Early Wednesday afternoon, DF went to the medical center for a stress test. Generally, a Christmas miracle story doesn’t start that way but bear with me.
Lately, he’d been plagued by serious fatigue and breathlessness, and working his way through medical testing (blood work, EKG, etc.). The stress test was just the latest arrow in the quiver. Or would have been, if they ever did it.
But before they could get started, the medico noticed that DF’s heart was beating as few as 20 times per minute. The average adult’s resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 BPM. Into a wheelchair and off to the ER in the adjacent hospital, from whence he called to report that nurses and doctors were “swarming him.”
Soon after that, he called to say they wanted to implant a pacemaker –and they’d given him the option of doing it then and there, so he could sleep in his own bed that night.
Sold!
I drove over as fast as I safely could, and caught up with him just before the procedure. We had about five minutes and then he disappeared behind operating room doors. I sat in the cardiac surgery waiting room, stunned and quietly terrified.
The first Christmas miracle
He could get the pacemaker immediately because he’d been fasting since 8 a.m. for the stress test. Had he eaten lunch, he couldn’t have been sedated and they’d have had to admit him for surgery the next day.
This would have been distressing because:
- Hospitals just aren’t much fun, and
- He has never spent a night in a hospital since being born. Showoff.
The second Christmas miracle
It was all so fast and all so casual. He didn’t even have to take off his pants! Just his shoes; he opted to remove his belt because it wasn’t comfortable to lie on.
About 75 minutes later, the super-kind nurse led me over to Recovery. There was DF, shirtless and shaven-chested, with a modest gauze dressing covering the incision. There wasn’t a hint of blood anywhere – just a Betadine stain.
He was slightly pale but cheerful, sipping water and chatting away with the nurse. DF sounded like himself again, instead of a tired and breathless invalid. A few minutes later, the nurse helped him stand, and she and I took him on a short walk.
His only real complaint was that his left shoulder hurt somewhat. The nurse explained it was likely because he’d been positioned in an an awkward way on the very hard operating table. A couple of ibuprofen before bedtime should take care of it, she said.
Now get outta here!
The third Christmas miracle
We were home by 8 p.m. It would have been earlier, but we were stuck behind an accident for 10 or 15 minutes. While I heated up some leftovers, he called a couple of family members to say he was home and whole.
I gave him that ibuprofen, tucked him into bed, tidied up the kitchen and finally asked myself “What just happened?” Then I sat down in the comfy chair to play a game on my phone, desperate to distract myself from the answer: He could have died, that’s what just happened.
The next morning DF was moving around the house the way he used to, before being sidelined by exhaustion. We couldn’t believe the difference. We also couldn’t believe the fact that a dozen hours earlier, he’d been in the cardiac surgical unit.
DF’s shoulder is still bugging him, but it’s nothing an ibuprofen or two per day can’t fix. Thankfully, he’s smart enough to pace himself (as it were) until the doctors give him the go-ahead for chores and, with luck, a return to downhill skiing.
Time is of the essence
He’s not a bit grumpy about it. In fact, right now he admits to being “in love with the whole world.” It’s the same feeling he had after walking away from a small plane crash decades ago.
Everything seemed freshly washed and brand-new. The sky was bluer. The sun was sunnier. And while his glasses flew off in the crash, they weren’t broken – another miracle!
No blue sky and sun right now, of course. It’s been gray and cold, and we have twice as much snow as we had in 2022, and seemingly half the amount of plowing.
In fact, DF’s appointment and subsequent surgery took place the day before winter solstice, the shortest day of the year (yet somehow the longest).
I have vowed to focus on what solstice means: That the light is turning around and heading back toward us. I intend to be ready for it.
Related reading:
- Midlife love rocks! (Ask me how I know.)
- Midlife love STILL rocks.
- The opposite of obligation.
- A satisfied life.
Donna, thank goodness he’s OK! But not a miracle. Instead, fast-acting on the part of many.
Respectfully disagree, given that not long ago this issue would have slowly ruined his life. I find it miraculous. I find most of modern medicine miraculous.
I’m so glad DF is okay! I know just what you mean about having to take a moment to process the experience, once the immediate crisis was over. My husband had emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction this past Thanksgiving morning. It was a combination of “this can’t be happening” and “hurry up and wait” but fortunately, everything was okay. And our
“Thanksgiving miracle” was that when the pain started, we were at home, half a mile from the hospital, and actually agreed to go to the emergency room when I suggested it. 😉 It turned out this was a congenital thing that had been there all along—he used to travel a lot for work, and the idea that this could have happened when he was in a plane, 30,000 feet over another part of the country, just blew my mind. I hope you and DF have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy this time together.
