November 6 – “Burying the lead …”

We started our day going to a funeral in Webster.  Our old friend Mike Bell’s dad died.  Mike is a former youth pastor at Seaside.  We also got to see his wife Cindy and his daughter McKenna, who, of course has grown into a young lady, as well as Mike’s nieces who went to camp with us when he was here.  It was great catching up with folks we haven’t seen in a long time. 

 

On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel for some lunch.  After we were seated, we were approached by a young man who asked the dreaded question: “Do you recognize me?”  Nope.  Not right off.  He looked familiar to Chris, but neither of us could come up with an answer.  Finally, he identified himself.  It was Andrew, another of our Seaside kids who went to camp with us.  But he was much … shorter then.  He is now happily married with five kids.  He was out on his weekly, much-needed lunch date with just his wife – no kids.  Did I mention it was great catching up with folks we haven’t seen in a long time?

 

Now I have to confess, I buried the lead.  Chris got a call from her cardiologist last night.  7:30 p.m.  Not exactly office hours, so both of our hearts kind of sank.  Id that an appropriate thing to say when the cardiologist calls?  Remember Chris took another stress test on Wednesday?  And remember they told us not to expect a call from the cardiologist until probably Monday?  Yes, so do I.  Hence the trepidation …

 

Well … it seems Chris actually did flunk her stress test again.  Oh, her score was a little closer than last time – they did let her leave the joint.  But when the going got tough, well …

 

She did great for at least ten minutes.  The doc was highly impressed with that part.  But when the heart rate finally got up to where they needed it to be for the measurements, the same thing happened that did the last time, only not as severe.  Externally, she couldn’t breathe very well.  That was her only real complaint last time, too.  But the same internal symptoms were occurring.  In a nutshell, the doc thinks the other blockage (the one that was not big enough to worry about last time) that she has in the LAD – AKA Widowmaker might have gotten worse.  At this point it’s not an emergency like last time, but she has to have another heart cath with the possibility of another stent.  The nurse will give us a call on Monday to set that up. 

 

I have to close with some good news.  Christina is on the upswing.  Breathing regular room air.  Moving around more and more.  They are making noise about booting her out of that place, maybe as early as early next week.  Keep up the good work, Christina.

Matthew 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

 

Father, we are back again about Chris and her heart.  Please do some guiding of doctors’ hands and nurses’ touch.  Amen.