Sorry this is so long, but I had to put into words how blessed and emotional our Christmas was.
We caught a 2 man limit of trout, and a bonus red between 7:00 & 7:45am on Christmas Eve morning. I got a solid 3 hours of sleep that night and was planning on napping after lunch the next day.
When I got home my daughter told me that the toilet was clogged so I went in the bathroom and the toilet was full to the brim and the tub was filling up. I told my wife we would have to deal with that when we got home from my sister's house, but we would need to leave a little earlier than planned so I could stop by the hardware store on the way back and get a blow bag.
We then went down to my sister’s house (Tammy) for Christmas dinner. On the way there, at about 12:30pm, my sister Dana called to let us know they had found a compatible heart and would be letting us know shortly if the heart was viable. My sister is 35 and had her first heart attack at 25. She has been living with a mackine pumping for her heart for about 6 months and it has been very trying for my entire family, They called to let us know that it was a perfect match and viable heart at 2:45, and that they had her in the ER and were about to open her up and begin the transplant. They said the surgery would be anywhere from 2 to 12 hours depending on how things went, so we headed to the hospital. At 5:00 they came out to let us know that the heart was in and pumping and they were about to close her up and we could see her in a few hours.
Tina (My Wife) looked over at me and said: We still haven't fixed the sewer drain problem and if we don't fix it soon, we will not be able to shower or tonight. I hauled arse to Lowe's, but didn't make it in time to get a blow bag, so I stopped by my FIL's house to get his 25' snake and headed to the house. The 25' was not even close to being enough, so I tried just sticking the water hose down it and ramming it through, but that was also futile. By now I am covered in crap and thinking this could be a rough night and I have to get back to the hospital. I called a plumber friend of mine and he happened to have a commericial drain clearing machine at home, so off I went to get it. I didn't realize it weighed 200 lbs and wouldn't fit in the back of my van, but we got it far enough in to wire the back shut and off I went. I got back to the house and found a neighbor to help me unload it. It took 90' of the 100' of steel cable thingy to get it open, but I finally had it unclogged at 8:45 and showered and was off to the hospital again.
With my sister in surgery, I didn't even care that I was wading around in crap for a few hours.
We finally got in to see Dana at about 10:00 and she was awake, looked great, but pissed off because they still had the breathing tube in. She was giving the nurses he!!. I took this as a good sign.
We got back to Tammy's house to drop them off and pick up the kids around 11:30 and finally made it home about 1:30am. We then had to get them to bed and get ready for Santa to come. The kids woke up at 6:00am and we were still up. They opened presents and Tina & I went to bed and slept from 7:00 to 10:30 and had to rush to get to Tina's mom's house for Christmas dinner at noon. There were about 50 people there and it was a blast with all the presents and food.
They took the tube out later that night and had her out of the bed and in a chair the next day. Today she is doing great, and they have moved her out of the ER. She will probably be released in a week or so and begin rehab and get on with her life. We are elated and cannot believe that she is finally going to be able to live a much fuller and more normal life.
Thanks to everyone for all the prayers! They have meant a ton to all of us!
What a phenomenal Christmas!
I hope there are others out there as blessed as we are this christmas, and please say a prayer for the wonderful family that was willing to donate the heart so our family would not lose a precious member!
Congrats to Coe on the engagement!
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!
We caught a 2 man limit of trout, and a bonus red between 7:00 & 7:45am on Christmas Eve morning. I got a solid 3 hours of sleep that night and was planning on napping after lunch the next day.
When I got home my daughter told me that the toilet was clogged so I went in the bathroom and the toilet was full to the brim and the tub was filling up. I told my wife we would have to deal with that when we got home from my sister's house, but we would need to leave a little earlier than planned so I could stop by the hardware store on the way back and get a blow bag.
We then went down to my sister’s house (Tammy) for Christmas dinner. On the way there, at about 12:30pm, my sister Dana called to let us know they had found a compatible heart and would be letting us know shortly if the heart was viable. My sister is 35 and had her first heart attack at 25. She has been living with a mackine pumping for her heart for about 6 months and it has been very trying for my entire family, They called to let us know that it was a perfect match and viable heart at 2:45, and that they had her in the ER and were about to open her up and begin the transplant. They said the surgery would be anywhere from 2 to 12 hours depending on how things went, so we headed to the hospital. At 5:00 they came out to let us know that the heart was in and pumping and they were about to close her up and we could see her in a few hours.
Tina (My Wife) looked over at me and said: We still haven't fixed the sewer drain problem and if we don't fix it soon, we will not be able to shower or tonight. I hauled arse to Lowe's, but didn't make it in time to get a blow bag, so I stopped by my FIL's house to get his 25' snake and headed to the house. The 25' was not even close to being enough, so I tried just sticking the water hose down it and ramming it through, but that was also futile. By now I am covered in crap and thinking this could be a rough night and I have to get back to the hospital. I called a plumber friend of mine and he happened to have a commericial drain clearing machine at home, so off I went to get it. I didn't realize it weighed 200 lbs and wouldn't fit in the back of my van, but we got it far enough in to wire the back shut and off I went. I got back to the house and found a neighbor to help me unload it. It took 90' of the 100' of steel cable thingy to get it open, but I finally had it unclogged at 8:45 and showered and was off to the hospital again.
With my sister in surgery, I didn't even care that I was wading around in crap for a few hours.
We finally got in to see Dana at about 10:00 and she was awake, looked great, but pissed off because they still had the breathing tube in. She was giving the nurses he!!. I took this as a good sign.
We got back to Tammy's house to drop them off and pick up the kids around 11:30 and finally made it home about 1:30am. We then had to get them to bed and get ready for Santa to come. The kids woke up at 6:00am and we were still up. They opened presents and Tina & I went to bed and slept from 7:00 to 10:30 and had to rush to get to Tina's mom's house for Christmas dinner at noon. There were about 50 people there and it was a blast with all the presents and food.
They took the tube out later that night and had her out of the bed and in a chair the next day. Today she is doing great, and they have moved her out of the ER. She will probably be released in a week or so and begin rehab and get on with her life. We are elated and cannot believe that she is finally going to be able to live a much fuller and more normal life.
Thanks to everyone for all the prayers! They have meant a ton to all of us!
What a phenomenal Christmas!
I hope there are others out there as blessed as we are this christmas, and please say a prayer for the wonderful family that was willing to donate the heart so our family would not lose a precious member!
Congrats to Coe on the engagement!
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!
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