Was it the prayers or the swears?

How to summarize the last two and a half weeks.....

It sucked.  And then it got better.

After the surgery my dad was in the ICU for 3 days, hooked up to bunch of machines, he had 4 or 5 IV needles in his arm, giving him blood, drugs and whatever they give you when you're not eating.   My mom and I would stay in the room during the day and have a mini heart attack whenever the machines would start beeping.  It was pretty scary, my dad was really weak and in so much pain after the surgery.  But by the 3rd day, he was eating regular food (well hospital food) and able to sit up, and moved to the regular ward.  And from there he could slowly get out of bed and sit up in a chair on his own (doesn't sound like much but it was a big deal).  When he could get up and walk a little on his own, we were able to go home and it was exactly a week from his surgery.

Now he is at home and a nurse comes by twice a week.  He still has to take painkillers but he is mobile and getting better, and getting adjusted to the new him.

Things I've learned in the past couple of weeks:

• hospitals smell
• I think they put bleach in the hand soap
• some nurses are super nice and some nurses are super mean, most fall in the middle where they kind of don't give a shit
• living with no internet at my parents house is like living in the land before time
• after almost a week with no television or outside news, I turned on the TV and the first thing I found out was that Oprah has a half sister
• doctors do have crazy bad handwriting--at our last appointment with my dad's doctor he handed me a piece of paper with some scribble scrabble on it:
• DR:  Give this note to the nurse the next time she comes to see your dad
• Me:  Sure, what should I tell her it says?

Thank you again to everyone.  I don't know if it was the prayers or the swears but it looks like we are on the road to being cancer survivors.

Take that Cancer.