Cherry on Top

For 25+ years I have been dealing with electrical issues with my heart. Turns out this is a Scandinavian issue.  It was gradually getting worse, and I was progressing up the medications for atrial fibrillation (a-fib) and I was on the last one where there was no stronger drug. I asked my cardiologist when he was going to retire to make sure I could have him give me an ablation at the top of his game – he does a hundred plus a year. He surprised me by saying he was going to retire at 65 – why so late? Because of the medical insurance.

December 16th, 2021, while I was working in a Boeing Seattle lab, I suddenly felt weird and then it went away. Hard to describe, like a “rush”. After a little while, I suddenly felt a pain in the center of my chest.

Drat! A heart attack. I’m not going to a Seattle Hospital; I am going to MY CARDIOLOGIST, Doctor Fowler.

I told everyone at work “I gotta go,” got in my car, called wife Cindy to call the hospital, and drove to Overlake. Obviously, it was not a major heart attack or that would not have been possible. I got to the ER, and they gave me aspirin to start with, then some other blood thinners. After several hours in the ER, I was placed in a bed in the new cardiology wing that is quite posh. Doctor Fowler came in and said – “What are you doing here?” I said – “Yeah, I snowboarded 60 times last year!” They scheduled me for an angiogram the next morning to look at my heart arteries.

 After Cindy left that evening I was sitting in my hospital room, pondering, heart still hurting.

Rats, no more steaks for me, heart-healthy diet…

And finally

Is this it? Is this the end?

I thought about my life and concluded:

Well, if this is it Lord, I’m OK with it. Went to college, bought a house, got married, became a Christian, raised two kids to adults, hiked, skied, and snowboarded a lot. Good friends and family. It has been a good life.

I did the angiogram the next day. There was a huge monitor hanging next to the operating bed and I was able to see the contrast agent go thru my heart and back out. Gee, those heart arteries look pretty good. They were good – steak came back!

The doctor said that as you have more “a-fib”, the structure of the atria changes and it tends to throw more clots. He said, “You had a small blockage way down the artery in a section of your heart. You probably won’t notice any change. But it is now time for the ablation. We can do it in a couple months.” Now I am on a blood thinner (Eliquis) the rest of my life – buy it from drugmartdirect in Canada for $1 a day.

Every day alive is a blessing, a gift, a cherry on top of the sundae – the sundae which I already ate. Make me aware of the opportunities to do your work, Lord.