Today I'm feeling really lucky and really blessed.
Before Jeff and I moved to Oregon we owned a hot dog cart. He LOVED working the cart. He loved interacting with all the people. And he is a man that loves to feed people. So a hot dog cart was right up his alley. When we moved, we sold the cart to some friends of ours. When we found out we were going to be moving back to Arizona, our friends asked if we'd like to buy the cart back. It was more work than they wanted. We jumped at the chance and so Jeff has been at the baseball fields faithfully supplying concessions to the Chandler American Little League crowd. Last night, he called me with such panic in his voice it scared me from the get go. He asked if I could help him find someone to work the cart because he needed to get to the hospital. Apparently he was having chest pains and wasn't feeling well at all.
A little family background information - Jeff's maternal grandfather died at 49 of heart disease, his maternal grandmother died at 51 of the same thing. Jeff's mother died at 56 and Jeff's sister, Susan, died at 39 both of heart problems. To say the least - there's a bad gene pool there. Luckily, I am married to a man that is very good at taking care of himself - not overly so, like a hypochondriac, but he's smart about listening to what his body tells him and right then it was saying "Get me to the hospital!" He got some nice man to fill in at the cart and drove himself to Chandler Regional Hospital. When hospital staff think you're having a heart attack, they tend to get you in to be seen and start tests rather quickly. The EKG came back fine, the CT Scan came back fine, but the blood tests to see how much calcium is in your arteries didn't come back fine so this afternoon he had an angiogram. The doctor found 2 blockages, but thankfully they are not bad enough to require surgery. Jeff can manage them with drug therapy. Now his challenge is to lay flat on the hospital bed for 6 hours while the angiogram site heals so that he doesn't bleed out. For a man with Restless Leg Syndrome, that will be a challenge.
So, what about the man watching the hot dog cart you ask? Well, my son-in-law Dan called his brother, Adam and Adam went down to the cart and packed it up and took it back to where Jeff stores it. Adam said there were the nicest people there just running the cart and taking money and basically filling in while Jeff was away. People are good.
I am feeling lucky and really blessed -
Because there are good people in the world like the ones that ran the cart without even knowing what was going on, they protected Jeff's stuff.
Because there's people like Adam, who drove about 15 miles one way on a Saturday night to pack up someones stuff and take care of it for us.
Because there are kind, capable people called "hospital staff" who got my husband the care he needs quickly and efficiently.
Because I've had so many phone calls today from people checking on us and seeing what they can do to help.
Because I have the Priesthood in my family and my husband can have a blessing.
Because my husband is going to be o.k.
I love you, honey.
3 comments:
First I am so glad he is ok.. That is SO SCARY that all those family members have died from heart problems. Second - what the hey! Why did I not realize you were moving back here? Man- it must be a huge change from Oregon. Wow!
third- my dad has restless leg bad too & I get it too, but I take something at night to sleep..
Hope everything is alright. Do you need anything? Can I help you?
WOW Darc! Scary! Is it killing you that you can't be there? It's so nice to know there are still some good people out there in the real world. Thank heaven you were able to find some to help out with the hot dog cart! Please keep us posted on Jeff. I will keep you all in my prayers. Big hugs!
That was a frantic weekend. I think I ask him how he's feeling too often now. I hated that he had to take himself to the hospital! I'll be glad when you're all together in one place again!
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