I got a call from

my sister-in-law, Laraine, on Friday morning.  She left a message, and I was very grateful that she began it with, "Richard is OK."   Because then she said, "But he had a heart attack last night."   When I heard it, my heart sank, but the fact that she said he was OK help soften the blow. 

Nine years ago he had a clogged artery and had an angioplasty and heart stint put in.  When he started having chest pains at about 9 pm on Thursday night, he kept thinking they would stop.  He didn't wake Laraine until he had been having them for about four hours.  By the time the paramedics arrived, they said that one a scale of 1 to 10, that he was at about a 9 as far as seriousness was concerned.  His blood pressure was 60 over 33.  Once at the hospital, they discovered that the same artery had become completely clogged again, so they repeated the same procedure.  They also discovered another artery that is 80% blocked, which they will repair in 6 to 8 weeks.

Procedures have changed dramatically since Dad had his bypass surgeries.    He had his first heart surgery in his late fifties and another ten years later.  At that point in time (in the 70's), they opened the chest and pulled the heart out to repair it.  Recovery was difficult and painful.   Dad also got hepatitis from a blood transfusion he got during that time.

We were amazed when we went up to visit Richard at the hospital this afternoon,  We knocked on the door, and he was the one who walked over and opened it.  It was amazing how well he looked and acted.  He is feeling great because, as bad as he was, once the blood flow was opened everything started to function normally. 

He could have suffered some serious heart damage because he waited so long to get to the hospital, but thankfully he did not.  They said that there is a four hour window of time from when a heart attack starts before permanent damage can occur, and his was longer than four hours.  He's gotten a good chastisement from all of us about waiting so long to alert Laraine. 

Richard has been on my mind a lot this last week, and I've thought about calling him.  This whole experience has been a  reminder to me to follow those promptings and not put things off when I get those nudgings.  I feel very grateful that he is doing well.

Here we are partying in the hospital.

Richard is on the far right next to Gary, Lynn, Kylee, and me.
Laraine is in front.

 Here is Gary being funny and pointing to the big fabric flower that came off my purse.  It really wasn't up that high, but when the nurse opened the door to come in, she stopped, looked puzzled, and pulled the fabric flower off the door frame.  It wasn't the first time that my flowers, that are held onto my purse with magnets, have migrated to a stronger magnetic force than are holding it onto the purse  (which the door frame obviously is).  Gary is mystified as to what motivates me to keep doing such things.