An update on Pop-Pop

Many of you have emailed me about what's going on with Pop-Pop, so I'm going to take a short break from recaps to give you all some good news.  :)

Pop-Pop went downhill very quickly.  We were all told to prepare for the worst because he could go at any time.  The doctors gave Grammy the choice of making him as comfortable as possible until he passed or to go ahead with surgery (which was almost sure to fail).  She chose to give it a shot.  

He had surgery on September 3rd.  They wanted to wait as long as possible, but if they didn't do surgery then, they didn't think he'd make it (he was originally supposed to have surgery 2 days before our wedding but they couldn't wait that long).  In fact, they didn't think his chances of surviving the surgery were good; they thought he would probably pass as soon as they put him under the anesthetic.  Well, Pop-Pop pulled through the surgery (over 5 hours!) and started recovery.

In the beginning, things were really touch and go.  He'd have decent days and terrible days.  A few weeks ago, they sent him home.  He had to be in a hospital bed and he had nurses coming frequently, but he was very happy to be home.  He still had a few bad days and had to go back to the ER a few times.  

However, he seems to be really getting better now.  He's an avid hunter and trapper and recently he's even been able to go out on the 4-wheeler to check traps.  He still gets worn out quickly, but the doctors never thought he'd make it this far.  They call him superman.  :)

Pop-Pop in June of 2010. 

Obviously, Grammy and Pop-Pop didn't make it to our wedding, but Pop-Pop did call from the hospital to talk to us right before our first dance.  He cried because he wasn't able to be there, but it meant the world to Philip and I that he was still around to even talk to us on our wedding day (even if it was from a hospital room!).  

He had a doctor appointment today and everything looks good.  He's still got a ways to go until he's completely back to normal, but they told him that it was a miracle that he's doing as well as he is (or that he's even still on this earth!).  

So, thank you all for your good thoughts and for caring enough to ask.  I would have much rather had him there at our wedding to celebrate with us, but the fact that he was still with us to celebrate in spirit (and by phone!) was more than we thought was going to be possible.