08/01/2026
A message from Janet Dahl - 8/1/2026 - Steve Dahl premium member's message board:
I must say that the picture Matt posted was us saying goodbye as Steve was preparing to head to surgery. His appearance at 5 PM was far less festive. True to form and prostate stress, he of course had to ger in ONE MORE P*E after they had him all ready. The anesthesiologist told us more in 5 minutes about all the harrowing “what if’s” than we had heard or imagined: stroke, hemorrhage, organ damage, heart failure, afib, coagulation problems, and a few others. Then Steve signed his life into the hands of a man that said his first job was to make Steve feel drunk. YIKES. The comfort was that he said he had never lost a patient in 20 years. Lie or truth, we lapped it up.
I could give a blow by blow of the day, but I am too tired. I will leave tidbits in the days to come. What I will say is that Steve was funny and sincere, brave and solid as we headed to Winfield in the dark. He had a very bad Thursday with technical problems, too many pre-op details, my headboard adventure, a haircut, and last minute conversations with Ed, Brendan, Dag and his primary care physician. His pre-op prep took him to 1:30, and it made him too itchy to sleep. He could not eat or drink, so apples and frozen fruit were a hard no. So he took a 2 hour nap and headed for his date with destiny at 4 AM. Matt drove us and Pat and Mike met us at Central DuPage/NW. He surrendered his glasses, clothes, wallet and phone and off he went.
The picture Matt posted was taken at 7:30. That was our last look. And then we waited. Together. Holding each other up. We got text messages all day, and finally, he was in the ICU for post op. They said we could talk to the surgeon and then see him in 2 hours. He would be intubated and adrift. But we could put eyes on him.
BUT. They were able to pull the intubation tube at 4:45. Hours earlier than they expected. YAY, Boomer. He was pink and breathing on his own, clearly in pain and discomfort, but not moaning. He opened his eyes and tried to smile and reassure us. Matt is the veteran at health crises, so we went in first so he could grab me if I became wimpy Janet and fainted. . Then Mike, the boy who had panic attacks on vaccine day, came back to cheeer his Pops, congratulating his Dad in the boistrous way he coaches his kids. Pat is a wobbler like me, so he came in last and would have been glad to skip the ICU- but he was brave. I include this snap as a frozen moment of what a man looks like after 6 hours of deconstruction and revision and how his wife and eldest son were able to exhale.
