It was a normal morning when I missed a phone call that someone was in an ambulance heading to the hospital. I remember in my mind I couldn't stop thinking, who? It didn't matter which parent it was, but which one, my mom or dad?
My mom had a heart attack.
Grateful I was ready to run out the door anyway, I was able to make it to the hospital in 10 minutes. Making a couple phone calls and a quick post on Facebook, the seed was planted and family and friends were notified and praying locally and across the country.
Heart attacks are blindsiding in general. My moms side has always been cancer and she has had a couple close calls through the years, my dad and his side is heart issues. For my mom to have a heart attack it was plain and simply confusing.
She doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, eats healthy and exercises.
It was a day of a roller coaster emotions.
I could hear in the room next to us in ER a nurse calling a patient by her name. As she said it over and over, I could hear her become more panicked before they called a Code Blue. Doctors and nurses rushing through the hall, family members crying and calling loved ones and all I could think about was the stories of people near death as they see angels.
Standing in the door way of my moms room in ER, as if I was a force to be reckoned with so there was no confusion, there would be no angels coming into my moms room today. The sounds of the medical team fill the room next to us, the family frantic, my brother a minister, slips out the door and I follow behind him. He asked if he could pray with the family. We stood in a circle and prayed.
We believe in the power of prayer. The woman pulled through and is alive.
About 8 hours in ER before she was taken to CCU made for a long day. In the midst of so many phone calls, I text the CEO of the hospital that I was there in ER. It has been about a year since I have seen him last and it made my parents feel good he stopped into ER to meet them.
In fact, he text me every day and stopped in every day to check on my mom. The Executive Director in Cardiology came in the room and said, "Who's Dawn?" I said, "That's me." He got a call from the CEO.
With tons of attention, extra special care directed from the top of the tops: God, a Harvard leading physician in Cardiology in a top cardiology hospital in the USA, and a CEO making daily visits, my mom is in the best of the best hands.
So many emotions.
At one point we were in CCU as she was getting an ultrasound of her heart and we were all standing and watching. I could feel my chest tighten (breathe), it has been only weeks since the last time I was watching an ultrasound for my 2nd grandchild and my heart was broken. It certainly wasn't the next ultrasound I was expecting to see weeks later, my moms heart in CCU. So many thoughts raced through my mind all day.
Yesterday was her heart cath and I laughed as she was being wheeled out of cath on her bed eating chocolate. She was hungry and a nurse slipped her a piece of chocolate. Her heart cath came back her heart is completely open, no blockages, no stents needed, and she has the heart of a 40 year old. Hallelujah!
She feels great and they are still keeping her in CCU. Something caused her to have a heart attack and today they continue to run a series of tests, ultrasounds, cat scans, etc. to rule out any other possible reason before they send her home.
Perhaps, they won't find anything. We believe in the power of prayer and if she's healed, she healed.
I smile in wonder if all this extra testing is standard protocol or directives from the top. Somehow it feels as if no stone is being left un-turned and I certainly appreciate it.
