He will always be my daddy...and my hero.

I've blogged before about my family and how much they all mean to me. I have been VERY blessed with awesome parents who raised me well...if I do say so myself. I think I turned out ok. Recently my family had to band together again and help dad through this last crisis. As he has said to several people, he donated the toes on his left foot to diabetes. His surgery went well and he is home again, only spending 2 days in the hospital. We knew this was coming for a while, and we prepared ourselves. Dad was ok with the surgery if it meant the ucleurs (sp?) stopped. He has spent every day of the last 8 months cleaning, changing and dressing this one wound. The surgeon said taking the toes will eliminate this...hopefully for good. I like his surgeon, nice guy. He answered all my questions on a level I can understand him, I mean come on, I don't speak Dr. I'm ok with him "dumbing" it down for me if it means I know exactly what will happen to dad. I went by Thursday after work to visit with daddy and bring him some food. The surgeon came by why I was there to change his dressing. Knowing the toes were gone and how much they had planned to take and actually SEEING it are 2 totally different things...and I was not as prepared as I thought I was. I know this surgery had to happen, and I want my daddy around for a while...but it breaks my heart he has to go through this. I started to tear up and had to look away. My dad is my hero. As a little girl he was invincible to me. And as an adult he still is. He is the strongest person I know. He is always there when I ned advice, help, guidance. He never judges, he just loves. He is honest and true. What you see is what you get. He is NOT letting diabetes take control of him. Yes, they battle it out, but my dad will ALWAYS win. I am his biggest fan. I will be there for him NO matter what...no matter what time...no matter what I'm doing. Thank you to all of you who have prayed, checked in on us and everyone that cares. Keep it all coming as his recovery will take some time. But he is a fighter and he has a lot of fight left in him! I love you daddy!

UPDATE 11/24/10: We had to call 911 and have dad rushed to the ER on Monday night. Long story short some of his staples popped off and he was bleeding from his incision. EMS rushed him to the closest hosptial but the doctors there would not close it back up...they said he has to see HIS surgeon. They bandaged him back up & sent him home. I took him to see his surgeon first thing on Tuesday. His foot was not bleeding when we left the house, but when we got back to the room & the Dr came in, it was bleeding...and bleeding A LOT. The surgeon located where it was bleeding from and it was a small artery inside his foot. He sewed it shut and we are hoping that will be the end of that. The surgeon is going to make a house call on Friday to my parent's house to check dad's foot again and I am hoping he will close it back up. So the assumption is that this artery was bleeding INSIDE his foot, filling it with blood and that is what made the staples pop off like they did. Now I saw dad's foot post surgery in the hospital when the Dr changed the bandages, but seeing it yesterday...I really wish I'd have left the room. It is to date the hardest thing for me and I can't even imagine how he feels about it. He is stubborn & hard headed and as a family we will get through this and he will heal, it will just take a little longer now.