It's a Blessing to be a Child of God!

I realize this post is not the final lesson in our Rahab study, but an event has happened in our lives that I need to share ... call it a testimony if you like ... I hope you are blessed by what you read ...

It’s a Blessing to be a Child of God!

We knew hubby was in afib, not because he could feel it, but because his Fitbit showed him to be so.  He couldn’t feel it, but his Fitbit showed heartbeats ranging from 34 – 186 beats per minute.  He had seen his primary care doctor two days earlier and she was going to try to get his already scheduled cardiac appointment moved up.  She didn’t have any success and consequently told hubby to go to the emergency room.  We opted to go to the ER in the town where his cardiologist was, which was an hour and a half away.  As soon as we walked into the ER, the security guard took one look at hubby, asked if he was having chest pains and then promptly sent him to the front of the line to get checked in and registered.  They took one look at him and ushered him to an ER room where he received immediate attention.  Three hours later he was lying in a bed in the cardiac short-term unit hooked up to monitors and an IV.

Hubby spent 7 days in that bed with around the clock monitoring.  They tried medication to get his heart back in rhythm, but it didn’t work.  They did a cardioversion on him and it lasted 14 hours before it went back out.  Then he started having pressure in the chest, more tests followed, and decisions had to be made.

We were given two options, and we opted for the one that increased a couple of the medications he was already taking.  After a few hours it was plain that it wasn’t going to work either, so we agreed to let the doctor start him on heart rhythmic medication which would be followed by another cardioversion 2 days later.  (Praise God, the second cardioversion was never needed, the rhythmic meds worked, and his heart returned to normal beating … and stayed.)

I stayed by my hubby’s side the whole time in a 3-sided cubicle with a curtain for a door.  What little sleep I got was in a chair, hubby didn’t get much more in bed as they were constantly taking his vitals, drawing blood, giving him multiple medications and checking numerous other things around the clock.

We have never been treated so kindly as we were in that cardiac short term stay unit!  Every single nurse, cna, doctor, specialist, etc went out of their way to answer our questions, meet our needs, make us as comfortable as possible and most importantly left no stone unturned in their efforts to help my hubby.  He was monitored so closely that if one of the leads attached to his chest came lose, they were in the room in seconds to see why his alarm was going off.  The doctor who was overseeing hubby’s case was monitoring him from his office and on more than one occasion would call the unit as soon as an alarm would go off to find out what was happening.  Hubby’s meals were of course provided, mine weren’t.  On more than one occasion they provided ‘sack lunches’ for me and late-night snacks for hubby.  Another time, they had an extra tray of food that was no longer needed for the person it was intended for, and they brought it to me.  The rest of the time I ate out of a little sandwich shop there in the hospital which one of the nurses walked me to, so that I would know where to go.

After a couple of nights of me trying to sleep in a chair, they rounded up one that would recline and moved it into ‘our’ room!  Let me tell you, that was a welcome chair!

As word got out of what was going on, we were inundated with calls, text messages and messages checking on hubby and offering to do anything they could to help.  My answer was always the same, we need you to pray. 

Little did we know how much danger hubby was in until we met with the doctor for the last time before hubby was discharged.  He told us that there was a good chance that hubby wouldn’t have made it to his scheduled appointment with his cardiologist, which was for the middle of February, without having had a major heart related/stroke event.  We had no idea!

So, why am I sharing all of this?  I want you to know that being a Christian has it’s perks here on earth (in addition to eternal ones) and one of those is the instant rallying around of each other during major events in life.  I ached for my children to be by our sides, but it wasn’t possible, so God provided the next best thing, His children.

I believe with all my heart that God went before us and prepared the way.  The doctor told us that if we had stopped at one of the smaller hospitals near where we live that they would have transported my hubby to the hospital we took him too.  That was scary, but God knew that and steered us to go straight to the bigger hospital even though it was further away.

When we got to the ER, there was literally a line of people waiting to register to be seen with the sitting area overflowing with people who had registered and were waiting to be called.  We were ushered to the head of the line and into a room immediately.  I believe that God used that security guard to make the decision to move hubby to the head of the line, to get him in and seen asap.

I believe that God maneuvered my hubby to the cardiac short stay unit, too.  The unit had a total of 14 beds and was fully staffed with the best of the best.  Normally, hubby would have been taken to the cardiac unit, but because the only available beds were in the cardiac short stay unit that’s where he was taken, and that’s where he got swift and excellent care.  We later learned that he would not have gotten that care on the cardiac unit floor because of staffing shortages.  In addition to excellent care for my hubby, the staff in the cardiac short stay unit showered us with care and concern.  I can’t say enough good about those people, I believe that God used them to save my hubby’s life.

We praise God and give Him the glory for going ahead of us and preparing the way.

We praise God and give Him the glory for having the right people in place at just the right time that could help my hubby.

We praise God and give Him the glory for the opportunity to talk about Him to several of the staff.  We pray the seeds that were planted will encourage and help those whose ears heard them.  We were in that unit for 7 days and grew close to the staff, we pray that God’s reasons for placing us there were fulfilled.

We praise God for all the people who reached out to us with offers of help and prayers, some were Christians, some were not. God used both to help us during this difficult time.

The next time you have an opportunity to help someone, in word or deed, please do it.  You don’t know that God didn’t place you in that person’s life at that exact place and time for just such a time.

Our hearts are overflowing with love and gratitude for each person along the way that got us to that hospital and through this difficult time.

Yes, it is truly a blessing to be a child of God.

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~