When I sent my son off to the
Mexico CCM (MTC) I felt like I had a piece of my heart ripped out of my chest and put on a plane to Mexico! The crazy thing is that IT REALLY DID MESS WITH MY HEART!!! I came home from the airport in
atrial fibrillation (AFib)...heart failure.
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| Post cardioversion |
So, the doctors did what they normally do and shocked me....literally! (
cardioversion) That worked great for a couple days....but then...I was back in afib. So, they scheduled me a lovely week-long stay at the beautiful St.Vincent Resort...LOL! I was started on a new medicine and shocked again! While I was there, I was fortunate enough to be visited by one of the best heart surgeons around, Dr Jeffrey F Swanson. During our visit, he told me that he recommended I have another open-heart surgery.
I should probably tell you that 17 years ago, I had both my aortic and mitral valves replaced due to scar tissue that had formed when I had rheumatic fever as a child. But, that is a story for another day ;)
Amazingly enough, they had an opening the very next week....Friday the 13th...good thing I am not superstitious and neither is Dr S ;) The other real benefit here was that it forced us to have Christmas ready BEFORE the 24th!!! Wahoooo...there's a first time for everything!!!
After 9 hours of surgery...I now am the proud owner of 2 brand new mechanical valves (aortic and tricuspid) and a spiffed-up mechanical mitral valve. I am pre-wired for a pacemaker and my heart has had new pathways burnt into it so that the electric current will flow just right!
Why am I telling you this??? First, I want you to know that a Mother's love for her children is as much a physical thing as it is emotional! Second, I want you to know that there are missionary miracles happening every single day in all sort of places...even hospitals!!!
A dear friend sent me an awesome care package (thanks Susan, love ya) filled with all sorts of fun stuff to help make my hospital stay a little more comfortable! In that package she sent a heart-shaped locket that says "Missionary Mom" on the front! What a great conversation starter!!
I had the opportunity to share parts of my testimony with everyone that came into my room....and there were a lot of people in and outta there at all times of the day and night!!! And that wasn't the last time I got to visit with these people! Even with the over-haul that they did on my heart, I still was having trouble with afib. I got to have another stay to try out another new medicine. I was getting a little frustrated! I was whining about it to Susan one night and I said I wished I would hurry up and learn whatever it is that I am supposed to learn so I can get on with my life, and she said...maybe it's not for you.
While I was enjoying yet another wonderful stay at St Vs, I had the pleasure of having a wonderful nurse on a particularly icky day. Anyhow, we got to talking and she said she liked my positive attitude (that's because she wasn't there back when they pulled those blasted tubes outta me) and how she felt like that is what really helped her brother who was seriously injured in a car accident. She told me how he asked their family to read the Bible to him and how she thought that was really important! I said yes, that it is such a blessing to know where we came from, why we are here and where we are going... She said she really wished she knew....I asked her if she had a minute because I DID know! I whipped up the quickest Plan of Salvation drawing ever on the dry-erase board in my room. Don't judge.... I'm not an artist!
Next she asked me how I knew these things. I showed her a verse in the
BOM that I had read just that morning. She told me she would really like to read "that book"! Ahhhh...why didn't I pack an extra!!! BUT, as soon as she left the room, I was able to contact the missionaries in my home ward and tell them about it!
Would you believe about an hour and a half later two elders showed up in my room! WITH a BOM and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet! I wrote my testimony in it and gave it to her. She was so excited! She asked me how I got it and I told her about the Missionaries. She asked me for my number, I wrote it in her BOM. I am still kicking myself for not getting her number!!! Might be time to visit St Vs ;)
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| Sternum side view |
So, after one more trip up to the cardiac unit to have a "loose wire" removed (more opportunities to share what I believe) I tick...I tick really loud! A little like a watch....a LOT like a BOM(B) I really love Dr S....but, unless I run into him at Walmart, I really hope I never see him again in this life!
****THE GOSPEL IS TRUE****
~Heidi
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| Staples - Heart Pillow - Room with a View - Locket - Backman (Hubby) - My Heart |
