Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
Snow burdened pine trees and deep tracks

Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
Ross's totem pole

Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
From Ross's front porch

Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
Only way to travel today and it's not great

Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
Hemlock dressed by God

Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
Mac doesn't want to test the snow

Snowy BCS day

Snowy BCS day
japanese maple from picture window

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Almost dying

On June 16th, I had a stent put in my right coronary artery. When I went into the hospital, it was because an mra (magnetic resonance artery) had found a renal artery 75% blocked. When I went to my cardioligist, he did an ekg and it turned out abnormal. This allowed him to do an arteriogram. When they went in at the hospital, it was discovered that there was absolutely no blockage in the renal artery, but I had two coronary arteries blocked. One was completely blocked and my heart had grown its own bypass. (Something I did not know the body could do). The other artery, the right was 85% blocked and a stent was put in. None of this hurt and I was in no pain until I got back to ICU. I had to lie for approx. 6 hours on my back without moving. This was OK, except I felt that I needed to urinate constantly (probably because of the dye). About an hour after I got to ICU, I suddenly became flush, broke out in a sweat and my pulse and blood pressure went down to almost nothing. I could see the monitor and the last reading I remember was pulse of 24. Nurses ran in with a crash cart and they started pounding on me and putting stuff in the IV line and one of them was right down in my face telling me to "stay with her". After about 10 minutes, everything returned to normal. Apparently, what happened was either a reaction to medicine they were giving me or a delayed reaction to the procedure itself. What I want to put here are my feelings both during and after what happened. I do not intend for them to be heroic, noble, cowardly or anything except truthful.
When I became flush and everything started down, I remember only that I suddenly felt heavy and tired. As the nurses ran in and I saw the pulse rate go down, I realized I might be in trouble and there was absolutely nothing in the world I could do for myself. I was completely in the hands of God and the nurses. With my personality, this should have panicked me, but I remember the opposite. I was comforted. I think I knew intellectually that I might die, but it didn't scare me. I had peace about it. My life did not run before my eyes, I felt only a momentary regret for things I would miss. Thoughts of leaving Char alone gave me pause, but I knew I had done everything I could to make her life as easy as possible if I were gone for good. I thought of Tavia and Bry and Ryley and Phoebe and Kendall and Lila. I felt a tinge of regret that I would not be in their lives if God took me on, but I felt peace about that as well. I guess what I am trying to say is: I was not ready to die, but I wasn't afraid of it either. I have wondered all my life how I would react in a live or die situation. Would I be heroic or cowardly. I think every man wonders that at one time or another. I have faced enough dangerous situations in my life that I know that I usually do what needs to be done without being either heroic or cowardly, but just being a man. I can't say that until this happened in the hospital that I have actually thought I might die. Afterwards in a few situations, I realized that I could have died, but not at the time. In that ICU, I knew I might die. I had full realizaton in real time and I had peace. That gives me a certain confidence and to repeat myself, a certain peace that I never had before. I saw no white lights, I had no vision of God and no deceased loved ones beckoned me to join them, but I knew without a doubt that if I died, I was going to a wonderful, peaceful place.