Good Friends....

This past weekend my father went in for an angiogram in preparation for an angioplasty. During the angiogram, the doctor's discovered four major blockages in his heart that, if left untreated, could have caused a major heart attack. The doctors decided to go in and do a quadruple bypass and fix the problems that had cropped up. It was the best thing to do in this case and would make aure that he didn't have any additional problems. Going into the operating room with the same cheerful attitude he always has, he constantly told my mom, brother and I that he had the easiest part. He would be asleep during the operation and time would fly by. For those of us still awake, the waiting would be long.

That fact weighed on me as I thought about how to pass the time. Having grown up here with a limited amount of family, your friendships and relationships take the place of actual blood relatives and our area of the waiting room was soon flooded with family and friends. The mood was light and jovial and I came to realize at that time that I am truly lucky to have such family friends who care about my family and me as much as they do. Never once was the mood down or dour, we laughed and joked together and the six hours that my dad was in the operating room seemed to pass by quickly.

Soon after the operation he came out and was taken to the ICU. Within a few hours he was awake and speaking. The next morning we returned to visit him and our friends were with us, as always. It speaks volumes to see how quickly dad is recovering. Sure he's in good health and sure it was caught in time, but the presence of such wonderful family and friends around him has made his recovery all the more speedy.

I came to realize too that I have good friends out there. Some of them I've known since childhood and some I have met very recently. But the notes I received, the calls I got, all made me realize that I've got lots of people to lean on and that I have friends who care about me as much as I care about them. You'll never know how much I appreciate it!