Quick Update on Great Grandpa

For those of you who were or are praying for my grandpa (my dad's dad) I wanted to update on what God has been doing in his life.

As a recap - he was gardening in the warm winter sun, driving his mower, and tinkering in his garage one day then in having his second triple bypass the next. He went in for a check of his heart because of chest pain and they needed to do another bypass. He hasn't been home since and that was mid-December. He had minor breathing trouble so they put him on a breathing tube and sedated him (buckets of Morphine) so he ended up on the breathing machine sedated for a number of weeks, maybe over a month. His 86 year old body grew weaker so when the family finally insisted the Morphine be reduced he was somewhat dependent on the breathing machine. They did a tracheostomy and continued to sedate him. In the process his heart has had some ups and downs and one week he decided to cease all measures. We went to see him, to say goodbye and my dad insisted they recheck all heart and breathing stats before making such a final decision. Ends up they hadn't checked his heart for months. Uggg. Upon hearing his heart was okay and the breathing issues were mental he was then ready to fight again. Within a week he was off the trach and breathing machine (with the help of a little Atavan (spelling?) - that stuff is great, Jordan was on it in the hospital too. He's since been moved to nursing/rehab facility and is doing oral motor exercises hoping to be off the feeding tube eating a hamburger and drinking an ice cold Coke soon. :)

Everyone is wondering if his muscles can regain enough strength for him to go home and if he'll be able to swallow enough to enjoy a Double Double but if it keeps going the way it has for him it shouldn't be a problem.

Personally I love going to see him. :) I love having time with him just to talk and encourage him and help him with his exercises. It's a long drive to Sylmar but well worth it. It's become a Sunday event now and this past weekend I took Shan and the kids with me. It was great and I would guess so good for him to have the kids there. Noah said that all Great Grandpa needed was a Band-Aid and he would be all better. Jordan just loved bouncing on the bed and pulling at the tape on his hand.

We really have so much to learn from older generations. As the younger ones we tend to think we know so much and that older family members couldn't possibly have anything to teach us that 's relevant or noteworthy. That couldn't be farther from the truth. My Grandpa still says that he doesn't think much about what happens after death so I'm praying that he will recognize God as his creator and Christ as his savior before his day comes to leave this world.

Pray for this please.