Dad

One evening I received a phone call from mom that dad was having chest pains and refused to go to the doctor. I called dad to find out what was going on. I told him it was probably a rib out of place and he should just go get checked.  I honestly didn't think it was anything. The next morning I called to check on him. He was getting ready to go to the urgent care. I asked him to call me once he heard. An hour and a half later nothing. I text mom to see if she knew what was up. I found out he was in the ER, mom was with him and Lacey was on her way. I feel it went down hill from there. 

That was such a hard day. I was scheduled to fly to ND in 2 days. Here I was in CA sitting on my couch in my pjs trying to take care of G while waiting for the news. The next day didn't get any easier. I got the phone call he would have to have open heart surgery. I was driving home from a doctor appointment just bawling. How does this happen? Dad has always been the one with good health. It is the rest of us that have health issues. I remember thinking that day I was so thankful he went in. If he had a heart attack he wouldn't be here. I just felt so numb the entire day. 

I wasn't sure if I was happy or not when surgery was pushed off until the day after we arrived. I kind of felt I just wanted the surgery to happen while we were on the plane, so when I arrived it would all be over. I am thankful now that we were all able to sit together in the waiting room. When he was out of surgery Lacey, mom and me were able to all go into ICU. I knew what to expect in ICU. It wasn't that long ago I was in there myself. I expected to see lots of drainage tubes, oxygen, etc. It was a whole didn't thing once I walked in. I lost it. I think it was the first time I let myself fall apart. I think for me it was relief he made it through surgery. I didn't cry too long because I didn't want that energy to be around my dad. I wanted him to get well, so I wanted lots of positive things around him. 

It is amazing how well he has done. He wasn't even in ICU a full day. The recovery is taking longer than he would like. He is not use to sitting around. Some days he gets stir crazy. Plus can you imagine spending most of your time alone and all of a sudden your grown daughter and toddler are now living with you. Your daughter is feeding you so many greens and "healthy" foods you are ready to throw up. lol I am staying with him for another couple more weeks. I told mom and Lacey to work while I am here. They may need to take time off once I go home. 

Lacey and I set up a Go Fund Me page for my dad. We want things to be easy for him as he recovers. We don't want him to worry about all the bills or farm things that need to be done. We also don't want him to worry about returning to work so quickly. He need to get well. 

Here is what we wrote for his Go Fund Me Page.

A couple weeks ago we received a dreaded phone call. Dad was in the ER waiting for follow up tests on his heart. After numerous tests it was determined he needed open heart surgery right away.  No one saw this coming at all. Thankfully it was caught before he had a heart attack because he probably wouldn't be here with us now.

The picture above was taken about 2 weeks after surgery. This is one of the tamest cows. She think she is a dog and loves to be scratched. We had to help dad fix some fences the day this picture was taken. Dad held on to his chest as we drove thru the pasture to fix a fence so his cows didn't get out. The rookie daughters set out to fix some fences with instructions from dad. Lacey hasn't ever fixed fence and it's been close to 20+ years since Becky has fixed fence. One of the first thing my dad worried about when they told him he had to have surgery was his cows. How would he take care of them, how would he make enough hay, and who would fix fence.

We (Lacey and Becky) have put together this Go Fund Me page to help out with medical expenses and to help with farm expenses. Our dad makes all his hay for the cows each summer. He isn't sure he will be able to do it all himself over the summer with recovering. Right now he can walk across the farm then needs to rest.  Recovery from a quadruple bypass is going to be a long slow process as we are all learning.

Go Fund Me - Barry Fischer