The Surgery-Dad's condition, before and after

On Monday, 26 October 2009 at 9pm, Manolo Aquino went under the knife to take out a blood clot in his brain. This was also to prevent a herniation of the clot, which could have damaged the brain stem. Through prayers, and the talented team of surgeons that attended to him, we got the call at about 1130 pm from Dr Santiago declaring that his surgery was successful, and it went smoothly AND quickly. (Imagine the collective sighs of relief from me, my brother, my cousin, my grandmother, and my aunts!)

My brother Adrian was the first person to attend to my dad after the surgery. I followed right after. I was surprised to find Dad awake, and more alert. Apparently, he hadn't slept!

Papa has been lucid, responsive and communicative the whole time after the attack. However, post-surgery, we have already noticed a number of significant improvements. Pre-surgery, his requests were mostly for random cravings, including coke, juice, fish and rice, etc. He mostly complained about his aches and pains.

Now, Papa has been enumerating his maintenance medicines, down to the last detail. He has inquired about his blood sugar and insulin. He has asked what day it was, which hospital he is at, what time it was, etc. He has asked to draw the curtains around his bedside back. I won't be surprised if he asks me to wipe the smears and fingerprints on the glass door.

Makulit ang tatay ko, as always. But this I know for sure--we are SO HAPPY that he is so wonderfully kulit right now. :-)