Staccato Serenade

Life has slowed down enough for me to finally have the time to post. Dawn’s dad (Ray) had heart surgery at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville on Monday. The surgeon performed a triple bypass and repaired Ray’s mitral valve. He is doing remarkably well. The surgeon stapled the incision shut so he looks like he has a zipper holding together the two halves of his chest. He will probably come home one day next week. The Lord has been with all of us through this time and has answered our prayers.

We took Ray in a day early as he seemed to be going downhill fast sitting at home. He got a bit rattled when the nurses on the ward had not received any paperwork about his coming, but everything was eventually resolved. That first day his dinner (which he had to ask for) was cold and he started calling all the food swill. Now it’s an inside joke as even though the food is pretty good he still complains and good naturedly calls it swill unfit for human consumption.

I guess such major surgery while perhaps not quite yet routine is at least performed regularly. Amazing technology. The hospital we thought he would go turned down his insurance so the operation was performed at Memorial Hospital of which we had never heard despite having lived here for more than a decade. We need not have worried, the hospital is a good facility and the staff is amazing and thoroughly professional. When Ray was in surgery we were given regular real time updates as his surgery progressed. The first two days after the surgery he was on the Critical Care Unit where every patient has their own nurse. We were impressed. And even more impressive the hospital has free valet parking. 

Our trip to Virginia also went exceptionally well. I was able to spend some time with my older brother Robert after not having seen each other in about a decade.  There were some family issues that crept in but everyone kept their cool all the gatherings went well. In the next post I’ll explain these photos.