The One With the Heart Emergency

Wednesday started like any other day.  Brian got out of bed at Thomas' call for "JUICE!!!" And I scrounged out of bed a few minutes behind him. Sullen and half asleep, I waited for the water to boil so I could make my Nescafe and have a moment of "don't mess with me" before I had to get Kate ready and out the door for preschool. Brian went for a run, we met with Jesus, and then we got to work.  Just a few hours later, Brian started complaining of "feeling weird."  He couldn't really say what was wrong, but he just didn't feel right.  In typical Brian fashion, he tried to shake it off and continue about his business, but he just couldn't seem to function normally. So I sent him to bed.  I had been sick the week before and we both figured he was coming down with what I had. After an atypical three hour nap, he got up, still not feeling good, and decided he finally needed to heed the recommendation of our organization's medical team and go get an EKG. He went to our local private clinic here and they discovered his pulse was low--46.  Even at Brian's fittest, his pulse only ever got down to 49 and Brian would certainly not consider himself in-shape at the moment. So this was a concerning number for the doctor here.  Brian came home and relayed the message that our doctor wanted him to see a cardiologist sooner rather than later. We made plans to go the next morning but it wasn't long after that, when Brian started having chest pains and told me we better go ahead to Skopje to the private heart hospital right away. I had just gotten the kids a bath and Thomas had already fallen asleep for the night. I got everything packed (by packed, I mean I threw clothes from the drying rack into the suitcase without a care of folding or wrinkles). We loaded the car, kids in jammies, Brian in pain and me with an odd peace that could only be from my Jesus, and begin the long dark drive to Skopje.  The trip is only 2.5 hours, but that night it seemed like we crawled at a snail's pace through the dark windy roads and every 2 minutes I thought, we are never going to get there. Brian had already briefed me on arrival in Skopje: directions to the hospital, where to park, what to tell our friends who were meeting us to get our kids.  I asked him why he was telling me so much and he said, "Just in case I pass out."  OK. This. Is. SERIOUS!!!

It was the grace of God (as it always is) that got us to the hospital. With horrible night vision, curvy wet mountain roads, fog, a stick shift, and the stress of the situation, I have no doubt that it was the Lord who made every move for me. I told Brian on our return to Ohrid that I felt completely out of control of myself that night and I believe Jesus, quite literally, took the wheel. :)  He is good.

Where normal Mandy would most likely be in shambles by this point, I felt the pure and complete soothing presence of God. He was a shield all about me, guarding my thoughts from running wild to the "what ifs" and keeping me in His perfect peace.  He is faithful.  As I was praying, which I did for two hours and fifteen minutes of the two and half hour trip, I remember praying a prayer I have never prayed before, "Lord, hold Brian together. Hold him together."  I have prayed for good health for him and the kids. I have asked the Lord to sustain us. I have praised Him for how He daily provides for us and sustains us, but I have never utter the simple yet profound words, "Hold him together." It is Jesus who holds all things together. "...All things were created through Him and for him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16b-17) Praise the Powerful Name of Jesus!  My Jesus was holding my husband, His creation, together. He always has. Words of comfort that could only come from the Holy Spirit in such a time as this, poured over me and made it all ok.

We made it to the hospital, and while Brian was still in a good amount of pain, he was conscience. Thank you, Father!  He went on inside the hospital and I waited outside for our friends and teammates to arrive to take the kids to their house for the night.  Once I got inside the hospital, they had already drawn blood, completed another EKG and were waiting on the doctor to come in and do an echo-cardio-gram.  (I'm grateful for my heart history as I knew most of what was going on.)  The doctor discovered that Brian's heart was enlarged and his pulse was down to 43.  She also saw an anomaly on the echo that led her to call for the opinion of another doctor.  They agreed that they needed to do an angiogram (cardiac catherization) and that they should keep him overnight to monitor him.  We walked through the maze of the hospital, which like walking from the new world, back to the days of communism, back to the new world.  Once they ushered Brian back through the doors of the new world, the road ended for me. They brought me a bag full of all of his belongings and sent me home.  Brian said they couldn't find any hospital pajamas to fit him. They were all too small. So they gave him a gown and it was like a mini-skirt. They said they had never had patient as big as he is. So he rocked the mini-gown in a room with 5 other 60-plus year old men for the night. It was surely picture worthy.

I went to our friends' house, where they so graciously gave me a big hug and gave up their bed for me. The Body of Christ is an incredible thing and I am so thankful for how the Lord used the precious Boohers to bless me, love on me and care for my kids. The next morning, they gave me coffee, fed me and let me take a hot shower. They reassured me several times that they would take care of the kids all day. And they did just that.  Ira told me the kids didn't even ask for me.  That's a good thing... I think.

I spent the cold rainy day at the hospital. When I got there, the receptionist and nurses conspired together to break the rules so I could go in and sit with my man.  This was a BIG no-no. But once again God supplies all of our needs, and He knew I needed to see him.  I got to sit with Brian and his five roommates for most of the morning.  I am so thankful that we got to sit together and laugh at the funny old men in his room. I saw things that I am pretty sure I am not old enough to see, and I am pretty sure I breathed in some things that are the very reason we get vaccinated.  No, it wasn't quite that bad, but we did get a good laugh at the excitement of a non-private room... in the Balkans... in a heart hospital.... where modesty has never existed and people have been smoking since the discovery of tobacco.

I had to leave the hospital around lunch time to go feed myself and this baby, and quite frankly Brian and I really did start getting a little worried about all that I was inhaling. So he sent me on my way. The hospital gave a me a number to call to check in on him and see if they had done the angiogram yet. Brian had to wait most of the day for them to finally take him back for the procedure.  Poor thing.

At 4:00 they finally took him back. Brian said that although the table he had to lay on was big, it had been customized for the overall shorter height of Macedonians.  Therefore he had to put his head at the edge of the table and lay on his left arm since it was hanging off. I thought that was hysterical. He's really not that big, people.  Anyway, they finished up the procedure, assured him that his arteries were perfectly clear and his heart looked healthy other than this anomaly they had seen the day before.  Turns out he has what is called a myocardial bridge, which can be deadly, but his seems to be benign.  The doctors seem to think that this is what is causing his pain since his heart is enlarged and it is hitting this "bridge." After several hours of waiting for signatures and stamps (stamps on documents are UBER-important here), an appointment was made for follow-up. The doctors still seem unsure as to what to do with this bridge along with his enlarged heart.  While Brian would like you all to think he is perfectly fine, he is not completely out of the woods yet. But my God is God of the woods!!!  We go back this week for more info and will hopefully get all of our questions answered. Please be praying for that and pray that this will not require surgery.

Brian and I left the hospital with grateful hearts. Tired, emotional and physically, but so thankful to our great God who holds all things together by the power of His word.  He held my Brian together just like He always has, and He is the great physician we can trust to heal Brian.

My role now is to try and keep Brian's stress level at a minimum. It is no secret that he has been under a tremendous amount of stress over the last couple of months, and there is much more that could potentially cause stress in the coming months. Please be praying that the peace of God will reign in his heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  

Thank you all for how you prayed for us and encouraged us over the last week.  Once again I am so thankful for the body of Christ and I am thankful that we are not alone in this fight.  To God be the glory. Great things he has done!