Family members reading this blog already know about this, but others may not. My dad had urgent heart surgery on Friday morning. He went in for an exam on Thursday morning but he ended up staying overnight so they could perform a single bypass and a valve replacement early the next morning. The surgery went very well apparently and he is now recovering in his own room at the hospital in Asheville. My mom says that the care he has received from all the staff at Mission Hospital has been simply amazing.

I spoke to him last night and he seems to be in amazing condition given how recent the major surgery was. He has been up and doing 3- or 4-times-a-day exercise walks; they expect he will be able to go home on Monday or Tuesday. The doctors say he will be weak and easily fatigued for a few weeks and not up to full strength for 6 months weeks, but at that point the hope is he will feel even better than before with a heart working at full capacity instead of partially blocked and with a leaking valve. We are all very relieved that things are going so well.

[I know he probably doesn't want a picture posted, but I'm going to put in a tiny one to show how good he is looking only 24 hours after surgery.]