A Story of God’s Faithfulness Part II
(written back in early 2005)
During December of 2004, I began to feel a fullness in my chest while exercising on the treadmill each morning at my parents. My habit when I was home was to get up at 5:30 AM, have quiet time and then drive up to Cresthaven where my parents lived to exercise for 20 minutes on the treadmill, eat breakfast with them and check in, return home to shower and get ready for the day.
In December I began to notice that about 10 minutes into my routine, my chest would feel full. No real pain, no shortness of breath, but it was different. I continued to do my normal routine and would just shorten the time when it became obvious I was at the edge. The week following Christmas, I mentioned it to Nancy after scooping snow one morning. Of course, I didn’t want to mess up the holidays, so I pretended that there was nothing wrong until after Christmas. I had my doubts that a problem existed, but being of the male gender, it took me some weeks to admit it. More than once I have thought about the fact that I could have easily died shoveling snow one of those mornings in December. Thank goodness that did not happen.
Once Nancy heard my symptoms, it was off to the doctor. My appointment was right after the New Year, and my family physician did a couple EKG’s on me to see if there was a problem, along with blood work. Nothing really showed up, but he decided to refer me to a cardiologist. Dr Arouni from Creighton who came to the outpatient clinic at Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan, examined me and she put me on a treadmill for a stress test January 7, 2005. About 7 minutes into the test, she told me to get off and lie down. There was an issue showing up that would require further testing and work. Her diagnosis was a clogged artery that would require a stint or balloon. I negotiated admission to Creighton Medical Center on Monday January 10, as I had planned a full weekend ahead.
We had to get down there early to be ready for the cath lab surgery. I was scheduled to be in surgery that morning, and Brian M and Pastor Gundar were there to sit with Nancy and see me before I went in. I got prepped about 8 and was back in my room fairly quickly. The surgeon had gone in and pulled back out without making any repairs. There were multiple blockages in all the major arteries, and the cath surgery was not able to fix things. Blockages were 80% in one and 90% in the other three, and the stream of doctors began to come in and discuss the next option – bypass surgery.
The remainder of Monday and Tuesday I was feeling pretty good and had freedom to move around as I wanted. They did keep me in the hospital in case something happened, but in general, I was bored and felt too good to be there. After all the options were presented, the only real option was to go for the bypass surgery. The exact number was not known until they got in there, but it would be multiples. That surgery was fit in Wednesday first thing, which told me it was pretty serious because originally they said his schedule was full for weeks into the future.
Dr. Sujimoto was to be the surgeon and had been doing this for 18 years so I was in good hands. He had been the surgeon for Dave B, Tom S, Pastor Jim and many others who had been the recipients of a bypass in the past, so I knew I was in good hands. I really was not anxious about it at all. God gave me a peace and I felt completely in His hands. I can’t remember any fear before the surgery at all. Tuesday evening Mike and Deb M came by with a little FROG for me to have – that represented ‘Fully Rely on God’. I kept him in front of my room all the time I was there to remind me that God is the only way to deal with life.
The lights went out on me in the surgery prep area around 8:30 AM on January 12, 2005 and I remember very little until the next day. I do remember a glimpse of Nancy and the kids that evening, as well as Randy L who popped in to see me. I don’t remember being awake more than two or three minutes that entire 24 hours. Nancy tells me they woke me up very slowly, and the tube came out of my throat before I was awake, which is a good thing.
They had done a quadruple bypass on my heart, and it took longer than expected. I do remember waking the next morning to a lot of hoses and wires hanging out of me. Thursday morning, the day after surgery, was a very unpleasant time. Brian M came by to see me fairly early, and will tell you I had a poor and grouchy attitude. I was not at all happy with my inability to move around. I had two lines in my neck, two tubes in my stomach, a pacemaker in my chest, the normal 8-line heart monitoring stuff and a catheter as well as an automatic blood pressure cuff on my other arm and an oxygen monitor on my finger. There were wires everywhere.
