Took A Licking and Kept on Ticking!

This post is dedicated to my brother in law who is currently in the ICU at Piedmont hospital, recovering from open heart surgery. He was diagnosed yesterday afternoon at 2 PM with a massive tumor in his left ventricle. He was wheeled into the operating room today before noon...by 4 PM he was in the recovery room. We got to go back and see him after about an hour. The tumor was over HALF the size of his entire heart. We saw pictures of the tumor, and it totally amazed me that he had survived this long. He began to feel bad in December, just short of breath and feeling tired. By January he was no better... in fact much worse. Trips to several different doctors told us a few things. He had a bleeding ulcer, which accounted for the anemia. After transfusions, he rebounded slightly, only to be knocked down again by the tiredness and shortness of breath. A trip to yet another doctor yesterday included an echo cardiogram. It showed a tumor, and he was immediately admitted to the hospital. After 4 hours of surgery, the nurse came out to say all had gone well. We went back to see him, and pictures of the tumor they had removed. It covered the entire left chamber of his heart. It was the size of a "hacky sack" those little bean bag type balls you kick around. The doctors in the ICU were all looking at the tumor, the films, and commenting on how large in size the tumor was. It was a benign tumor, one of the doctors said he may have had it since birth. But in the last six months it had grown to swallow up half of his heart. His prognosis is good... other than having a 12 inch incision made down his chest, his ribs split apart, put on a bypass machine, tumor removed, heart repaired, sewn up again and put on a ventilator... he HAS SURVIVED!! He had grown so weary of being sick, not feeling well at all and on top of that, not knowing why ; that it had also taken quite an emotional toll on him as well. The doctor said that once the intubation tube was taken out, his first words would most likely be how much better he felt already. No other blockages, the tumor was benign.. we are just praying for a quick recovery and rebound. God bless Harvey, and God bless us for him still being a part of our lives. It was an extremely stressful day, but more so for Harve... we are glad to have him back, pray for his successful recovery, and thank all of you that have thought of, and prayed for us.. and to have had all of the prayers come to fruition. We are all still in the "waiting" mode, but feel a huge sigh of relief that this section of his journey to recovery is over, and all that is left is a good healing process, and more good luck in the coming days. He took a HUGE licking... but "BY GOD" he has kept on ticking. Thank you Jesus, and Thank you doctors!! We had a great support team of my sister's two great friends , and me as comedic relief. You know that if ANYBODY could get us through this, it would be three bossy, headstrong, women... who supported, helped and carried all four of us through this traumatic day, made it bearable, and probably kept us all sane. Ole Harve owes us one; but we are just thrilled that he is here still, to remind him of how lucky he is, not only to have his life back, but his wife back, his sons back.. and the three musketeers that spent a day in hell; just to be able to call it all HEAVEN at the end of the day. It was truly "GOOD FRIDAY."...and one that I will never forget.... The tomb was rolled back early, and as I saw the full moon rise on the way home, I knew that there was surely a GOD, and that he had not only listened to, but mightily answered our prayers, that we had so feverishly asked for in the Good Friday service in the chapel of the hospital. It is turning out to be the BEST Friday that I can remember in a long while... let's hope for an even better Saturday!!