As I mentioned in the last post, we were not so patiently waiting for the appointment with the cardiologist scheduled for September 18th.  Harold was scheduled for a trip to Maryland – leaving on the 12th and returning on the 17th.  We were already apprehensive about this trip due to the difficulties he had experienced on the previous one.

In addition, Hurricane Florence began making her way to the East coast.  Her path was uncertain, but as the days passed she continued to strengthen and was projected to arrive the same weekend as the event in Maryland.  Even if that area did not take a direct hit, we were concerned that once up there, he may not be able to fly home – which would mean missing the appointment with the cardiologist.  This became more of a concern when she was predicted to make landfall somewhere at the North Carolina / South Carolina coast as his connecting flight was in Charlotte, NC.  We kept checking the event website, hoping and praying that it would be canceled.  On Tuesday morning, the day before he was scheduled to fly out, he was told that he would not be flying up for the event due to the storm.  Needless to say, there was a very big sigh of relief.  What we didn’t know at that time was that there was yet another storm on the horizon – only it wasn’t of the meteorological type.

Finally – it was THE day we had been waiting for.  We saw Dr. Grech at First Coast Heart & Vascular Center.  He told us that with Harold’s symptoms, his age and his family history (his dad had had three different bypass surgeries, his paternal grandmother died of a heart attack in her forties and his mother had a pacemaker), there was a 84% chance of a blockage.  There was also concern that with his frequent traveling, a blood clot could have formed.  We left the office with orders for lab work to rule out a clot (requested “stat”), prescriptions for blood pressure medicine and nitroglycerin, an appointment for an echo-cardiogram and orders for a heart cath.  This time things moved much quicker.  The very next day they called to make the appointment for the heart cath – on September 27th (he just “happened” to have the 27th and 28th off). Later that afternoon the doctor called to say the lab work showed no signs of a clot.  Again, we were in the “waiting mode”, but this time it was only for a week.

The morning of the 27th we needed to be in Jacksonville at 6 am.  Being approximately an hour away, we left the house around 4:45 – giving us a little “wiggle room”.  We would never have imagined that we were going to need each moment of that extra time.  Just outside of St. Augustine, we heard a “pop” sound and seconds later it was evident we had a flat tire.  At this time we were in the middle lane with a car to our left and a semi to our right.  Thankfully we were able to get to the side of the road.  And, thankfully it was on the passenger side so that when he was changing the tire, he was away from traffic.  Not only that, but it was at the last lighted section of the highway for quite a while.  Again – we don’t believe in “co-incidences” – we believe that God’s hand was on this.  The whole time he was changing the tire, I sat in the car – alternating from praying to checking the estimated time of arrival to the cath lab.  I tried holding back tears because honestly, I was SCARED.  It was very windy and with each passing vehicle I could feel the car move.  In addition, I could see from the side view mirror that Harold was having difficulty getting the old tire off the car and I was truly worried that it would exacerbate his problems.  When he finally got into the car, I could tell that it had taken a toll on him, but as usual, he said he was fine.  That little “wiggle room” was the exact amount of time we needed as we arrived at the lab at exactly 6 am.

When he returned to the room after the procedure, I asked him if they found anything.  His answer: “there are a few issues but I will let the doctor talk to you so I don’t get anything wrong” (which of course made me tremble inside).  When she came in, she said there were at least two blockages and she wasn’t sure if a stent would be a solution, or, because of the location of one, he would need surgery.  He was going to need a more extensive heart cath, which was scheduled for the following Monday.  If it turned out that stents would be work, the doctor would do them at that time. We were also told that even if all he felt was shortness of breath to take the nitro – that different people experienced different symptoms and his shortness of breath could be the equivalent of someone else’s chest pain.  So once again, we were in a period of “waiting” – but this time it was only for a few days.  During that “waiting” period a flood of emotions washed over me – the first of which was fear.

The “storm” continued to brew and strengthen, but once again, God showed His perfect timing and provision…and turned that fear into peace.