Out of ICU and on the road to recovery....

Wow, talk about determined and strong minded/willed! Dad is out of ICU in less time than they had originally said he would be there.. like 2 weeks sooner! He's tired, sounds tired when I talk to him, but that's to be expected.

Physical therapy every day, painkillers to keep him out of the bad pain and able to do the physical therapy. He is SO determined to be up here for the girls high school graduation, I think he may be pushing himself harder than perhaps he would be if not for that. But, that is the price he is willing to pay, in order to be here for the graduation and the birth of his first great grandchild!

The doctors, nurses and other caretakers at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona are incredible. Kind, compassionate, loving... just all around wonderful people. There's been only one nurse that has given him trouble (which was before his surgery) and she was promptly removed from taking care of him. Everyone else is awesome and while in the beginning I was upset and nervous that he was there and not at UCLA in California where they do far more heart transplants than anyone in the country (this was while he was still on the UNOS list for a heart) I don't feel that way anymore and have realized he was and is in the best place he needed to be, for what needed to be done.

A thank you card will be sent this week, to the staff on the fourth floor west wing of the Mayo Clinic. I firmly believe that they are as responsible for keeping him going and getting him through the hard times, as his own determination to get healthy has been. I would recommend this hospital to anyone.

Now, as I mentioned in an email to someone, I wish someone would beam me back to my life before all this, so I can get back to the things that are important... like cleaning my house, feeding my kids, blogging, reading blogs, Monday giveaways... heh and as I mentioned in that email... not necessarily in that order either! My life however, is forever changed, by the experiences that have come my way in the last few months and the growth I have felt within me is tremendous. For this, I am grateful...

Ok, now to finally put my new computer together. I've decided to keep it and use the old one for parts.
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Oh and real quick... I received a phone call from what I can only assume to have been a bill collector. I normally do not answer my phone if I don't recognize the number, but it was an Arizona number, so I answered it (sometimes, my sister or aunt don't charge their phone batteries and will call me from another number in AZ). The person asked for me and I asked, who's calling please. They said, what? I said, who is calling please, they repeated the what part and I said, WHO IS THIS, a bit louder than my usual raspy type of a whisper voice and they said...

"Wow, you have a bad attitude" and promptly hung up on me! Guess it wasn't all that important of a call! Now we know one of the reasons I don't answer the phone if I don't know the number!!