Heart Problems

       I hope you learn something from this story about health and heart and also realize that God can do miraculous things on behalf of His children. In this story there is a thread of God's ongoing care, His power to arrange circumstances and bring the right people to the right places for our good and to provide healing.        Ten years ago I was walking in my hayfield changing water and I ran short of breath. I didn't think anything of it but it happened again in the fall while I was cutting firewood. I talked to my doctor about it and we thought it might be allergy related. My dad had hay fever and my Grandma (his mother) had asthma so why shouldn't I? It happened again the next summer. To be on the safe side my doctor recommended we do heart testing. I did a stress test on a treadmill. They run you out of air and then take ultrasound pictures of your heart. I passed those with flying colors so we assumed asthma or hay fever. This went on for several summers about the same time - August and September - as my doctor noted.

       Five years later I had high cholesterol and high blood pressure along with a few more bouts of shortness of breath so we repeated stress testing. Same story - I passed them with flying colors. I have always tried to exercise in the winter on the treadmill so the stress testing was easy. However, life gets busy. I retired and started working on houses and so I quit using the treadmill as much because I had to travel to get to work and that took more time. Then I hurt my back two years ago and that slowed me down some more while still battling high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I took statins to reduce high cholesterol. They worked but they also gave me chronic back pain. I quit taking them and tried other things. I had a few more bouts with shortness of breath and got a rescue inhaler to carry with me.
         Last April I thought I had a sinus infection. I went to the clinic and they gave me some antibiotics. What ever it was dropped into my chest but eventually went away except that afterwards I had a shortness of breath everyday and sometimes several times a day. I used the inhaler (albuterol) almost daily. If I had to walk sometimes I had to stop and get my breath back. It seemed to be exercise related. I kept an asthma chart but most of my scores were very good. I took Advair. Sometimes the inhaler worked and sometimes it didn't. I had also noticed that when I ran out of breath I would also have pain in my left wrist. I told my doctor but there was no heavy chest pain with it so we didn't pay much attention to it. After several months of this we (my wife and I) decided I needed to see a pulmonary specialist. My doctor sent me to the same doctor that I have for my sleep apnea. This is where God's care in solving this major problem through others went in to effect.
         I went to see her and she did the asthma tests. After the tests we met with her. She said that to talk to me and listen to me describe my symptoms she would say I had asthma, but her tests didn't completely confirm it, so she said I had to see a cardiologist to rule out heart problems. She felt very strongly about. She called my doctor to insist that it be expedited. The next week I had an ECG at the clinic and then was sent to Wenatchee for another stress test. Her insistence triggered this whole string of events.
        We were in the clinic doing stress testing when the nurse found out who my cardiologist was and his office just happened(???) to be across the hall. I was already on the treadmill when she went to get him and brought him in just as I hit level two and ran out of air. He asked how much longer I thought I could go. I said a few minutes but was already working hard. He stopped the test. He said for me to finish the testing and then he would meet with us afterward. He changed his mind because I had been fasting and needed to eat and we had a long drive home. He warned me not to do any strenuous activity over the weekend. We went to eat and decided we needed to meet with him that afternoon (that warning scared us) so we went back and asked if we could. He got the results of the test and talked with me about it, but said there was still nothing conclusive about it. He told me I needed to come back for the cardiac catheterization test the next Tuesday and Wednesday, but again - don't do anything strenuous over the weekend, so we had a laid back weekend where I ran out of breath several times.
         We went to Wenatchee on Tuesday (Oct 5th) to meet with him about the test to be done the next day. I had already read about the cardiac catheritization test on-line. It said it should take about 45 minutes and maybe longer if they needed to place a stent or two. My cardiologist had told me he thought I would probably need a couple of stents. During the test you are semi awake. I was where I could see a clock and knew that after 15 minutes they had quit. The thought went through my mind that they had either found nothing or I was in big trouble. It turned out I was in big trouble. He found four blockages from 70 - 90% closed, and said there would probably be a fifth one. (I had been a walking time bomb for several months.)
I wasn't leaving the hospital. I was scheduled for open heart surgery the next morning but I got pre-empted by emergencies three times so I didn't see the operating room until Friday noon. It gave me time to prepare myself. I had to face the fact that sometimes people don't survive open heart surgery. I had time to make sure I had peace with God and I told Him that it was ok if I didn't make it. I could leave this world behind but I also said many prayers for my wife and family. There is quite a struggle to get to that place and it took until Thursday evening for me to get there.
          I need to add one more powerful happening in here before I go on. As soon as we heard from the cardiologist that I wasn't leaving the hospital we got my condition out to the prayer chain at our church. We also sent it to the church we had formerly attended. I have heard from other people that it was on at two other prayer chains in other churches and I have had many people I have met tell me that they were praying. I could feel the prayers as I was struggling through to Thursday evening and also had this deep abiding peace that it would run according to God's plan whatever that might be. Praise the Lord for the prayers of his people that are able to carry us when our own strength is weak.
         I went in to surgery at noon and I don't remember anything until 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning when I awoke. The next six hours I can only recall as being as close to hell as I want to be. There was a tube in my throat breathing for me and I was about half awake. I wanted to tear the thing out of my throat and get up and leave. I had read about this before so I knew what was happening and that I couldn't do that. I also know I was drugged heavily, but why I remained half awake I don't know. I do remember it as being extremely unpleasant. About 6:30 a.m. they removed the tube and I could breathe on my own. At that time they gave me more pain medication and I was taken to my room. Most of that day (Saturday, October 9th, 2010) is very fuzzy in my memory. I know it was a great feeling to hold my wife's hand and realize that my worst fears were not realized. From then on my recovery was nothing short of amazing. They get you up to walk as soon as they can. I walked daily but was still on heavy pain meds so don't remember too much. I had many visitors but most of that is a blur. On Sunday the pulmonary doctor came to visit. As we talked she said something about going on a mission trip and by that we recognized that she was a Christian. Then she asked to pray with us and we immediately realized God's hand on her as she spearheaded this healing miracle of timing. I truly believe that she was the one that was used by the Lord to save me from a heart attack. I have truly been blessed by the Lord in having this taken care of.
           There are other parts of this that also need to be mentioned. God gave me a caring nurse and a strong helper in my wife. She has borne the brunt of this whole process by being the trooper that she is. I am not an easy person to deal with especially when I am sick. The other part is that physically I have not been able to do much. She has had to load the car when we go anywhere, load the firewood for the woodstove, shovel sidewalks when it snows, and oversee my wanting to do more than I am supposed to. She has also had to learn to cook in a different way. I like to eat and I'm having to learn to do that differently and it is hard to do.
           Another blessing I had from the Lord was to be sent to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee. I was immediately aware of the quality of care I was receiving. I was amazed at the service, knowledge and positive attitude of the nurses and even the cleaning staff. There was always a family feeling displayed when they talked to each other and especially at shift changes as they exchanged information, etc. Having been a school administrator especially interested in school climate and positive atmosphere in an establishment I recognized the spirit of togetherness these people had. I asked one of the doctors about how they get this kind of staff and his reply was that they "work at it". I feel that I had world class care from the hospital staff and would recommend the place to anyone. It makes me wish I could hop in and be part of it.

