Truthfully I am not sure what I would
call what has recently taken place but, “A New Start” is possibly quite
appropriate and so that’s what it is.
I know I still have much to
understand from this and I believe God has still to reveal much more to me, so
this is where I am at now and not suggesting I have reached the end of this
particular chapter in my life.
As I reflect on what has taken place
over the past eighteen months I can see how God has kept His hand on my life
even if at the time things were happening I was not sure why.
At the time many of these things took
place I did not know all of what I share but I have been told by others about
what was going on and happening (this will be clear as I get into this)
Now: I am going to try and keep this
brief and punchy (so will leave loads of detail out – if you want that email
me, inbox me on Facebook or ask me in person when you see me).
God has had His hand in so much of
our lives over the past eighteen months but none more so than the last couple
of weeks;
What
Happened:
On Thursday April 10th Julie
(my wife) Kim (my daughter) and I were at home. At around 13:15 I felt
faint/dizzy, nauseous, blurred vision, breathless all at once with no real
warning. I had had similar “turns” 3 or 4 times over previous months but simply
sat down rested and got through them and felt fine after. I had been treated
for high blood pressure for several months and a recent MRI had highlighted
that I had a hereditary condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
(thickening of the muscle of the heart)
I immediately sat down but did not
start to feel any better so went to my bedroom where it was cooler. Julie asked
if she should go to work or not and I told her I’d be fine just go. I lay down
on my bed feeling less dizzy but very clammy/sweaty and out of breath and still
feeling nauseous. Kim checked on me regularly I was still poorly but said I’d
be fine – after all I had got through this before.
After about 2 hours of not getting any
better Anne (my sister in law – Julie’s sister) came round. Anne works in the
care industry nursing people in their homes. Pretty immediately she took my
pulse and found it to be at 37bpm. By now Julie came in from work and they both
called the surgery and we were taken straight there by Anne. Julie helped me
out of the car but I nearly collapsed as I got through the surgery doors. I was
placed into a wheelchair and taken straight to the doctor. After the doctor
seeing me for a few minutes she sent me for an ECG. The results showed that I
had dropped further to a pulse of 26bpm. I was immediately taken through to the
treatment room and two doctors and a nurse attended me and two of the reception
team were going back and forth. My own doctor heard that I was in the treatment
room and came down to assist and see how I was. Julie remained alongside me throughout
this and I was not entirely aware of the significance of what was happening.
The surgery had called for an
ambulance and within a few minutes a paramedic arrived. Both the surgery
doctors and the paramedic placed cannulas into my arms, I was given oxygen and
an injection (I think). I was continually being monitored with probes all over
my chest/upper body. The reception team continued coming back and forth
relaying messages I did not fully hear. Fairly soon the ambulance crew arrived
and the joined in with stabilising me. Discussions I did not fully hear were
taking place throughout.
I later found out that they were
discussing waiting for the Air Ambulance to complete their current job and then
fly to Fakenham to fly me into hospital. They had worked out that if no traffic
blocked the way the ambulance was about 10 mins quicker and so that was the
mode of emergency transport we took. The ambulance crew had been instructed to
take me to Kings Lynn because of 40mins delays at Norwich A&E but the
surgery doctor insisted on Norwich as I was already a known patient to the
Consultants there and they had already rung in to tell them to expect me and
Norwich had accepted the “booking”.
Even when I was taken into the
ambulance I did not realise the seriousness. I was told it was an uncomfortable
ride (having never been in one before) and I said well that won’t be so bad we
won’t be rushing too much. I was then told we would be going under “blues and
twos” – even that did not make me realise how serious things were.
During the trip to hospital my pulse
dropped further to 20bpm!! At this point the driver was asked to go as quickly
as possible (he was already going fairly quick anyway). Just after the drop to
20bpm the technician put a call into CCU (Coronary Care Unit) and persuaded
them to accept me straight in bypassing the A&E department, and they
agreed.
Upon arrival I was placed into my own
room onto monitors and had a range of observations taken. I was told they would
be stabilising me in preparation for the Consultancy round the following day
but they did not know which Consultants would be leading the round. They told
me about a range of emergency procedures they could do if things worsened none
of which I particularly fancied and so I determined to stay awake all night so
they knew I was “okay”.
In the morning (Friday11th April) the
Consultants came round and I was told I was being placed on the list, first in,
for that afternoon. I was also told that I had suffered complete Heart Block
beyond level 3 (Heart Block is the shutting down of the electrical impulses that
control the hearts beat, and it has 3 levels, 1 being the least of an issue and
3 being those at around 37bpm – I had gone way beyond that). I was also told I
was only his 4th ever patient to have the combined conditions that I
had. At that point he addressed the team that came in with him and told them if
they ever saw a patient like this they must realise it was rare, very rare, and
not assume it was normal in any way and so would need further investigation.
I was later being prepared for the
procedure by Helen the nurse in charge of my room and we talked about me going
down, and I said I suppose I would so long as an emergency did not come along.
She looked at me and said “No you will be going down at 2:30pm because I was
the emergency!!” The registrar came and saw me as he was going to do the
operation and talked me through everything that would take place and at 2pm I
was taken down. The procedure (I was told normally takes about 20-25 mins but
with all the prep it would be about 45mins in all).
