My Last Four Weeks: I Survived!

In the perfect world I would be blogging every day. But I don’t live in a perfect world. I live in a world where plans can change in an instant, accidents can happen, doctors give surprise news, and praying is a standard part of the day, if I am to maintain my sanity.




Four weeks have literally slipped away while life continued on about me. And if I am not mistaken I remembered to thank God every one of those days for giving me the energy and physical ability to be of service to others. It was only after I returned home on Saturday that I felt the sheer exhaustion of what my body had been through for the past month.



My summer began with visitors, both friends and family. We had continuous company for a period of 24 days. It was awesome! I can only describe it as Christmas and Thanksgiving rolled into one great celebration, as our family can’t get together as a group on those occasions any longer. We are four families living in four states. It doesn’t make for easy holiday get-togethers.



The last visitor had been gone only days before I packed a bag and flew off to Ft. Bragg, NC, to help our middle child and her family unpack their belongings. They had literally been on the road for six weeks waiting for their new lease home to become available. They kept their home in CO, in hopes of getting back there after this current assignment.



I came to know Fayetteville, NC, much better than I had hoped as I visited 4 Wal-marts and 3 Lowes in the 4 days I was there. I have never unpacked so much stuff as I did there, although we, ourselves, had just moved 8 months ago. I am thoroughly convinced that someone could write a best selling book on packers and what and how they pack. What a mess this move was!



I flew home on a Thursday afternoon, went straight for a pedicure, came home, and repacked for our trip to my high school graduation starting the next day in Fayetteville, AR. Two Fayettevilles in two days! This reunion wouldn’t have been so important, but I have reconnected with old friends and made new ones on FB, so I was eager to get to my hometown and see what had changed. It was wonderful.



We were home for two nights after the reunion before heading to Texas and a heart angiogram for my sweet hubby. BC had a 5-way bypass at age 51. At that time the doctors told him that he would need a “repeat” in about 10-12 years. It’s been 15 years, and he finally failed his stress test in July.



We checked into the hospital in Plano at 6:30am and began preparations for the procedure. I was so blessed to have not only my sweet sister-in-law there with me, but also the young man who is taking BC’s place when he retires September 1.



The doctor came out after an hour and told me that he wanted me to come to Hubby’s room so he could go over the findings with both of us at once. Two cardiologists had warned us that at the very least stints might be needed. The memory of the open heart surgery replayed in my mind like a broken tape. Open heart surgery is almost worse on the care giver than the care receiver in my opinion.



Imagine our surprise and gratitude to God when we discovered that BC’s heart had healed itself by building new capillaries. Of course those little buggers did that with God’s help. There were hundreds of prayers going up for BC!



The bad part came when a blood clot the size of a grapefruit developed and began pouring blood out of the leg artery that had been used to insert the tubing. That meant that BC would lie for 10 hours flat on his back.



We stayed near the hospital that night, fearful of having to rush back. We stayed the next night in Plano, as well. We just weren’t feeling that comfortable with the restrictions placed on Charlie not to lift over 5 lbs. It was a challenge for us both.



On Saturday we drove to west Texas to our son-in-law and daughter’s home to get ready for the arrival of their second child on the following Monday, August 2. We had cleared this with the cardiologist ahead of time to appease the new mom-to-be.



The sex of the baby was a surprise, as Papa is a fiercely stubborn Norwegian, who didn’t want to know.



I was called in mainly to watch the 25 month old big sister, but I also was allowed to witness the birth of our fifth grandchild, a beautiful little strawberry blonde girl named Elenora Grey (Ellie Grey) after a paternal grandmother and a maternal great, great grandfather. What a blessing!



I am going to stop here with the real account of what I did in four weeks. In my next post, I will focus on a very lively set of boys living in Fayetteville, NC. Humor abounds!



God’s richest blessings on your life, as we are all on this journey together…