Last week, I really wanted to just sit at the feet of Jesus, and rest. I did, but I need to learn how to continue to rest in the midst of craziness and a hectic life. It seems like life is just rushing by, and at times I don't feel like I can keep up. Last Thursday night Josh gave us all a scare. He plays indoor soccer as a form of r & r for him. Before his game last week, his heart started racing for no known reason. He has had this happen in the past, as often as once every 3 months, but it usually only lasts for 5 minutes and then his heart rate goes back to normal. Well, he thought it would be like every other time in the past. He went on and played his soccer game, and his heart rate continued to race. After the game, we went to dinner to celebrate his sister's birthday, and his heart continued to race. We got home after dinner, and his heart was still racing. At this point, he still hadn't told anyone what was going on. I knew something wasn't quite right because of the way he was acting, but I didn't know what it was. He decided to take a cold shower to see if that would help. After his shower, he was resting on our bed and I walked in our room, and could visibly see his heart beating out of his chest. At this point, I became aware of what was going on, and asked him if his heart was racing. He said that it was, and that it had been for almost 4 hours at this point. I asked if I needed to take him to the emergency room, and he said not yet....I knew with that response that we could be in trouble. I asked if I could call a nurse friend and ask her to come over to check his blood pressure and heart rate, and he agreed to me calling her. She came over, checked his blood pressure, and heart rate. His blood pressure was good, but his heart rate was 180 beats per minute!!! At that point, we decided we should probably head to the emergency room. We made arrangments for Josh's dad to come to the house to stay with the kids so I could drive him to the ER, and we decided to go to a hospital that is about a 25 to 30 minute drive from our house. By the time we got to the ER his heart rate had regulated, but we decided we should probably still go in and have him checked out. We walked in, they asked what his symptoms were, and almost immediately had him in a wheelchair and were wheeling him back to a room, people were talking about the situation as we were walking back to the room, and we were immediately met by a nurse who started getting him hooked up to machines, and then another nurse came in and started an EKG on him. I have never seen medical staff work so quickly and efficiently. After running many tests, and seeing a Physicians Assistant, and Doctor, they handed him over to a Cardiologist. The Cardiologist didn't like what he saw in some of Josh's blood work, so they wanted to admit him to the hospital for further tests and observation. Not the conversation that I expected to have in the middle of the night. I thought we would go to the ER, his heart would regulate, no big deal and we would be heading back home after an hour or two. Instead, they told us they didn't like his blood work and wanted to admit him to the hospital under the care of a Cardiologist!! Josh and I have been dating/married for 10 years, and he has never been sick other than the occasional flu/cold. I did not like at all seeing him in a hospital gown all hooked up to machines, and all the tests they were running on him. Josh is relatively healthy, and so young. He is only 29, I mean he will be 30 at the end of the month, but he is still so young to be seeing a Cardiologist. The only thing we have ever been in the hospital for before Thursday was the birth of our first two children, and I was the patient and he was there to support me. So finally by 3:30 a.m. or so they were transferring him from the ER up to the Progressive Care unit. I waited in the waiting room while they got him situated. While sitting in the waiting room, I thought I should probably head home to get some sleep, and get C**** to school the next morning. If I wasn't pregnant, I don't think the thought of leaving would have crossed my mind, but with that to consider and the sleep I need at this point, I thought it would be best for all if I went and tried to get a few hours of sleep. I got home and crashed for a couple hours, and then got up and get C**** out the door, and then headed to church to run an errand for him, and then headed back to the hospital. I walked into his room, and he wasn't there, so I found a nurse and she said that he was downstairs taking a treadmill stress test. She said he had been down there for over 2 hours, and should be returning shortly. She started to give me an explanation of where we were at this point, and what we needed to have done before he could be discharged. A few minutes into the conversation with the nurse they brought him back to his room. It was great to see him. Talk about a reality check. Anyways, several hours later we were on our way home. He will be following up with the Cardiologist over the next few months and will be wearing an event monitor for a month or so to see if they can catch his heart racing on paper. At this point, they don't know what exactly is going on. They have an idea, but need to see things on paper before they can say for sure what it is. After talking about this over the last few days, Josh thinks it could very well be stress related. His life is extremely busy working two full-time jobs, plus the responsibilities of being a husband, father......he doesn't live the average life. He has tried to slow down a bit, and he has cut out caffeine from his diet. I never thought that would be how I spent those twelve hours or so last week. It is amazing how quickly life can change.
Speaking of which, tonight before the church service, Josh was told that a dear member of our congregation went to be with Jesus today. I coudn't believe it when Josh told me that Phyllis had passed away. I mean, we were just talking on Sunday, she was going to go to Women's Convention with us this weekend, she was just fine on Sunday. It reminds me of the Scripture though that says that life is but a vapor. Josh had to share with the congregation tonight about her passing. He did a great job sharing with the congregation, and then had a time of prayer with the church, and allowed those that wanted to share special memories, or what she meant to them. I was in with the kids while this took place, but Josh said it went really well. The church was in shock, and Phyllis will be greatly missed. She had already told her family that she wants Josh to do her memorial service. So he will be preparing for her memorial service either sometime this weekend, or the beginning of next week. This will be the first memorial service of someone that he has known pretty well. He has been asked to do several funerals, but have always been for people that he did not really know, or of people that he knows their children, but not the person who passed themselves. Please pray for strength, and wisdom for him. Phyllis wants her service to be a time of celebration, which it will be. She also wants it to be at church because she said that she wants all of her friends and family that do not go to church to go to church with her one last time. Pray that her family and friends will be receptive to the Gospel, and will have ears to hear, and that lives will be changed through this.
It seems like life isn't going to slow down, and so I must learn to rest in the arms of my Savior and sit at His feet amongst the storms and chaos of this life. He is my peace, He is my strength, He is my all in all.
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