          I have come to realize that our medical system is not really into prevention. At the first, when blood pressure becomes high and cholesterol becomes a problem there needs to be education done on what high blood pressure and high cholesterol does to your heart and body. I think there is an assumption made that people know this information. It is one thing to be told things about it in the hurried atmosphere most doctors work in and something else to really understand what it means (I am a teacher and realize there are some students that can repeat on a test anything you have taught but they can't apply it.
         There needs to be instruction done in a formal setting separate from the doctor's office to make sure that people understand what it means to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They need to really understand the importance of exercise and stress relief as it relates to these issues. I am amazed that they don't require education about those health problems. The interesting thing is that many of the problems created by high blood pressure and high cholesterol can be controlled by diet and exercise and, if necessary, by medication. Another problem is Type 2 diabetes. This is a serious precursor to heart disease but are we really educated about it? Do you know what causes it? If you have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol or Type 2 diabetes I highly recommend that you have a very serious and straight talk to your doctor about it.
         From where I sit now I can see back to the beginnings of my heart problem. I simply did not get serious about a serious problem, partly because I wasn't really educated about it (or didn't listen) and partly because I was too busy doing other stuff instead of paying attention to what was being said about my health.
If you don't hear anything else in this story please hear this: Get serious about learning about high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and the effect that exercise and medication has on it. Pressure your doctor or nurse, to learn all you can. Don't mess around with your own method of dealing with it. Get professional help from someone who walks the talk.

