When I was younger he was my superman, batman and aquaman all rolled up into one person. Yes I said aquaman. Really, I loved aquaman. Ok, its more like I loved my father and he was able to hold his breathe for what seemed to be an hour, so I loved aquaman. I used to hold onto his shoulders and he would dive underwater and swim back and forth across the pool. I could barely make it 1 time across before I had to let go of him. He would continue on for what always seemed to be 5 or 6 more laps. When I became a teenager I tried to replicate the feat, no luck, and I can hold my breathe longer than anyone I know, except Aquaman (my father). To go to visit him in the hospital is one of the hardest things for me to do. He has had three extended stays in the hospital since 1996. First was the hardest. Quadruple bypass surgery. He was fortunate, 2 of his brothers have already had heart attacks and my grandfather passed away from a massive heartache in his late 40s, when my father was a teenager. Catching it early was a blessing, but it was still hard for me to handle. My real life super hero, the man everyone in his life could trust, rely on and lean on when they needed support was now going into surgery to have his heart stopped, repaired and then hopefully restarted. To a person, if you have ever asked anybody that has any kind of relationship (work, relative, or stranger in need) with my father, they will say he is the most thoughtful, kind, reliable, and selfless person they have ever met. Honestly this isnt just a son trying to make a father look good in the eyes of readers who will probably never met him. He is who I strive to be in life. I am no where near what he was at my age and I can only hope I am half the person he is at the age 56, when my life is over. The night before his surgery I spent the night in the arms of my then girlfriend, sobbing uncontrollably. Thinking of all the things I did with him growing up; playing catch, going to Tigers games, teaching me to drive, teaching me to skate, the list could go on an on, the normal father son things. Thinking of the things I have yet to do with him; have him see me get married, watching him pick up my child for the first time, go golfing with him when hes retired and bored out of his mind, all the things adult children do with their parents. Thinking of all the things I have never told him; how much I respect him, how much he means to me, and the one thing I have never told him, I love you. Yes, what kind of son am I? I have never told my father that I loved him, at least not since I was about 13. I was now in my 20s. I said the words that next day, I am not sure if he even heard them. It was as he was being taken to surgery and already half drugged. He came out of surgery fine, everything went perfectly. Hes now going to be in the ICU for a day or two. When we visit him in the ICU that day he is still knocked out, they tell us he will be in and out most of the day and probably not too coherent. Walking into that room was next to impossible; I could see him through the window with all the tubes and machines connected to him. I held his hand but I am not sure if he even felt that. The first 24 hrs after the surgery are the most important. So leaving that night was terrible. The nurses are telling us we have to leave, my mom can stay if she wants, but the boys have to go. I broke down right there and the nurse had to hug me to settle me down. Eventually I left and was able to clear my mind and drive home. The toughest 24 hour period of my life. My father recovered from the surgery fairly quickly, you can not hold a good man down. Especially him, he cant sit still for long anyways. My mom was very upset at me around this time, I was living in an apartment about 20 minutes away, but wasnt visiting and helping as much as she would like. She called me selfish about a million times, because you dont want to help out around here. I was selfish, but it is not because I did not want to help, its because I did want to see my dad in that condition, it was too hard. I never said I love you to him after the surgery or told him all the things I wanted to, I am not sure why. Things pretty much went back to normal, he was healthy again and life resumed. The 2nd extended stay occurred early this year. As it happened, it was scarier than the surgery because I thought he was dying. Not only that I thought he was going to die alone. After work one day I was looking at new cars. After looking at the Dodge Ram, I called him to ask if he could get me a family discount from his friend. Speaking to him on the phone was weird, like he was just waking up and out of it. He told me he didnt know anyone that worked at Chrysler and he asked me the date two times during the conversation. I asked him if he was ok, his reply was I know I am at home, but I dont know anything else. I feel weird. Ok, now I am freaking out on the inside, calm and cool on the outside. I end up explaining to him that I am going to call back, do not, whatever you do put that phone down, I am calling back in 1 minute. Now I am about 30 minutes away from his house, about 15 miles and it was during rush hour. No way can I get there fast enough to help him go to hospital or anything, so we need to call 911. My entire family is all about the same distance away except my wife. She is just leaving work and is the closest to him. I call her and send her to my parents house, she asked if I was ok, I replied no but that doesnt matter right now just get there. I call my brother and tell him to call my mother and for help. My brother and mom are not calm and cool, it was actually perfect that I called my dad and found out he was not doing so good. They both would have freaked out on the phone and who knows what would have happened. So I call my father back and he answers. Thank god. I tell him we are all on our way and I want him to stay on the phone with me. If he anything happens, he wont be technically alone. 911 actually calls and he picks up the other line to talk to them. The ambulance is on the way, which of course he doesnt want. My mom calls him and I let him go so she can stay on the phone with him. I am flying through rush hour traffic trying to get home, I made it there faster than I ever thought possible. My wife arrived 10 minutes early and my mom, who was already on her way home, was there right before me. They live in a small but booming area, which still has a lot of volunteer firefighters. Every single one of them was at the house. I think 10 people total with 2 ambulancesnow thats service. They want to take him to the hospital, but he really doesnt want to go. Eventually they convince him and he is taken away in the ambulance. I followed to the hospital and everything turned out to be ok. He has high blood pressure and forgot to take his pills, the high blood pressure caused a temporary confusion state and he was released two days later. They kept him in that long to run all kinds of tests. Presently my father is in the hospital for a voluntary but necessary procedure. He had his knee replaced. Years of hockey will tear up a knee. So he was operated on Monday, I worked late so I didnt get a chance to go see him. I went up there yesterday and yes its still frickin hard as hell to go there, even knowing that its just pain he is in and not life threatening. He will be in there a couple more days, but I dont think I can go up there again. I am I being selfish? He says that he doesnt want us there. So I justify it. I know I am wrong though. Seeing your superhero in the hospital is a hard thing to see. Telling that superhero how much he means to you and that you love him is even harder.

Source: Dnasty13's Poker Blog