My back was killing me – felt like I had been tied up in a knot. All the wires were tangled, and I could hardly move. I had a long talk with God about Paul’s words in scripture – “to live is Christ, to die is gain”. I actually felt that dying might not be a bad plan and wasn’t sure that this decision was the right one. I was really in the dumps from an attitude perspective. So Brian saw the real frustration that morning.
Pastor Jim stopped in as well, and having been exactly where I was, encouraged me that it would get better soon. He was like an angel that was sent to help me get through the difficult first day. Peter and Laurie had come home to be there and came in with Nancy that morning. My day was off and on dozing and complaining I am sure. I was agitated much of the day, and that evening I was on a personal pity train when Dave and Nancy B stopped in. Dave also had been where I was, and he too encouraged me that it would get better. Another angel to help me see there was hope.
Peter began to work on my shoulders to help with the pain I was experiencing in my back. He did deep and intense massages which really made a huge difference for me, especially after a couple days of his hard work. Laurie jumped in and did some as well. I was being medicated for pain with Tylenol 3 with Codeine, which I forgot keeps me awake, and took it until about 2 AM when it finally hit me why I couldn’t sleep. They changed pain medication at that time, and my life and attitude began to get better. They gave me an IV of Benadryl about 4 AM to try and help me sleep, and that was some very wonderful relief. I did doze off for a couple hours, which helped my attitude some.
Pastor Jim came again early on Friday to encourage me, but the most encouragement was the discussion with the doctors that I would probably get moved from ICU late that day, and some of the items would begin to come out. By Friday night the tubes were removed from my stomach, the pacemaker removed and I was being hauled down to the step down unit in a wheel chair. My attitude was fast improving. The nurses there were able to get me warm and damp towels to put on my aching back, which really helped along with the kids continuing massages. The knots were finally beginning to unwind.
I slept well on Friday night, which was a real blessing. Saturday morning the doctors came in and we decided (I pushed them a little) to remove the lines from my neck. That happened mid morning and I was beginning to sense freedom. I was down to an IV line, catheter and blood pressure cuff. By mid afternoon I convinced the nurse to remove the catheter, and I could actually get up and move to the bathroom. I never thought going to the bathroom would be such a joy.
I had been sitting up on the side of the bed and in the chair even from the first day after surgery, but now I had the ability to actually move around and experience some freedom. Of course, with that came the walks down the hall a few times a day to begin some rehab. Lots of visitors Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. I was beginning to feel a lot better about life. Nancy and the kids were still around, and I was beginning to eat and think about going home. Monday about noon they let me out, and Nancy took me home to begin my new lifestyle and the rehab process.
God had stood by me faithfully all the way through the ordeal. He caused me to notice, amazing as that may seem, that something was different and wrong in my chest. He caused me to actually admit it to Nancy and then allow her to put the wheels in motion to get me checked out. He protected me when I was doing stupid things like shoveling snow and pushing myself the weekend before surgery. He led the doctors to find the issues and realize they could not fix it with stints.
He freed up the surgeon to do surgery, was with me the entire time, and battled my attitude while I was struggling to keep focused on living. He allowed the kids to come home and be with Nancy and me, for many friends to come see me and encourage me and provided great caretakers in the hospital. He let me come home 5 days after surgery and begin the rehab process which went very smoothly. God had a plan and took care of me all through it. I didn’t know what it was, but as Mike and Deb encouraged me before the surgery – I just had to fully rely on God – He knew what would happen and was with me all the way.
God has blessed me with a wonderful caretaker in Nancy, and two great kids who were very important to helping keep my attitude on track. So many blessings in the midst of what seemed like a big problem. Had it not happened; I would probably have missed many of these blessings. So I thank God for giving me time to slow down and appreciate all the blessings He has bestowed upon me.
God is good – and while His method would not have been my first choice – His result has been a great blessing. I have learned the importance again of marriage, family and friends. Life is about relationships, and I had allowed business and activity to push those things aside. I thank God He is helping me find the real important things again.
Thank you for posting this to all your peers who, as Type A, may try to ignore similar symptoms.