One Day at a Time

Gene ~ August 31

Does this look like a guy who is two days away from a heart attack?

 

You hear people say it all the time and you may think it applies to everyone else but when it gets real, you realize we are all on borrowed time. 

 

We enjoyed a super nice weekend. It started with a beautiful motorcycle ride on Saturday. We got up very early to get on the road by 8am. We didn't intend to ride 250+ miles but we were having such a great time that we felt like we were going to be home before it got to 90 degrees but didn't quite make it. Oh well, a little sweat never hurt anyone.

 

Sunday, we just hung out at home and didn't do much as it was to be even hotter. Monday being a holiday, I was home and honestly I can't remember what we did. I was puttering around the house and Gene was doing what he does. Later in the day, he was out in the garage, apparently going up and down the ladder to put some stuff up. He came in to take a shower and as always, we were on the edge of being late for dinner with friends we haven't seen in far too long. I knocked on the bathroom door and what I saw in front of me was a man as white as a ghost. He says, "my neck is getting that jabbing pain."  When he didn't balk at my insistence that we head directly to the ER, I knew it was bad. I called my friend and told her we were not going to make it for dinner. Sorry.

 

Without boring you with too many details, let me just say that after being admitted and monitored all night, when he got up to use the restroom Tuesday morning, the stabbing pain in his neck returned and they did an EKG right then and there. He was quickly moved from the "end-of-the-day" schedule for the cath lab to having the cath lab gurney picking him up within what seemed like 5 minutes. Impressive. Long story short, he was 98% blocked in two places in the same artery they had put a stent in 3 years ago. He was a dead man walking.  He now has three stents keeping blood flowing through that vein and you can't tell there was anything wrong with him. As a matter of fact, I'm sure he's got more energy than I do right now.  I'm exhausted ... emotionally and mentally.

 

Okay, this is part where I get all mushy.

 

It's a mistake to think we're going to live forever. This is my second go around with him and this. The doctor says his artery is kind of a mess. He said it may have been caused by a childhood virus that was around in the 50's. Undoubtedly, if something else doesn't take him out, he'll be on the receiving end of future stents, or open heart surgery. We know the signs. Now he's got history with this hospital and he'll have less explaining to do the next time he goes in with neck pains.

 

While I'm tired and emotional, I know that he dodged another bullet and tomorrow we'll get up and things will be back to normal. We'll live this life one day at a time, trying not to waste too much of it doing shit we don't wanna do.

 

love, susan