           If you prayed for me through this ordeal I sincerely thank you for that prayer and the sense of security it created for me in the two and a half days before my surgery and since.
           If you know someone that is going through this same experience I am willing to walk that path with them through prayer, presence, e-mail, Facebook or whatever it takes. Just let me know the name, the connection you have with them and how to find them.
Blessings on you.            To finish - I pray for you that you will listen to what I just wrote and apply it as the Lord would show you what needs to be done. I would not wish open heart surgery on anyone. It has been likened to being run over by a truck and I will say amen to that.            Now part of life consists of going to Brewster, Washington on Monday and Wednesdays for cardiac rehabilitation. On Mondays we do exercising and then education I have learned more about heart health and nutrition in the last month than I knew before.

Christmas Tree Capture 09

         Well, here we are at Christmas time again. As usual nothing is happening here except the usual Christmas get ready to be invaded stuff. Granny and I have been sitting here watching the Christmas lights blink. Wow, what an exciting time. (Even though they aren't blinkers, usually by the time I get them on the tree, I always call them "Blinking Lights!")
        We had a light snow the other day. It was great. Granny happened to look out the bedroom window (scrapbook room) and saw a fir tree that we had planted years ago in the corner of the hay field. (It's in a place where I can't get machinery in to cut hay.) She thought the fir tree would be a good Christmas tree.
Before we get into that we need to talk about the standard "Christmas Tree Capturing Ritual" (CTCR). You know that we have extensive traditional rituals here on The Farm so this is another one. (I could write a book on our rituals.)
        The usual "Christmas Tree Capturing Ritual (CTCR)" goes like this. We go up to THE Place (our property out in the woods) in September and make remarks like "That looks like it would be a nice Christmas tree". Then we go home and forget where it was. Then in October we find another one and in November we find another one. All of them perfect beauties.
         When we go to Portland, Oregon right after Thanksgiving we see them harvesting trees and flying them by helicopter from one end of the tree farm to the other. That reminds us that we need a Christmas tree in a week or so. Then we go home and can't find a tree.
         We usually go to our closest small town and look and then make it to all the stores that have them and then go to a local tree farm and buy a big one which we load onto the red trailer, drag it home, drag it into the house and put on the decorations and "Blinking Lights" and that completes the CTCR.
         So this year Granny saw the tree in the corner of the hayfield about three weeks before we needed one. I went and looked at it and thought it would do and each successive time I looked it looked even better.
         "Granny, you need to go out and look at the tree. It's pretty tall but it looks pretty good to me."
She didn't go out to look at The Tree.
        We have a cathedral ceiling that's eighteen feet up with a post in the middle of the great room which is our living room, dining room and kitchen.  It takes a big tree. Most of our trees have been about twelve feet tall. Several times we have had a spruce tree (from THE Place) and several years we have had pine trees captured at the tree farm and a few times we have bought gold plated fir trees from some other tree farm. (I say gold plated because of the price - six million dollars a foot more or less.) Anyway, each year the big question is: "Where can we get the most beautiful, filled out, shapely and lovely tree?" (The answer is NO.)
I asked Granny to go look at "The Tree" several times in the weeks after Thanksgiving but it got cold out with the wind blowing and we made several trips to the Big City to go shopping and even one trip to the Big Big City.
         The day finally came when she demanded to have a Christmas tree. I rounded up Number 1 grandson (GS) to help, kindly told her that it was a big tree, reminded her that she hadn't looked at it close up, and then fired up the chainsaw and went and cut it down. Number 1GS drove the four wheeler and hooked up the red trailer and helped put the tree on the trailer. I took pictures and assisted around the edges.
He took the tree into the back yard and backed it up to the deck and we carried it in the doorway. I was sure it was no taller than thirteen or fourteen feet but in the doorway, between the door and the standing up place, the tree grew three feet taller. I know that happened because as we stood it up it kept getting closer and closer to the ceiling until we had it standing up beside the pole and it grew to within a foot of the ceiling. It was a Christmas miracle! (The miracle probably was that we got it to stand up without breaking my back, neck and shoulders. I guess that was saved for the ladder work in putting on the decorations.)
         We now have a very tall Christmas tree and it's obviously not my fault. And it is a beauty! You should be so lucky as to see it.
         So - just to assure you that nothing interesting, exciting or strange ever happens out here in Ho Hum County let's just continue on as though nothing happened and pray for snow to cover up the place in the hayfield where we cut the tree down.
         Have a Merry Christmas and a boring New Year out in the country.
         (Do I need to remind you that I like it that way?)