My husband tried to die on me again… but I wasn’t having it!
Rick and I have been planning my birthday party for a few weeks and we were in the middle of working on fixing a number of much-needed repairs on things all throughout the house. We were trying to have at least most of the projects done before my party on Saturday night. I figured that I could get the yard at least cleared out and the fire pit built before then. Jenn had been here for a few days to help out with things that I couldn’t reach and we decided to go to Home Depot for the plumbing supplies and some new plants for the patio. We walked into the house about five minutes after some of his family members had shown up unannounced to visit and had startled him out of his sleep. He was napping because he had been having some chest pains so he took his heart meds and a relaxer pill to try to get rid of the pain, they always make him sleepy so he went to nap in the recliner. He was having some pains here and there for days before his family were even there. His niece had run in and went straight to love and hug him. He woke up not knowing who was there(he said that they were being really loud) or what was going on, but he obviously recognized his family after a few seconds. Since I wasn’t home and he was asleep, nobody answered the phone when they tried to call him, so they just all came over and walked right in. The problem wasn’t the four nieces and nephews being there, it was Rick’s mother and the kids mother. I told Rick to let me know when his company was gone, I left my bags downstairs and went to go upstairs to my room, I didn’t want to start anymore drama. One of the girls said “Hi aunt Cindy” and I said “Hi sweetheart”(I’ve now told you every word that I said while they were here. Rick had them out of the house right after I walked into the bedroom and I came back downstairs to talk to him. He said he had no clue what they were thinking showing up like that and he said that he didn’t feel well and was having chest pains. He does sometimes have pains from the stint he had put in after his first heart attack and had been having pains for a few days before all of this happened. He took one of his Nitro pills and we decided to just go up to bed and lay down so that he could try to relax and get rid of the chest pains, but as soon as he laid down he looked at me and said ” I’m having a heart attack”. From the time I walked into the house from the store to the time 911 was called was under an hour. Rick was having a major heart attack. It was NOT the family showing up that gave him a heart attack, it was just that he was startled, but he already had blockages way before then, we just didn’t know they were there. I tried to explain to the rest of the family what had happened and somehow it ended up as me saying that his niece gave him a heart attack, I never said any such thing. I hate family drama. Now, back to the important stuff. Rick was taken by ambulance to the best hospital near us for cardiac patients, which is only a few miles from our house, they did all the usual tests and gave him some pain meds and had him in surgery pretty quickly. They found so much damage in his heart that he now has six stints and the worst area was where there was one place where it branches into two arteries and that whole area was 99% blocked. This could easily have killed him if the doctors hadn’t gotten in there to repair the damage as fast as they did. We were sent home yesterday with instructions for Rick to stay laying down in his recliner for the next five days with the exception of going to the bathroom. My mother wanted me to go out for dinner for my Birthday tonight but I declined and took a rain-check for four days from now. I won’t leave him home alone for anything. I may need to find a Rick sitter so that I can go and get some groceries. This definitely means the beginning of our diet again…and walking as soon as it’s OK with his doctor. I’m totally all right with not having a party for my birthday because I had, and still have more important matters to tend to. I really need to quit trying to make my own plans for my life because every time I do, God stops me dead in my tracks and reminds me just who is really in charge. I’m so exhausted and I need a shower, but other than that I only have the usual aches and pains…nothing I can’t handle. I did tell Rick that this is not a race to the finish and he better get his act together so we can both live a long, long time!
Cindy's Cancers 