Reflections of 2008

Happy New Year! What a wild ride the past few days have been! Mama had chest pains last Saturday, and we went to the ER. Because she was having no more symptoms and her yearly physical was scheduled for Monday, the ER doc sent her home and let her take copies of the EKG and other reports with her to show to the dr. on Monday. On Monday, the dr. scheduled her for a stress test Tuesday morning. I got a call Tuesday morning from the hospital saying that she had chest pains during the stress test and that she would be taken to St. Dom. by ambulance and that I needed to call Daddy. I got him on the cell; he was on the deer stand in Leake County. We all finally got together and made it out to the hospital; she was on a nitro drip and had given her nitro for under the tongue. Our preacher made it out there as well.

When the ambulance showed up, an old friend, Philip, was the driver; we did not know that he had recently gotten his EMT license. He let David ride "shotgun" down there. Daddy wanted to run home and shave and change, and I ran a couple of errands, then we left. When we got there, she had just been wheeled into the heart cath. I was so glad that David had gone on down there since we did not get there in time to see the dr. The doc told him that when she was given the chemical stress test, the chemical actually broke a clot loose. We waited in the ICU waiting room, and Carol Anne and Kaci got there in the mean time. When they called, they said that they had found a blockage and would put in a stent. Later the dr. told us that the LDA (lateral descending artery), called the "widowmaker," was the artery that was blocked. The widowmaker is also one of the three that David's mother had blocked in June and had stents put in. He said that the blockage was the cause of her chest pains on Saturday. He was very complimentary of the hospital in Kosciusko for acting so quickly with the clot buster; he said that it had done its job and that their quick administering it to her had kept the heart from having more damage. She spent the night in the ICU, then got moved to a room yesterday. When we left yesterday afternoon, she had eaten and walked. The dr. will probably let her go today.

So that is how 2008 ended for me. It certainly makes me thankful for my many blessings over the past 12 months--David's successful surgery, our new daughter-in-law-to-be, David's mother's successful heart procedure, and that nothing worse happened to Mama's heart. I plan to read a lot in the new year and enjoy the wedding plans. The Lord is faithful.

(A few hours later) P.S. Mama and Daddy got home today. The dr. told her this morning that she definitely had a heart attack and that if it had not happened like it did, she would not be here. God is good--ALL THE TIME.