Life Happens

During the wee hours of the morning on September 25, life happened. I awoke with what I thought was indigestion. Drove myself to the local hospital. And the medical profession and my family began a fight to keep me on this earthly plane awhile longer. A transfer to Albany Med's Cardiac Care Unit; an emergency angioplasty cum stents; an encounter with defibrillators; an anxious watch in ICU as my scattered family gathered to my bedside and an easing of tension as my condition stabilized and my family began to breath easier.

When I emerged from the fog, my older daughter was sitting quietly by my bedside. I apologized to her for being unable to be "sociable"! She calmly announced she was quite happy to just sit there quietly and keep me company.

Later that night my younger daughter and her husband brought my 97 year old mother 200 miles to my bedside. (They wheeled her in - for once she agreed to a wheel chair - her tartan hat in place, favorite earrings and gold pin on, calm and undramatic (that was NOT typical).)

On September 26 my husband arrived after a frantic scramble to get an earlier flight from Austin, TX.

Three weeks later I am finally beginning to process my changed reality. A person who has always HATED drugs, now takes a slew of them. I hadn't been feeling well for some time, but it never occurred to me I had heart disease. Think again - I do. I thought it was time for me to check out. The medical profession and my family disagreed. I am still here. But everything else seems different. I am a nonbeliever. But many, many people prayed very, very hard for my recovery. I thought my cigarette addiction would send me to my grave unabated, but I haven't had one since September 24 (I try really, really hard not to think about them). It seems like I have been given a "second chance", but part of me thinks it is still way too soon to tell.

Today I spoke with a good friend who had a very similar experience in 2008. Vivian and I made a pact - if we live to our 90th year, we will both take up smoking again!