Tuesday, December 11, 2012

You know sometimes the Lord takes us on a journey that we never thought we would travel. For the last month Sweetman and I have traveled to places many never want to visit

One afternoon we found ourselves in the emergency room with several wires, and tubes connected to my Sweetman monitoring every level of body function that you can imagine.
Just a few hours earlier in the day he had an unusual tingling feeling that ran down his left arm and what he described as an elephant sitting on his chest. So off we went to the hospital.
It didn't take them long to determine that he needed more attention than what our small hospital could give him so arrangement's for a transfer to a different hospital was made and off he went.
I have never had such a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as when I watched them load this vibrant energetic man into an ambulance, close the doors and leave me standing alone in the night air, as they drove him off to another hospital.
Yes I followed them the few miles to a bigger better equipped hospital. And after more tests, lab work, monitors, x-rays, and doctors we learned Sweetman needed a quadruple bypass. He had four blockages in his heart that would eventually cause a severe heart attack and possibly death.
Who would have thought this man was a walking time bomb?? We had no previous clues that he had a heart problem.
Oh, there may have been some signs that we could explain away, like feeling really tired, especially after a long day doing what he loves to do, selling stuff at the flea market. Or a slight little cough, that could be explained away as sinus post nasal drip that he has had for many years. But he has always worked circles around other men his age, never had high blood pressure, never had high cholesterol, diabetes or any other reason to make us think he had heart issues.
So the doctors gave us an option he could stay in the hospital and have the surgery the day before Thanksgiving or wait until after the holidays. But surgery was facing us no matter which way we looked at it. God gave us a wake up call with no heart damage at this point but something that could happen at any time. We choose surgery as soon as possible.
His bypass took from 7:30 am to 3:30pm, with a two and half day stay in the ICU, then several more days in the cardiac care unit with a total of 13 days in the hospital.
He's been home now for two weeks and is gaining strength daily, of course its not fast enough for him but this road of recovery will be a long one. They tell us six months to a year for full recovery. We have a our first doctors visit post Op on Thursday, his first cardiac therapy session and probably more tests. Were praying and hoping for good reports. Were also thankful for other miracles that happened during this whole process. We became great grandparents to a beautiful little girl and great aunt and uncle to two lovely twins. All doing very well. 
The picture above is the first time great grandpa had the chance to meet his new great grand daughter, Eilir. So precious, and we are so thank ful to God for His loving arms to have sustained us though all of this.

7 comments:

Cathy said...

Bless your hearts, Dear. I am praying for strength and recovery with good reports. Love and Hugs

Mari said...

It was a shock. He has lots of people who love him and were praying.
Thanking God that he's home and recuperating.
Love the picture!

Shelly said...

Love the two of you! I am so happy that things turned out great! Also, I love how you tell a story. It sure puts us right there with ya.
Love you!

Connie said...

So glad things are working out. God is so good. Tell your husband to follow doctors instructions closely and get better soon.

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