I went into the operating room at
around 2.30pm and was given local anaesthetic (oh yes local, awake all the
time, and having conversations with both the registrar and the nursing and
technical team). During the procedure there was an issue with the size of my
veins so that he was unable to follow the “normal” way of inputting the device
and had to start an alternative method. During that time the Consultant came
into the room and the discussed what was happening and the Registrar requested
advice and in the end the Consultant led the rest of the procedure. When they
switched the Pace maker “on” I was breathing normally within about 30 seconds,
pretty amazing stuff!
It was just over 2 hours before I was
returned to the ward.
I was restless through the night quite
sore and ached a lot, but was well looked after by the nursing staff. On the
Saturday, after being monitored all night long and all morning, I was fully
tested by the Pace Maker technician and he was delighted and I was released home
at 4pm finally arriving home around 5pm. To celebrate we ordered a take away
Chinese. Whilst waiting for my son to pick up the meals I felt my tee shirt and
found that I was bleeding and after a telephone call was instructed to return
to Norwich hospital and A&E and that the cardiology team would come down
and see me. My son managed to get his friend to take me in.
The poor lady on reception thought I
had been stabbed or shot, but as soon as I told her who I was and why I was there
she knew who I was and I was taken to a nurses room. The cardiologist on call
came down and saw me and confirmed I would need to stay overnight and would
likely need to be re-stitched. In the end I stayed all weekend, being
re-stitched on the Monday and returning home later that evening. Over that weekend
I was able to meet a few real characters and we shared our stories and we
shared some real laughs. For one of them, Terry, I was able to spend some time
with him after he had been told his prognosis was not good and there was little
they could do to help at that time. Sometimes there is so very little to say
and you just have to be there for people.
When I was waiting in A&E I was
placed into a waiting area waiting for a porter to come down for me. During
that time one of the doctors came to have a chat and check I was okay. He asked
me about how everything had happened and why I was back.
This was THE MOMENT I knew for the
first time how bad things really could have been.
I told him about the “turn” I had at
home and that I was trying to lie down and sleep it off and just “get through
it”. He said “Do you realise that if you had gone to sleep you would most
likely to have gone into a coma, but no one would have realised, and you
probably would not have awoken as your heart was simply slowly shutting
everything down”!!!!
SO where was God in all this you may
ask, it doesn’t sound very good, and isn’t He meant to look after you/me? Well here
goes.
GODS HAND:
My line manager had called a meeting
in Hursley (240+ miles away) on the Friday morning and I was going to go down
that way on the Thursday and stay at a friend’s near to that office. At 09:30
that Thursday morning he cancelled the meeting!!: GODS HAND
IF I had been travelling down, and
given my plan was to leave home at 12:00, I would have been on the A11
traveling at around 60mph. The doctor told me in A&E had I been sitting up
or had I remained standing I most likely would have blacked out!!: GODS HAND
My sister in law is very close to us
and we see each other regularly and in particular she and Julie see each other
at least once a week. But it is always in Fakenham where she lives. She comes
over at Christmas but that is about it. She really never comes around at other
times. She came round that day!!! GODS HAND
No one in my house had a clue how bad
things were, I was happy just trying to recover as i had before. Kim and Julie
trusted what I was saying as this had happened before although to a lesser
degree. Anne knew exactly what to do and checked my vital signs and knew I was in
trouble and was able to trigger the calls to the surgery!!! GODS HAND
I am a very big man and Julie and
Anne managed to get me into her car, and get me out at the surgery and I
managed to get into the surgery with minimal help. They did not have the
strength and I wasn’t that sure of what I was doing!!! GODS HAND
The ambulance crew had been
instructed to take me to Kings Lynn but the doctor at the surgery stepped in
and insisted on Norwich and the crew agreed to change their destination!! GODS
HAND
On the way over things worsened for
me and instead of just accepting A&E would prioritise me and where I would
go once at the hospital the guy took it on himself to get me booked directly
into CCU!! GODS HAND
There was no idea which consultancy
team would be on the rounds on the Friday. It was MY CONSULTANT he knew me, knew
my history, and knew all the investigative work going on. Knew everything that
was needed without having to obtain records. Kings Lynn would NOT have had
those records because the IT systems between Kings Lynn and Norwich are not
linked. MY CONSULTANT!! GODS HAND
When things did not go to plan during
the op the registrar impressed me absolutely by not trying to just get through
it in front of his manager (my Consultant) but said please help and advise me.
He was humble!!! GODS HAND
My Consultant had been operating in
the room next door. He finished his surgery and came through to our room just
at the time the Registrar need help and assistance!!! GODS HAND
So please hear me.
God did NOT cause these things to
happen to me, the Heart Block etc. but, he knew they were going to happen and
so placed people into my life at the VERY moment I would need them and into the
places I would need them to be and created the circumstances to come together
so that I would be looked after and would be made safe.
OH and God does not stop there.
I recently had been applying for
other jobs as I believe I am being called into a new season somewhere, there is
a mass of stuff behind that which is not for here, but some people reading this
will know. I was highly confident of an interview I went for and everything
looked amazing, but I failed a numerical test which meant I was unable to
progress. I could not believe it as numbers are a very strong point for me.
Do you know what? IF I had got that
or any new job I would be on probation now. I would not be fully contracted and
would not be entitled to sick pay!!! GODS HAND
YES God even had His HAND there too
knowing I would need financial cover for a time and He saw fit that this was
the way He would ensure that for my family.
GOD IS GOOD AT ALL TIMES!! He watches
over His loved ones and He sees them even when they “walk through the valley of
the shadow of death” YES HE IS WITH ME
