Update on Ma

Fellow infidels, it's been 2 weeks of hell. As I advised y'all, 2 weeks ago, Ma, while on a cruise, suffered congestive heart failure. The docs on Royal Carribean were amazing and saved her life and the next morning they took her by ambulance to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West, Florida. Hours later, they took her by chopper, seen above, to Baptist Hospital in Miami, Florida where's she's been since. Ma loved the 40 minute trip over the Florida Keys and the Everglades (she also got a kick of the firefighters too). Said the trip was a joy. But in the interim, we learned she needed surgery. It was delayed for week but now, finally, they had the open heart surgery this morning to fix her heart valve and to do a triple bypass. While she is now in ICU, this evening, they took out the breathing tube and she was sitting back in her bed and watching TV and it looks like she'll be in a room hopefully later tommorrow afternoon at the Cardiac Unit.

Frankly, the whole thing amazes me how technology has progressed in the last 20 years in the medical area. These surgeons are truly amazing at what they do. I've been on 3 1/2 hours sleep since last night and with a splitting headache, I'm finally sipping a vodka and will try to get some sleep to go visit ma tommorrow. Of course my mom the celebrity (she is the famous Cuban pianist - Olga Diaz) decided to give my cell number to half of Miami, Florida who are calling me around the clock for updated. Oy vay!

It truly is an uplifting thought to think that in the same century that man has created better and more efficient means of killing each other, they have also created better and more efficient ways of saving lives as well. It only goes to show that there is hope for us. Your prayers have helped so please keep them coming.

Ma has quite a sense of humor as you can tell from the above image. She was joking and singing this morning on her way to pre-op and obviously looking at the bright side of life. A wise thing for a son to remember.

So in closing, I leave you with these wise words from the great British Sage, Eric Idle:

Always look on the bright side of life...
If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten!
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing,
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle -- that's the thing!
And... always look on the bright side of life...