was also one of the sweetest and most sacred experiences I've had as well.  In New York we had talked about being unified as a family, and it felt like we were now putting that theory to practice.  I felt a stronger bond to my family than I have ever felt.  Spending late night hours alone in the hospital next to my dad are some of the sweetest memories I will cherish forever.  Just listening to him breathe in and out reminded me of how fragile life is and how God's grace was surrounding all of  us moment to moment.  I witnessed every one in the family uniquely serving, supporting and loving with the gifts they have been blessed with.  Some members just mourned with those who mourned, sitting together and talking, for others it was providing endless food and snacks, others offered medical advice and comfort, some physically lifted and fed  Dad, and others gave beautiful blessings and prayers.  These were days never to be forgotten.  

On Thanksgiving day, two days after the initial heart attack, Mom, Licia and I arrived at the hospital around 8:00 am and we were greeted by the pulmonologist who told us it was time to make a decision about extubating Dad and letting him try to breathe on his own.  He asked us "would you rather he live like a lion for at least one day, or like a worm for the rest of his life in a nursing home?"  That was the toughest decision Mom has ever had to make.  But as we watched him struggling with the tube down his throat and after calling some of the other siblings we decided to take the chance.  The next couple days proved to be emotionally up and down because we never knew if he would make it from one moment to the next.  But on that Thanksgiving day we were all filled with gratitude that Dad was still with us and we felt strengthened by the power of Christ's Atonement, knowing that either way everything would be ok.

Miraculously, after 9 days in the hospital, they finally cleared him to go to a rehab center.  He was walking, talking, breathing on his own, feeding himself, and saying he was ready to go.  The two biggest obstacles he still faces are his broken sternum which is very painful (luckily no fractured ribs), and his memory loss.  He has a hard time with his short term memory and forgets things easily.  We are hopeful in time that he can build the connections in that part of his brain again.  Although he and Mom have fought a lot less with this memory issue, so maybe it is a blessing in disguise.  :)

  

Heart before the stints were put in.

Heart after the 3 stints were put in.  

 Joyce and Hugh came to our house Tuesday night. It gave me such comfort to know that they were there helping take care of the kids and keeping some normalcy around our house.  They went to Joy Ride and Mary Poppins at Hale Center Theater.  Luckily I had bought most of my Thanksgiving meal from Whole Foods so they didn't have to worry about cooking much.  I'm so grateful for such supportive inlaws.  I got really lucky in that department.

I called Mike on Friday and told him I thought he should come with the kids because I really didn't know if he was going to make it and I wanted all of them to be with me.  His parents had flown down to our house for Thanksgiving week, so they stayed at our house until Sunday.  Meanwhile Mike and the kids drove to Utah that night and arrived Saturday morning.  We laughed because Saturday night we were all staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house and the two of them were staying at our house.   

 These four were so cute together.  Sydney was in heaven.