I was looking forward to Monday morning, July 10. Megan had just come home from the hospital on Sunday with baby Kyle and I was planning to go down and be with her for a couple of hours while Jeremy & Jake ran some errands. I had barely settled in with them, when Steve called and said he wasn't feeling well and could I come home. Upon arriving home, I found Steve looking pale and in a cold sweat. He said he had tingling in his arms and mild discomfort in his chest. He also felt a little nauseated. Knowing these were the signs of a heart attack, I called 911.
The ambulance arrived fairly quickly and after doing an EKG and an initial assessment they determined it would be best for Steve to go to the hospital. We agreed. I rode in the ambulance and at the hospital Steve was quickly taken to the emergency room. After taking further tests and drawing much blood, the doctors informed us that Steve had indeed had a mild heart attack and they suggested he be admitted and they would perform a heart catherization and hopefully find the blockage(s) and open the artery with a stent or stents.
Late Monday afternoon Steve was settled into Room 6804. It was the beginning of a long and stressful week. Shawn took the time to write down his version of events and I think I will just share it here, rather than rewrite it.
On Monday, July 10 around 11:00 am Dad was taken to the hospital by ambulance after
experiencing chest pain and other heart attack like symptoms. The initial examination at the
hospital confirmed he did have a mild heart attack and his blood oxygen levels were low. The
doctors assumed that there was blockage in his arteries and scheduled a heart catheterization
procedure for Tuesday morning. We were told they would insert a camera through a vein in his
wrist and go in his heart and look around for the blockage. If they found the blockage, they
would then put a stent in and there was a good chance he could go home Wednesday with no
restrictions.
Tuesday was a very long frustrating day. Dad was not allowed to eat or drink
anything because any minute they would be coming to get him for the procedure. At the end of
the day, we were informed that the procedure had been pushed off until Wednesday morning
and Dad was finally given something to eat.
First thing Wednesday morning he was taken for the catheterization procedure. When it was
over the doctor informed us that Dad had two blockages and that due to the location of the one
blockage, putting a stent in was too risky and he was recommending double bypass open heart
surgery. This was not the news we were hoping for, but we accepted it and surgery was
scheduled for 8:00 am Thursday morning.
Wednesday afternoon the surgeon came in and told
us that surgery was being pushed back to Friday morning due to low levels of hemoglobin in his
blood. He said he was puzzled by the low levels but needed to get the levels back to normal
before surgery. This was a big disappointment. Around 5:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon Dad
had another heart episode with extreme chest pain that was way worse than the first time.
After a scary couple of minutes things settled down and by 9:00 pm Dad was resting
comfortably.
It turned out to be a terrible night for Dad. At 1:30 am he had another heart episode and after
that constant chest pain. The nurses did what they could to keep him comfortable, but it was
not working. Shortly after 7:00 am when the doctor was making her morning rounds, she saw
the condition Dad was in and his current heart activity and was upset that nothing was being
done. She said someone dropped the ball overnight and something should have been done. At
that point he would have been taken immediately into the OR for surgery but both heart
surgeons were currently operating and there was no operating room available. Dad was taken
to the catheter lab so they could go in and examine the blockage again. If the doctor thought
Dad could make it another 2-3 hours until an operating room opened, he would insert a balloon
pump in preparation for surgery. If he did not think he could make it, he would try to insert a
stent because at this point there was nothing to lose. When Dad left the room, we were told to
pack up his things. There was no way he would come back to this room. His next stop would be
the ICU so we knew the Doctor had very little confidence that he could place the stent.
After
the procedure, he came out to talk to us and said that Dad’s artery was 99% blocked and he
wasn’t confident he would make it another 2-3 hours for an operating room. He went ahead
and placed the stent. With a big smile on his face, he said “I nailed it.” He had his iPad in his
hand and showed us before and after pictures of Dads heart. He was so pleased. He had pulled
off the impossible and landed the stent in the perfect spot. Yes, you are amazing, but you had
some help. God is the perfect surgeon.
Dad was then taken back to his regular room, an outcome no one expected. He had a blockage
in 2 arteries. The complicated one was taken care of, and another catheterization procedure
was scheduled for Friday morning to place a stent in the other one. Dad rested comfortably the
rest of the day Thursday with no more chest pain. The second artery was fixed Friday morning,
and he came home Saturday.
This is truly a God story in how what seemed like an incompetent hospital was actually God
working a plan to fix Dad’s heart without open heart surgery.
1. If the hospital had done the first heart catheterization on Tuesday like we thought they
should have, Dad probably would have had surgery on Wednesday.
2. His surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning and pushed to Friday due to low
hemoglobin in his blood. It turned out somehow the hospital mixed up his blood sample
and there was never a problem with his hemoglobin.
3. Wednesday night Dad had chest pain all night but somehow got overlooked until the
first surgeries Thursday morning were already in progress. Had the right people realized
the situation 30 minutes earlier he probably would have been on the operating table
first thing Thursday morning.
4. I (Shawn) was planning to stay with Dad Wednesday night but since he was resting
comfortably, decided to go home. If I had been there, I probably would have questioned
why nothing was being done and maybe someone would have looked into it soon
enough to get him in the OR Thursday morning.
God is good all the time, all the time God is good. When things seem out of control, and
nothing is going like it should, it might just be God working out his perfect plan.
I have many people to thank for their prayers and support. The children were incredible. Everyone of them came with their families to the hospital to visit, even Megan with 5 day old Kyle. Shawn and Josh each transported me from the hospital the first two days. After that I drove in myself. Shawn found the perfect parking place for me. Jay came in every day that Steve had his heart catherizations and sat with me in the waiting room and kept the other children updated as to what was happening. Josh & Julissa & Cassidy came in for a meal and I showed them my expertise in navigating the hospital cafeteria (believe me, it took me quite a few days to master it). Megan did what she could through texts & phone calls. Our pastor visited Steve also as well as friends from our small group. Sometimes I just had to silence my phone because the texts were so constant and I couldn't handle it anymore! But we were so appreciative that everyone cared so much. It is wonderful to have family and friends supporting you when going through something like this.
Even though it was an exhausting week, we are so thankful that Steve did not need open heart surgery and that he is back home, feeling pretty good and able to resume normal activities. Shawn said it best...God is good...all the time.
