about 5 weeks until my wedding and my father needs open heart surgery!

We found out yesterday that my father has to have open heart surgery ASAP - as in, within the next week or two. It's a very long story, but suffice it to say it's a miracle we even found out about this. He is otherwise very healthy, eats rights, exercises daily.

You may remember me posting that he had to have a second surgery on his shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff. Well, they canceled that second surgery the day of because his blood pressure was through the roof and wouldn't come down. He was told to see his regular doc before rescheduling the surgery. He did and his blood pressure was fine. The doc referred him to a good cardiologist anyway, who did a full stress test, EKG, etc. All of those tests but one came back perfectly normal. They decided he should have an angiogram b/c in the event there was a slight blockage, they could put a stent in then.

So he went in yesterday to have the angiogram and possibly have a stent put in. After the procedure, the doctor told him that all 3 of his major arteries are seriously clogged, and he has 4 blockages total (ranging from 70% - 99%). The only solution is open heart surgery and they want him to have it within the next week or so.

He's devastated to say the least. This came as a total shock to him. Like I said, he's otherwise very healthy and has no symptoms. He was basically a heart attack waiting to happen. The doctor said his body is so healthy and fit that it found a way to compensate for the blockages itself all this time.

I'm terrified, of course, but so incredibly grateful that they caught this. Had they not, who knows what would have happened!! In fact, he's lucky he did not have complications or die during his first shoulder surgery, which was only a few short months ago!

We'll know more early next week about when the surgery is, etc. They told him that he's young and healthy for this surgery, so he'll be back to full activity after he's recovered (golf, power walking, etc.) As for the wedding (which is of course not even a consideration, but he's worried about it). He'll be there and be dancing they said. The recovery is 4-6 weeks... but by the time my wedding comes, he should be feeling pretty normal, maybe just a bit more tired than usual.

Please that everything goes just fine with this surgery.

My father just retired and this is a really, really crappy way for him to start his retirement. Plus, I won't lie, I'm really, really scared.

We could use all the spare you have.