Denver Visit

Ok, Ok...remember I said that I was not going to commit to regularly postings...well I think that I anticipated that life takes it's fair share of twists and turns, which would prevent me from keeping up on my "blogging". I will try and recap as best that I can the past two months.

I will go back to April...

Well as many of you know (or maybe don't know), my dad has had his share of health issues. These are fairly recent health issues that go back just the last five years or so. My dad has successfully battled and won not one, not two not three but FOUR bouts with Cancer. The most recent victory was when in January of this year he was diagnosed with Leukemia. The kicker of this one was that the doctors believed that his past chemotherapy treatments were the "cause" of his Leukemia. Hows that for grins and giggles.

Well my dad is constantly surprising us with his strength and humor (not too mention his good looks) during his treatments. I want to add a side note here that I have come to the realization that when I feel overwhelmed or want to complain about something, I think to my dad and want to kick myself in the butt for being so weak. How can I complain when my dad has taken on so much, and without a single complaint! Both my parents have shone me what it means to be brave, strong and positive through challenging times.

So, back to my Denver trip...now that my dad is "officially" in remission for his Leukemia, it's time to address an issue that was a major concern at the time but had to be placed on the back burner until is chemo was done. My dad now has to deal with his heart. It was discussed that as soon as his cancer was in remission that my dad would most likely (well defiantly) have to undergo open heart surgery to replace is aortic valve which was not doing it's job...hence my trip.

I was there when my dad came out of surgery (with flying colors). He was hooked up to so many tubes and machines that it was really overwhelming. I am certainly glad that he could not see what we were seeing. It is a very frightening experience to see my dad in such conditions. But the doctors were so pleased with how well my dad did during surgery that it was somewhat comforting. I will have you know that before dad went in he wanted to make sure that I brought my camera and documents everything. I teased him saying that if I was taking pictures that I was going to blog about it and he didn't see to mind.

Here is a not so graphic picture of my parents...together. We were finally able to go back and see my dad.

Here we are waiting...and waiting...and waiting for my dad to come out of surgery.

The girls were doing so well, I mean after all how much fun is a hospital waiting area...not much! Here Ryann and I are feeling a bit stir crazy...we are a good looking pair huh?

Well this picture is for two reasons, one because Taylor has a beautiful smile on, and two this is a good "before" her braces picture.Here are some pictures after we got the news that my dad came out of surgery. We are bit teary but they are finally "happy" tears.

Here is the last picture of this blog. When I saw my dad for the first time on this trip it was a rather frightening event, however when I left he was doing wonderfully. Here he is before he embarked on his inaugural walk with his pig valve: