Praise the Lord!

Daddy came through surgery well. It lasted 5 hours and he was moved directly from the OR to ICU. We were able to go back and visit after he was settled in. He is doing great. He did say he had a lot of pain in his stomach but he also has a very large incision there with a pressure bandage on it. They did take him off the vent before taking him to ICU and his surgeon said he had absolutely no problems with his heart or his breathing during the surgery. She also said that she was glad the stent placement didn't work because the blockage was worse than they thought. However the repair on the main blockage should take care of anything and the chance of more surgery is very slim. He should hopefully have no more pain in his legs once he is totally healed, which will take a long time. After surgery, he had strong pulses in both feet and the groin so all in all, we feel it was a complete success. He even had his sense of humor when he would wake for a few minutes at a time...when he comes completely out of it, I feel for his ICU nurse. I did not meet the night nurse, but he has an excellent day nurse and she should be his nurse tomorrow. One of his good friends is also a nurse in the ICU and I know he will keep check on daddy tomorrow as well. I just talked to his nurse and everything is fine and he will move from ICU to a regular room whenever a bed becomes available today and remain in the hospital probably 5-6 more days. His 3 sisters will be coming later this week.

Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers in this "saga". And continue to give him strength and healing as this will be a long recuperation...and me strength and patience in my temporary role as caretaker. Basically, prayers for him and our family.