Today was a major occasion in our lives ... Mike had to have open heart surgery to replace his aortic valve which has been worsening over the past several years.  He had put it off as long as possible but it had deteriorated to the point where, if allowed to continue untreated, it could have damaged his heart and left him in a weakened state for surgery.  So today was the day.  We had prayed to Bryan to watch over his dad during surgery and to give us signs that he was with us.  Well, did he ever come through!!!  I don't know why we were surprised -- especially since he has never let us down before -- but I was still completely blown away by what he did.  As we were in pre-op, the anesthesiologist, cardiologist, and OR nurse came in to go over the surgery and ask if we had any questions.  All normal, all expected, no surprises ... but there was!!!  The OR nurse came in dressed in her scrubs and cap and with a cheery smile introduced herself as Katie.  Cris and I were in the room with Mike and we looked at each other and then at Katie.  At the same time, Katie did a double-take and looked back at us and was like "Burches!!"   We all started laughing ... Katie actually grew up in the house RIGHT BEHIND ours and knew our family well when she was going to school.  In high school she and Bryan were very close.  But her family moved away and over the years we had lost touch ... the last time we had seen her was during Bryan's funeral.  We did not even know that she was a nurse!  And she told us that she would be with Mike in the OR the whole time for his surgery.  What BETTER way could Bryan have watched over his dad during surgery but to have his FRIEND literally right there being his eyes and hands ... I cannot tell you how much peace this gave me.  Of all the hospitals and all the surgeries and all the nurses in the Pittsburgh area, the OR nurse in Mike's surgery turns out to be one of Bryan's close friends from when he was alive.  Thanks Katie for being Beans' earthly angel to watch over Mike for us!

Immediately after surgery, Mike was taken to ICU to recover.  They called me to come in and see him and told me he was in Bed #17.  I just smiled ... of COURSE it would be #17 ... another sign from Bryan!  And all day the number 17 kept popping up ... when he was wheeled into surgery my phone rang and the time on it was 3:17.   I can't remember all of the other instances but there were several.  When he was moved up to his private room after leaving ICU, his room number there was 52, my birth year.  So numbers were just all having connections to our lives and we felt it was Bryan's way of letting us know he was with us. 

I went down to the gift shop to get some flowers and balloons to brighten up Mike's room.  There was an adorable little green teddy bear holding a balloon that caught my eye because the teddy bear was green (Bryan's color being St. Patrick's Day and all) so I went to pick it up hoping the balloon would be something appropriate.  Well, not only was it appropriate being a Get Well Soon balloon but it was covered in butterflies!!!!!!  Needless to say, I had to have it ;-) 

Follow-up on April 17 (of course, the 17th is when I ended up writing this entry!  lol)  ... Mike has been home now for 2 weeks and is recovering well.  It was the hardest thing he has ever gone through but at least it is over and hopefully he will be raring to go on the golf course come summer!  Of course, he's looking for a healthy handicap now as a recoving heart patient ;-)

August 30, 2012

When I walked out on my deck at 1:55 pm today, this beautiful blue butterfly literally smacked me in the face! I have never had a butterfly run into me but this one did. He then proceeded to fly around our yard for several minutes and then left.  About two hours later, he came back again and so I got a few more pictures of him.  Mike was not home but when he got home I told him about this and he was amazed.  We went down to the pool at about 5:30 and believe it or not, the butterfly came back again!  This time it circled me, then it went and circled Mike.  I got out of the pool to get my camera and thought I would miss it, but it continued to fly around Mike in the pool long enough for me to get a picture of it.  I honestly believe it was a visit from Bryan ... it was just wonderful having the same butterfly in our yard all afternoon.  Here are the pictures (you can click for enlargements):

            
All pictures taken between 1:55 pm and 5:35 pm.