My dh is almost 30 years older than me. He's overweight and doesn't take care of himself. Well, ok, he did quit smoking 4-1/2 years ago (yay!!!) but he rarely exercises and he is clueless about good nutrition. I've been praying for a long time that he would take better care of himself. And for a few years, as he has gotten older, I've prayed that something would wake him up but that it wouldn't be something catastrophic because I didn't think I could handle catastrophic illness. Well, God knew better. He knew my dh needed a good sharp rap upside the head. My dh had a heart attack early last Friday morning. He experienced some chest pressure/pain and numbness in his arms while on patrol, so he drove to the EMS station in his town to have them check him out. The 12-lead EKG didn't show a significant change (it was actually a very small change that the doctor picked up on in ER) but a nitro did give him some relief, and they persuaded him to go get checked out. So, I got the dreaded call at 11:30 that he was going to ER, and away I went for what I can truly say was a night, or maybe a weekend, from hell. The good news was that they gave him retavase, a clot-buster drug, in the ER and stopped his heart attack in its tracks. While he had a 90% occlusion of his Right Coronary Artery, which they opened with a stent when they did his cath, he had no tissue damage or death. Thank God for that. He spent the weekend in the hospital and came home on Sunday.
So what's so good about all of that, you ask? Well, first of all, he's alive. And second of all, he answered the wake-up call and is taking seriously the fact that he needs to make changes, and make them NOW. He was absolutely terrified that he'd never see our children again. That is the motivation he needs. He's listening to me, unlike before when I got the "yes dear" response and he kept at his old ways. And he's apologized for not listening because he's discovered that I was right all along and that I really wanted to help him change his lifestyle. Before this, he'd preach lifestyle change to other people, but not apply it to himself. Now he's saying he knows he needs to do it. He's got a 3-person cheering team right there with him all of the way.
So, this week I'm thanking God for the heart attack he gave my husband. Bizarre as that may seem, HE knew all along what he was doing. It's just up to us to follow and see where HE is leading us.
