After my last two posts, I feel like I need to do a follow-up of sorts. A post-op re-cap, if you will. For the most part, Joe is recovering quite well from the strain his body has been through. He still really struggles with shortness of breath, exhaustion and a rapid heartbeat. I suspect we will have to make a few more adjustments to his medication and we have already implemented lifestyle changes that include less sodium and cocktails and more broccoli and halibut.
I consider myself an optimist. I really do. But I've spent a lot of time trying to find some reason my 40-year-old husband had a heart attack. Joe has always had good cholesterol. He's always had lower blood pressure. He's active, he's at a healthy weight... This just didn't make sense..
I split my time in the hospital between being angry and saying "Really, God?!?! REALLY?! His Heart?!?" and begging Him to heal Joe.
I have had a bit of time to process everything that happened and you know what? I've decided Joe's heart attack was a miracle. A good one.
If you really look at the sequence of events, I think you'll agree with me.
First of all, when this all happened, Joe had chest pain and thought he was coming down with pneumonia. He was out of town on business all day one Wednesday and ended up going to the Urgent Care after hours.
Had he been working from home that day, he probably would have gone to a clinic. He didn't have much of a fever so chances are, they probably would have given him a Z-Pak or something for a cold. I imagine they may have said to give that a try because there's a lot going around right now and also a lot of allergens floating about. And if he wasn't feeling better in a few days to come back for x-rays. That's how I imagine it may have gone down.
But he went to Urgent Care. And they did an EKG. And that was irregular. So they "strongly suggested" he get himself to the Emergency Room.
Once there, they took his blood and monitored him. His doctor happened to notice Joe has two tiny tattoos on his chest--Just dots. He got those 20 years ago when he was going through radiation. (They put them there so they knew where to, um, zap him.) The doctor recognized them and knew that chest radiation can be very hard on the heart.
It's because of this he ordered the angiogram for the next morning.
That morning, they discovered he had already had a heart attack and one of his main arteries was failing. By 90%. And there was also a large blood clot forming because of this.
They got the clot out, put a large stent in and also discovered two other potential problem areas we are going to continue to keep an eye on.
Obviously, this rocked our world.
And I am certain there are going to be times when I am still going to feel like this whole situation has been really unfair.
But right now, I believe very strongly that God wants Joe here with us for a long time. He has big plans for him. And He saw the problems in his heart and made us aware of them before something even worse happened. He didn't have a major, drop-to-his-knees heart attack. He had a minor one. Alternately, he could have lived a long time with his heart the way it was. He would have been a ticking time bomb, though. That clot could have been big trouble and we wouldn't have even known it was there.
God got Joe's attention.
Call it ideal, call it optimistic, call it child-like faith. It's perspective and it's getting us through these tough times.
And that, sweet friends and family, is what I am going to concentrate on. Well that and finding heart-healthy recipes the kids will eat.
Wish me luck!
