Grandma's Attic

SURGERY SUCCESS!!!

Dee was only in surgery for 3 hours, and things went really well. Dr. said his heart is great, just the valve was bad. Five days in the hospital, a few days at Elaine's in Boise, where we also celebrated Thanksgiving with the Rudds, the Brian Fullers, and the Hill family from Idaho Falls.

Here we have Dee showing Colton how the breathing instrument works, to keep the lungs clear. On the back of the couch is Sir. Koff-a-lot, his bear friend to hold to his chest when he coughed, to protect the incision. I was going to show you that, but Dee vetoed that one.

This of course was our first glimpse of Dee after the surgery, in the ICU So many machines !

and lots of tubes. The 'rule book' said 5 to 7 days in the hospital, and we got out on the 5th day. Hooray!!! He was more than ready to vacate that place. No sunshine and fresh air.

This is Karen's family, plus David and us. It was really nice that

they could come for a couple of days. Family cheers up

sick people.

Now we're home, safe and sound, and we have 4-6 weeks to slow down the pace of life and let the body heal. All in all, he's just done really really good, and with December here, we can just kick back and enjoy the winter.

Thanks to everyone for the prayers, that's why he got through the hard part so fast.

Most of all, thanks to the Rudds, especially Elaine who went above and beyond to make our stay comfortable, especially considering she and Curt both had colds.

The Doctor said it will probably add 15 years onto his life. Dee's not sure he wants to be 90!