Neo

We joked before dad went into surgery that his new nickname would be "Neo" like the character in the Matrix, more accurately, for the new "neo bladder". Upon entering the hospital room on Friday, I felt like perhaps we had stumbled into a scene of the Matrix; dad had so many tubes and gadgets hooked up and, in conjunction with the pain meds, I wouldn't have been surprised if he was partially in cyber space fighting Machines.
Despite the pain and exhaustion, his sense of humor remained in tact. He was pretty tired though, so we came and went in small doses.
Saturday I got caught in St. Patty's Day parade traffic on my way to the hospital. I was surprised when I got there to see dad sitting in the well padded chair. Some of the tubes had been removed and he was much more alert (although the tube in his nose was still source of much aggravation). He immediately had me take out his lap top and post a blog. I was there for about 40 minutes, and he remained sitting for the entire time which is excellent because, apparently, the more one gets up and moves after surgery, the quicker the recovery and less pain (seems a bit counter intuitive to me but it seems to be working for him).
I had just enough time to jet home and make it the fire station's annual crab feed! We did a good job stuffing our selves as usual, although I felt sorry for Kehlen who was volunteering and could only watch us and empty our shell buckets (not too sorry though because she got to take the extra crab home).
I was surprised to see snow this morning; finally, remembering that it is supposed to be spring, the weather has now turned to slushy rain. Dad called and, despite the nasal pitch from the tube, he sounded well rested and much better. He has been moved from the ICU to a room on the 17th floor, with a view of Lake Union! Sorry, I'm still not positive which room number it is. He said he had a bit of a rough night as the pain meds ceased for a period, but is doing well today. He even went for a walk up and down the hall twice! I believe the combination of every one's thoughts and prayers with his desire to get the heck out of there a.s.a.p., he's on his way to a speedy recovery!