Today was my Papa's 89th birthday! He's 89 AND still lives in his home AND still is independent AND still works outside some. I hope that when I'm 89 I'm still as active and independent as Papa. Since it was such a big birthday (his last one in his 80's) I called him twice. Once before lunch and then tonight on the way home. He seemed to have a good day. He went to El Fenix again. (We went last weekend while we were in town to celebrate his birthday.) I told him that we were going to have a big party for him next year on his birthday and that I would start planning it. He said it'd better be a big party if you're going to plan it for a year. :) I agreed.
It was so sweet talking to my Papa and to hear how grateful he is to be still living. He is the ONLY one in his family to make it out of their 70's (and there weren't many who made it to their 70's). He told me that the Good Lord has been watching out for him even before he served the Lord.
You see, Papa wasn't always a believer. He was a permanent on my prayer list to know the Lord for years! My sophomore year in high school (winter of 1998), we (me, my mom, Nana and Papa) went to Vegas for the NFR. After we got back, he went to have some tests run because he had been having trouble breathing. He thought for sure he had emphysema due to smoking for so many years. The doctor did a stress test on him and was shocked that he had driven himself into the doctor. He told him to go immediately to the hospital and check in that he was in serious condition and needed surgery ASAP. Papa did just that. He called my Nana at her work and told her that he had admitted himself to Irving Community Hospital on doctors orders. I vaguely remember going to visit him that night and him just hanging out in his hospital room with his normal clothes on along with heart monitor.
A few days later he had carotid artery surgery (he was 90% blocked or something crazy like that). This was right before Christmas and they let him come home for Christmas Eve/ Day with our family (he doesn't remember much though). The day after Christmas he went in for heart surgery and let's just say, he didn't come home until Spring Break (mid-March) that school year.
During his surgery, they couldn't get him to stop bleeding and he laid open for 3 days. We really didn't think he would make it. I remember going to the chapel several times and hearing my Mom and Nana pray for him- for his healing, but more than that, for him to know the Lord. I also remember my Aunt pulling my cousin and I aside in this little room and telling us that there was a good chance that Papa wouldn't make it and that we may want to consider going to see him. We did. I saw one glimpse of him and the memory of his swollen hands is still engraved in my mind. I saw him for just a few seconds, cried really hard and ran out. I also remember my Mom, Nana, uncle and aunt taking turns staying the night in the ICU waiting room so that they could go check on him at least once an hour. They would literally transform the waiting room into a little bedroom- shut the blinds, pallet on the floor.
The doctor's finally got him to stop bleeding and on his way to recovery. It was a roller coaster ride and I remember times when we didn't know when or if he'd make it back home. According to doctors he wasn't supposed to be able to talk again; his left vocal cord was paralyzed from putting the breathing tube down him so many times. I can't even remember off the top of my head all of the struggles he went through to get out of there. We did get to bring him home during my spring break in March, but he had therapy of all sorts to go through. I drove him to some appointments and errands... it was fun and I enjoyed him being home. He was truly a changed man. He started going to church with Nana which he had NEVER done before!
I'm not sure what my Papa went through personally while he was in the hospital, but I do know that he came out a changed man. I would put money on it that he had an encounter with God. He is a walking, talking, breathing miracle and Papa, I have been so blessed to have you as my Papa these past (almost) 27 years! I hope and pray that I got your good health genes! Enjoy this last year of your 80's and get ready for your 90th birthday party! Remember, you said you'd live at least 89 more years! (I figured it up that if he did that, Parker would be 21- that would require a trip to Vegas!)
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