Further update... too long overdue!

Ok... First, let me apologize for not updating everyone sooner than this concerning my Dad.

When Mom talked to the surgeon on Saturday after Dad's operation, Dr. Zuk asked Mom if Dad been in a lot of pain in the days prior to his surgery. Mom answered that he had only had a bit of "discomfort" but not really pain. Dr. Zuk just shook his head and stated, "I don't know how that man was even walking. He was so full of infection in the gall bladder and around his liver that he should have been doubled over in pain. It was so built up and hardened around his organs that I almost had to chisel it out of his body. I am a good surgeon and have done hundreds of these operations. What should have taken me 45 minutes took me over 3 and a half hours. That man is lucky to be alive."

I went up to Fort McMurray on Wednesday, March 11. I arrived late that evening and was able to visit with my Dad in ICU for a few minutes. He was breathing on his own by then and was feeling pretty good considering what he'd been through. He was hooked up to 6 or 8 different IV bags and had lines running through him all over the place. They had put lines directly into his juggler vein in his neck due to the number of times they were taking bloodwork and administering additional meds.

If any of you have ever had a gall bladder attack or subsequently had their gall bladder removed, you will be able to relate to the pain caused by either of these things. Dad will now tell you that he had none of either of those pains... not of the prior attack, or with the surgery.

We went back in on Thursday morning to find that they had gotten Dad up and he was sitting in the chair beside his bed. He wasn't able to go any further due to his difficulty in breathing and his "lines" that were keeping him on a short tether. He was pretty swollen and they had a special apparatus on his legs that was keeping his circulation moving. It was pretty difficult to see my Dad in this position but he was in great spirits and was not having too many diffuculties all things considered. He had been having severe hallucinations with the pain medication that he had been on so he had requested on Tuesday morning to be removed from all pain meds. He assured his nurses that if he was having any pain, he would let them know and they promised that they would give him a different kind to eliminate the "monsters" that he was seeing. I have to tell you that he had one dose of pain meds since then... and has not taken so much as a Tylenol since that day.

My sister and I went in again on Friday night to find Dad in pain and having great difficulty breathing. He was extremely swollen and to be completely honest, he didn't look like he'd make it through the night. Of course, he kept trying to tell us that he was ok but we knew he wasn't. We prayed with him before we left.

Mom and I went back in the next morning to find him again, sitting on the chair beside his bed. He had gotten a good sleep thanks to the one shot of pain meds the night before and the fluid retention was noticably reduced.

From that night after we prayed over him, his recovery has been in leaps and bounds. He was moved from ICU on the following Monday and could probably have been moved on Saturday (one week after surgery) but they generally don't move patients on weekends due to reduced staff.

Monday, he was transferred to the surgical recovery unit on the 2nd floor. Every time Dr. Zuk would come in, he'd say to Dad, "I don't know why they're not putting you on the meds floor. You don't need me anymore. You're recovering extremely well and we'll look at tranferring you." Finally, on Wednesday, they transferred him to meds on 3rd floor. He was put back in the same room (same bed) he had occupied in October when his diagnosis was so grim. This time though, things were miraculously better.

Something you have to know about my Dad is that he LOVES the Lord! He witnessed to everyone he came in contact with while in the hospital. By the time he was done, he knew their story and he shared his testimony with anyone who would listen (and a few that didn't really want to... lol). When he went into the room on the 3rd floor, he started witnessing to the gentleman in the next bed. It turns out that the man was a backslider from down home (same area that Dad, Bro. Mullins and Bro. Long grew up in). He had been filled with the Holy Ghost many years ago and had been baptized in Jesus' name. He had just made a statement 2 days before Dad arrived that "God has given up on me and He no longer cares about me". He just kept telling Dad, "God sent you here. I know now that what I said two days ago is wrong". My sister had her 4 yr. old son and 5 yr. old granddaughter with her and before they left that room, both kids recited Psalms 23 from start to finish for that man lying in that bed. What an awesome Spirit of God was felt in that hospital room.

Anyway, to make a long story short (not really, but to tie things together from here... lol), Dad was released from the hospital on the 2nd Saturday following his surgery. Like I said, after being removed from the painkillers on the Tuesday following his surgery, he was given one dose on the Friday night to help him sleep. He has not taken one pain killer since then... He has had no pain whatsoever... He has lost a total of 53 lbs since October... Being a diabetic, cuts etc. heal much slower than with anyone else, but Dad's 10 inch scar across his belly is almost completely healed and looks like the surgery was done 2 or 3 years ago. There is no redness, no swelling, no bruising, no nothing!

When I was up there this past Wednesday, Dad had been out earlier that afternoon shovelling snow and restacking the woodpile. I gave him a talking to about taking it easy etc etc (actually, I freaked out with him) but I might have had better luck giving the speech to their little dog. He just laughed it off and kept telling me, "I feel good! I have no pain whatsoever!"

So... TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!! Thank you Jesus for keeping your hand on Dad and bringing him so far, so fast!

God is SO GOOD!

God Bless and thank you all for your prayers. Mom and Dad also thank you. I'm sure they'll deliver that in person when they finally get moved down to their new house in Calgary... In Jesus' name, it won't take too long!

Love you all! God bless!