Three weeks ago today, my husband, Scott, was admitted to the hospital through the emergency room.
He had been having chest pains since January, visited 3 different doctors, and kept being told he had acid reflux.
In actuality, the main artery to his heart was 100% blocked.
There are 3 major arteries that supply blood to your heart and his other two were 75% and 90% blocked and rapidly shutting down.
His body was in no shape to survive open heart surgery, so we waited in ICU for 5 days in the hopes that the doctors could get him strong enough.
When they opened his chest the following Tuesday, things were worse than they looked from the tests and his surgical team performed a quadruple bypass.
Things went as well as they could with his heart, but his lungs were very weak. His left lung filled with fluid and collapsed, so he was back in surgery.
After a long, hard journey, we are now home.
The lessons have been many and they continue to reveal themselves.
I think the sweetest thing I can share with you today, was what Scott said to me before he went in to surgery,
“If this is it, I’m good.”
I asked what he meant.
“If God is going to take me now, I’m really content. We’ve lived a beautiful life together, our children are wonderful, happy people, and you and I have had a blast.”
I then asked what he would like to do, if it wasn’t his time.
“More of the same,” was his answer.
It is not for me to say what will bring any of us that sense of completion and happiness when faced with our own end, but I hope that each of us gets to experience a sense of peace and a knowing that we lived well.
Scott still hasn’t gotten his voice back, but each day he gets a little stronger. There is no cure for heart disease, but we have been gifted with a few more years to play together.
My gift for you this week, is really an invitation.
Please take a moment to tell the people in your life how much they mean to you. None of us truly know when our time is up, and love is meant to be shared.
Trust me on this one. The gift is in the giving.