What a wonderful gift you both received!!! So glad all is well, Merry Christmas to you both!
Wow! Totally crazy they found the issue when they did but also a miracle. Great that you are together and doing well!
That is wonderful news! Merry Christmas to you both 🎄
What a wonderful Christmas Season story! Prayers for you both. Modern medicine truly is amazing !
This just might be the best Christmas that you and DF share together. There is sometimes a sequence of life events that come together with such perfectly orchestrated timing, that pure randomness doesn’t come close to providing an explanation. I’ve had a few of those & would say this is certainly an example. So happy for the wonderful gift bestowed upon you & DF!
So glad that everything turned out ok. Will keep you guys in our prayers for a quick recovery. That sure was scary!
It was. I’m still processing, as the kids say.
A miracle is right! Just a few short years ago that would have been major invasive surgery with a hospital stay tossed in. Merry Christmas!
Modern medicine is wonderful. May you both have a merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing your story. I am so happy that the miracles were there for you and that you can see them. I wish you a joyful Christmas and the happiest of New Years.
Truly a Christmas Blessing. So happy to read how fast and well it went.
May your DF continue to improve and the New Year bring continued happiness and health to you both.
Happy to hear you’re both doing well! Definitely an eye opener so close to the holidays. Merry Christmas!
So happy you’ve had a great resolution! Happy Christmas!
So glad to hear that everything went well, Donna. Wishing you both a Holy Christmas. And a healthy and frugal 2024.
Dad got his pacemaker under the same type of circumstance. He wasn’t feeling well and was seeing his PCP. Referred him to cardiology in the big city. Wanted him to go the next day but my stubborn dad said he couldn’t have surgery before he went bowling, mowed the lawn and washed the car.
He didn’t feel up to doing any of these things because he felt worse every day.
He swore he didn’t know he was getting a pacemaker, so he did eat breakfast before they left for the city. He was wheeled across a parking lot to the hospital where he did get a pacemaker. Because he had eaten, he did have to spend the night.
Battery needed changed a few times but he lived to the ripe old age of 96!
Hope your DH does as well.
So glad this story has a happy ending! Merry Christmas to you both (and to all your readers and friends), and may you spend many, many more Christmases together. I hope DF is feeling much better by now and that his soreness goes away ASAP. Send my regards to his fantastic bunch of medical providers; they are all heroes.
Donna, I join in the general rejoicing at DF’s Christmas miracle. May you and he have many more happy years together.
Wonderful outcome!
That is a wonderful Christmas miracle. I hope his recovery is smooth and he’s soon back to his normal routine.
Happy New Year
I’m very happy things went so well for your DF. I always marvel at what can be accomplished medically at this point in time. I look at cures or good improvements as miracles too since it may mean I have a beloved person still in my life or it may mean I’ll still be around for awhile. A Happy New Year to you both!
I add my congratulations on a problem well solved! A Happy New Year for sure!
Amazing surgeries and the healing of acute illness/infection/injury is what modern medicine excels at. So happy that those were brought to bear for DF. Truly a Christmas miracle! May you and he have many more loving years together.
What a great story! Congratulations on a major Christmas miracle! Keeping you and your DF in prayer.
Oh God bless truly a Christmas miracle!
Their catching it, and treating it seriously and immediately, in this day and age of difficult to access healthcare feels like its own minor miracle considering all that we can DO these days. So grateful that we have the tools and they used them immediately to positive results. How scary that must have been once it was over and you could feel the reaction.
Yes, This!
Wow. I have a defibrillator/pacemaker and it took them three tries to install it. (Congenital issues and a loose lead) I am so glad things went well. If both of you don’t have a will and a living will, plus a power of attorney for healthcare, put it on your to-do list for the new year. Who am I kidding? You’re a financial writer, you’ve probably got this cold. I need to update mine now that I’m am empty nester. My mom’s 91 and we’ve been trying to convince her to do so for years.
God bless you both. It was truly a Christmas miracle.
Happy New Year to you both!
Wonderful news!!! Thank you for sharing and spreading some joy!
Den
What a wonderful Christmas miracle indeed! Here’s to a Happy and Healthy New Year to you and DF.
So happy he is OK. That sort of thing is an eye-opener, and makes you grateful for modern medicine and the quick action of those who cared for him. Happy New Year!
What an amazing story! Everything aligned perfectly for this imperfect situation, Praise the Lord! I am sooo glad he’s back to himself because I know you are NOT ready to be parted from him (nor will you ever be).
You are correct, ma’am!
Hope you and your family had a great holiday.