Hi my Teacha, I have finally had a minute to drop you a line with regards to what’s been happening in my life the past 10 days. My Darling Husband had a very serious heart attack last Saturday (31st July) and after having an angiogram they discovered a serious narrowing of the vessel leading into the heart. (6 years ago he had 3 stents put into his heart because of the narrowing of some of the vessels) They did an emergency triple by-pass operation on Sunday morning and he has come through very well. According to the specialist surgeon he was seriously ill and this op saved his life.
The shocking thing is that I was out with my daughter Lauren on Saturday morning as we normally go shopping for our weekly groceries together and my DH was at home watching the rugby. He started to get a pain in his chest and jaw and recognised the pain from the last time. No trouble to him, instead of asking one of our wonderful neighbours to take him to the hospital, he got in the car and drove himself all the way to Umhlanga Rocks to the new Ethekweni Heart Hospital where his Cardiologist had moved to from Entabeni. We spoke to our GP afterwards and he said that although it was a very dangerous thing to do, it probably saved his life by going directly to the hospital. Just that week he had a patient arrive at his rooms with the exact same condition and he told him to go straight to the hospital – by the time the man got to the hospital he died – our GP said that the time it took for the man to first come to see him could have been better spent by going straight to the hospital.
I am seriously thankful to God for saving my darling man and he is due to come home today – just waiting for the all clear. He is healing very well now (after apparently loosing a lot of blood – they had to thin his blood down so much just so that he could get through Saturday night before the operation). Of course now he is talking about “we have to lose weight and get healthy”, “we need to exercise”, etc, etc, so I think this has been a huge wake up call for both of us and I intend to take matters into my hands and make sure we do all the right things for prevention. The only thing is that his specialist said that no amount of right eating or exercise would have helped him because his condition was inherited. His father died at 61 suddenly with heart attack – it’s just that nowadays we have such amazing doctors and equipment that they are able to do so much for heart patients. But regardless, we want to become as healthy as possible so that we can enjoy our beautiful grandchildren.
My daughter Lauren has been such a rock and she has helped me with absolutely everything. Hubby has to take 6 weeks to recuperate and is not allowed to drive in that time, but Lauren and her hubby Tim are getting stuck in helping with packing, etc, etc. Everything still is on track and with any luck we should be moving around about end September still, unless the strikes cause hold ups in the deeds office. We will just be patient.
Still looking forward to seeing you in October and can’t wait. I see you are VERY busy with scrapbooking things, teaching, travelling, etc. Still miss our lovely evenings in the Blue Room though!!!
Love to Conroy and look after yourself. Lotsa love and hugs Carol (the other TP)Here is a follow-up email from Carol with some good news:
Hi all,
Just a line to let you all know that Laurence came home today – yay!!!!! He is improving every day and is sooooo happy to be home (unfortunately it was a freezing day in Durbs today 19 deg after 5 days of extremely hot weather, i.e. 29 and 30 deg.!!) Anyway, he was just so happy to breathe in fresh air that he didn’t mind at all.
We now have 6 weeks of very slow recovery and every step is a baby step but we know that with our Father’s help he will get back to normal life. We have decided to start this journey together, i.e., a walking program from the hospital which we can start doing together right away, and also a much healthier lifestyle which we will help each other with – quite exciting to know that in 6 months time we should both be feeling way better than we do now. Look out “travel”, here we come!
Tim and Lauren have everything in hand to do with the move (which should take place [all going well] within about 8 weeks [unfortunately we are having strikes which will affect the deeds office] but we have all the time in the world now so we won’t worry about it. We are just so grateful to our children for stepping in and going the extra mile – I know God will bless them for it. Also, all the friends who have been there for us – thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
Both of us just want to give God the Glory for getting Laurence to the hospital in time and for giving him back to his family for a good while longer! Maddie and Charlie came to see him at home today and were ooohing and aaaahhing when they saw all the sores on “Pops’” chest and leg and were very careful to give them a wide berth when they hugged him “hello”. So precious!
Well, I am off to give the “old guy” some supper and whip him into shape but I will drop you all a line soon and phone as many as I can, when I can. Please continue to pray for Laurence and I as we covet your love and prayers.
Lots and lots of love Carol & Laurence
May we all appreciate our blessings each and every day.
Oh wow Carol, talk about a scare. So glad that Laurence is well and on the road to recovery. You will so enjoy being fitter and healthier once you start your programme. Good luck with the move and I look forward to seeing you in October at the next scrapday.
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