Gymhawg’s BodyBlog

In 1992 my dad had a massive heart attack which was when I was in the first grade. My dad was dead for five mintes when one of the doctors told my mom that they lost him. At the same time another doctor gave my dad his third electric shock treatment and his heart came back to life. He also found out at this time that he had diabetes. He was given a second chance.

In 2007 my dad was scheduled to have his gallbladder removed. He went to the local ER and they "found" tons of stones. So they scheduled surgery for a couple days later. I got a call on the day of the surgery from a family member to tell me that I better jump on the next flight if I wanted to see my dad alive one more time.

During surgery the doctor "accidentally" cut his main artery and they tried to stop the bleeding by stitching his liver and colon. He was left to die while the doctors did nothing and told us nothing. My cousin who is a doctor had him flown out to Little Rock as soon as she found a willing doctor to take him as a patient.

His new doctor had to reconstruct his bial duct which was an operation that he never has preformed before. The new doctor also noticed that he had no stones in his gallbladder and he said his original diagnosis was probably just a stomach virus. My dad survived after 3 months in the ICU. His doctor also said that the operation is only temporary and he will need to have it redone in a few years or he will die. I honestly don’t think he can survive another operation.

I decided to stay with my dad for a few more months to take care of him while my mom went back to work. I learned alot and decided to go to college to become an Occupational Therapist.

Later on we discovered that his original doctor had his third eye operation only weeks before he operated on my father. You should really look into your surgeons history prior to having any simple surgery done. Gallbladder surgeries are done everyday and you are usually released after 1 or 2 days but in this case it almost cost my dad his life. He survived only by the grace of God. He will never be the same and all of his stomach organs will never fully recover.

One of the things that stuck in my mind was when his doctor told me and my mom that with him being overweight and being a heavy smoker that makes him a high risk for any operation. From my earliest memories I remember my dad sick. He has been sick all of my life. I don’t want to be like that for my kids.

I wish I could say that my dad learned his lesson but that is not the case. He is still smoking and I can’t do anything about. One good outcome is a couple months after he came home I took action and quit smoking for myself and decided to eat better and started working out. He knew what to do but he decided not to. I know what to do and I choose to do everything in my power to have the best body possible….one that is fit, in shape and healthy, one that will give me a long life with those that I care about.