My Dad & His Journey to Health by Hannah Weiler (A-Shift Production)
“After” Ed & Hannah Weiler
“Before” Ed & his family
In January of 2014, my dad, Ed Weiler (A-shift Mix) did his routine stress tests. In that stress test the doctor saw something very small, but wasn’t too concerned and recommended that Ed have an Angiogram done to be on the safe side. So with that said, dad scheduled his first Angiogram. As the day got closer to his Angiogram, dad got more nervous about the procedure that was going to happen. Dad never had a sick day in his life, and the doctor said he was healthier than a horse. As a matter of fact, he had never been admitted to a hospital before! When the day arrived, my dad and mom went to Rockford. My dad isn’t a morning person by any means, and I’m positive that he probably didn’t get any sleep the night before. Mom assured me that dad would be ok and that it would be ok to go to work that day, and that she would keep me posted. By noon that day I hadn’t heard anything about dad, but figured that no news was good news. When I called mom after work she said that everything went ok but she wanted Gene and I to come to Rockford. When we got to the hospital mom met us at the door and said “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.” She said that dad needs to have a double bypass, but the doctor assured her that Ed was strong enough for the open heart surgery. As scary as those words were, I knew dad wasn’t taking all of this very well. When we made it to his room, the doctor was right behind us to tell us where the blockage was. He explained why they couldn’t use a stent to clear the blockage, and that Ed was a ticking time bomb and they needed to get this done as soon as possible. Mom and I both agreed that now would be better than later, but it was dad’s decision. Everyone was trying to help dad think positively while trying to help him relax and make the right decision. After Gene and I left the hospital, dad scheduled his surgery for January 30th. All of us pulled together and it was a very quick couple of days. Dad wanted to make sure everything was in line, but you could tell he was very nervous. As the 30th arrived, we were all at the hospital to show dad our support, and sat in the waiting room, which seemed like forever. The doctor came out and said that everything went ok, dad was doing fine, and that we could see him in about an hour. We waited two hours and then went in to see him. You could only imagine all the monitors, IV’s, and cords in the room. I started crying like a big baby seeing my dad like that. The nurse was telling us that he was doing excellent and that they were going to be removing the breathing tube soon. We all left the room trying to control ourselves. Mom told everyone that we wouldn’t go back into his room until he was more alert. Two hours later when we went back in dad was awake and talking. We all told him we were proud of him and then Andrea, Gene and I were getting ready to leave and go home, while mom was going to stay the night. The next day after work Gene and I headed back to the hospital. Dad was doing extremely well and had walked
8 Crest Ink April, May & June 2015
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