Independence Day / 4th of July / Saturday began as planned. I went to the Farmers' Market early and bought High Rollers BBQ ribs, fresh veggies for a salad, corn on the cob, bread from the Amish, etc. Joe left not long after that to go to Eric's for a get-together with his kiddos. He wasn't feeling well, and I was a little concerned about him going. I made him promise if he started feeling worse, he wouldn't procrastinate getting checked out. He promised. I learned later that he was even more concerned about the feeling in his chest than he was telling me. I think I would have hidden the keys from him had I known.
Meanwhile, the girls helped me get things put away as we made plans for all the dishes we were going to make for the 4th of July weekend. I was also going to take them and Baylor & Kyndal for a hike later that day if the weather would cooperate. We were just getting ready to start cooking when Betsy called me and told me that Matthew was taking Joe to the ER, because Joe thought he was having a heart attack. I was stunned. I immediately told the girls to get some things together and I started trying to get in touch with Bryce. I knew that his family had plans to go to the Fiddlers' Jamboree in Smithville that morning with Keeley's dad. He didn't answer the first few times I called, but thankfully, he finally did. They were already on their way to Smithville, but they turned around and came back so that I could meet them at Lowe's with the girls.
As I was driving down the by-pass to the hospital, Matthew called to see where I was. He said the doctor was about ready to give Joe a clot busting medicine, and they were all very concerned. I got there as fast as I could, parked, and ran to the ER entrance. Holly was waiting for me and showed me where her dad was. I was so relieved when I saw him. His color was good (greatly improved over what it had been, I was told), he was alert and communicating and all these things inspired hope. He was given the medicine and, thankfully, there was no adverse reaction. All of his vital signs had stabilized, but the tests had shown that he had had a heart attack and they wanted to air life him to St. Thomas in Nashville.
The weather had gotten worse with a lot of low cloud cover, so the helicopter was slow getting to the hospital. While we waited, Matthew and Clinton gave Joe a blessing. It was all so surreal. Joe has gone for regular check-ups - he had even been checked out by the St. Thomas Heart Group at Riverpark the last two years. His blood pressure was good. His bad cholesterol was not too high. How could this happen? They did tell us that his good cholesterol was too low and that that could be a contributing factor.
I have to interject here, and comment on how much I liked Joe's ER doc. He was so calm and confident and nice and attentive. I thanked him several times, and each time, he would tell me to thank the nurses.
Finally, the helicopter arrived. I went home to pack a suitcase with the things I thought Joe and I might need. Layla & Olivia were going to stay with Bryce's family, so I knew they would be in good hands. I met Lori's family in M'boro because she insisted on driving me to St. Thomas. It rained on us some, but we made it fine.
When we got there, we were expecting Joe to be in the Cath Lab, since that's what the staff at Riverpark had told us. We were shocked to learn that since his vital signs were all good, they had taken him to a regular room, and as long as he stayed stable, he wouldn't go to the lab until Monday. It was encouraging news. We got that info from Eric and Kristi who got there right after we did. We all went to Joe's room. He was sitting up in bed talking to Holly and Matthew and Tim Hitchcock. It was like I was in a dream/nightmare and my thoughts were all over the place. That day had turned on us mighty fast!!!!!!!
After a while, everyone began to leave. Lori went back to M'boro with Matthew and Holly so that I would have my vehicle in case I needed it. Joe and I settled in to our new accommodations and tried to process what had just happened. We had our hopes up that maybe he wouldn't have to have any stents on Monday (or something worse).
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