My Dad had Open Heart Surgery

About 5 years ago we took a sabbatical in Florida for a few months. During that sabbatical, we decided to return to the United States after living in Brazil for 6 years.

When I was working through the decision to move back I had one thought that I couldn’t shake. I was worried that moving back to the States would make me “soft”. I didn’t want the convenience and ease of life in the US to make me complacent and stale.

I didn’t want all the strength and endurance I’d developed in Brazil to disappear moving back to the United States.

I reflected on that thought a few months ago and laughed out loud.

Once I did move back to the United States, Denver specifically, my fear of life being too easy disappeared. Real fast.

My life has been pretty much anything but “convenient” and easy in the last 5 years. I am not complaining. For the most part, I enjoy life to have some challenges, it makes me grow.

But recently the challenges have been almost too much to bear.

One of which has been my dad’s health.

Since November of last year my dad, one of the whistleblowers for the Mike Bickle / IHOPKC scandal, started complaining about how tired he was. We all assumed it was all the stress, which definitely played into it.

Over the next few months, he was feeling more and more tired. He stopped working out because he couldn’t keep up with the workouts anymore. He needed to take breaks from mowing the lawn because he was so tired.

In March we went to a friend’s wedding and we ran into a cardiologist. My dad mentioned that a few years prior he had been diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve (it means he was born with 2 flaps on his aortic valve instead of the normal 3). The cardiologist mentioned that he should come into the office to check it out.

That comment saved my dad’s life.

About a month later he went to see the cardiologist and it quickly became apparent that his heart issues which previously seemed like not a big deal were a very big deal. The doctor said he needed open heart surgery, and soon.

Without going into all the medical boring details, his heart had to work overtime to get the amount of oxygen needed for his body to function. And because his heart was working extra hard, one of his valves was stretching way beyond what is normal, which would eventually cause a life-threatening aneurism. He needed a heart valve replacement.

We were caught completely off guard by the news. We scrambled to get lots of tests done and for my dad to meet with the heart surgeon. Long story short, the surgeon said he needed the surgery in the next 3 weeks. Because of a scheduling problem, the surgery was scheduled for 6 weeks later.

While we waited for the surgery date, my dad’s health started to deteriorate fast. Every day he was getting more and more tired. His heart rate would rarely fall below 100 bpm. He was uncomfortable and would experience chest pain regularly.

It was torture to watch. Every day was a gamble.

More than once I was scared that my dad would die. And he couldn’t die because I needed him to walk me down the aisle one day. I still need my dad.

But we made it to the surgery date, somehow.

On August 13 at 9am my dad was wheeled into surgery. It felt like it was just in the nick of time. He was getting worse every day.

By 4pm my mom and I walked into his room in the ICU. I saw my dad on his hospital bed and barely recognized him. He was still intubated as he was coming out of anesthesia—something he later described as the worst feeling in his life.

He was beyond pale and looked like a corpse. It was hard to see him that way. But everyone said that the surgery went really well.

The surgeon said the valve they replaced was much worse than they thought. But we knew it was bad, we had seen him rapidly decline.

We are now on day 4 of recovery. He has recovered so quickly, he can walk by himself and is out of the ICU. We hope to go home tomorrow.

I wish I could say I had some profound encounter with God that has gotten me through this week or that I had my hour-long Bible study every day. But I don’t.

I got through this week because of the support of my family, friends, and church community. I got through this week because modern medicine, by the grace of God, has evolved enough that his heart condition is treatable. I got through this week because God is near and the Holy Spirit is present, even when I don’t get to my Bible study. He is present when I recite Psalm 23 in my heart as I try to go to sleep at night.

I am so thankful for everyone who has prayed for us and sent encouraging messages. It’s been quite the week but my dad is going to be okay. I’m excited to see him recover and get back to his old self.

I have definitely not gotten soft since returning to the United States, life has provided more than enough obstacles to keep me on my toes. But the Lord has been with me, so it will work out.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash