Surprises in the New Year

Occasionally, crazy stuff comes at you from nowhere, and rearranges your life. Car accidents, job downsizing, tornados, that sort of thing. Most people experience it at some point in their life. 

One just happened in our house. 

On January 1st, my dear husband awoke with a racing heart rate, but no other symptoms. After milling about the house for a few hours, we decided we should probably get it checked out. So we bundled up our three year old son and headed off to the acute care clinic. 

And without much ado, they sent us off to the Emergency Room.  

In the ER, they poked and prodded and listened and medicated. "He's in atrial fibrillation," they said, but not much else. His chest X-Ray was fine, the CT scan was fine. 

And then they knocked him out, slapped a couple of patches on his chest, and shocked him back into rhythm. A half hour later, we headed home with instructions to make a follow up appointment in about a week.

All righty, then. 

So I send him off to his appointment a week and a half later, not expecting much to come of it.

"You have an Atrial Septal Defect. It's pretty large, so we'll want to fix it."

"Oh. No. We can't do this through catheterization. Your defect is pretty rare, so it requires an open heart surgery to repair."

"But it's not an emergency. You've had it for 39 years, after all."

"We've discussed your case with the team of surgeons here, and they don't feel like they can do the procedure. We're referring you to Mayo Clinic."

Now, I held it together pretty well up to this point. My husband was stunned, of course, but the "Mom and Dad of the Sisters" have been through several open heart surgeries, so I am familiar with the routine of supportive loved one for cardiac patients. 

But then we waited. And waited. We didn't know if we would be called to Rochester, MN within the week, or the month, or six months. Everything hinged on the pending date. Hotel rooms and child care and vacation days - We couldn't do anything.

I had a little melt down. Then I felt better. It's amazing what a crying jag can do for you. :-) And it seemed like the next day, Mayo Clinic called with the schedule. I got booking.

My fantastic sister offered to fly in for the surgery and help manage my kiddo. I owe her a vacation.

Although we're still tense, there's a goal now. As of this writing, we are T minus ten days and counting. 

In situations like this, unexpected things happen. Mayo Clinic calls a few days after scheduling and says "You should go to the dentist." 

So I make my dear husband an appointment and he goes. While still at the visit, he calls me. 

"I need to have my wisdom teeth taken out."

I just laughed.