Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Issues of the Heart

Today sure didn't go as planned. Just as I sat down for breakfast a text came in that my brother John had a heart attack and was life flighted to St. Francis. With no other news we made our way to St. Francis as quickly as possible arriving just as the life flight attendants were coming down the hall after dropping John off. They reassured us that John was rushed right to the cardiac room for an angioplasty to open a blocked artery. We had a long walk to the waiting room where Beth, John's wife told us what had happened. She was babysitting with her grandson Jackson and went down to the barn where John was. She said he looked terrible. She was going to take him to the hospital when he told her he wasn't going to make it. She called for an ambulance, when they arrived they were going to take him to Graham hospital then told Beth, "we are going to have to call life flight, he is not going to make it." Life flight arrived very quickly and it seemed within minutes he was getting the help he needed.
Later John told Spark he was throwing a bale of hay down for the cows when he felt a tremendous pain going from his chest to his back. At first he thought he threw his back out and tried to do a chin up to pop it back in place but quickly realized he was in big trouble. About that time Beth arrived and called for the ambulance.
The cardiac doctor was able to put 2 stents in the artery that was blocked. This artery is called the widow maker and just happens to be the same artery that Spark had blocked.
Beth has called with some updates, they know there is some muscle damage but do not know if it is permanent and are hopeful since help arrived very quickly that the heart muscle can heal. At one point John was given blood pressure medicine and his pressure dropped too low. He is sore but feeling much better. He will spend the next 3 days in St. Francis and is in room 529.
Life can be so fragile.

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