Friday, December 21st, 2102

I spent the night in the hospital, sleeping in a fold out chair next to my wife. A new nurse came on about Midnight and she was far more attentive to Michelle and my needs. She retrieved the pull out chair from another room and had not problem getting ahold of a doctor and upping Michelle’s pain killers.

Adam had brought some movies, and as Michelle finally passed out I turned on a movie and relaxed for the first time in 18 hours. We all know love in our life, and to see the people you love in pain or discomfort is very difficult. I always hated when the kids were sick. When my own Dad was dying, I encouraged our liberal use of morphine to help ease his suffering and my own. While I have had numerous sports injuries, excruciating back and abdominal pain, I never felt the hurt inside that I did when watching someone I love go through this discomforting time. Little did I know that in a matter of days I would learn a new level of pain that I had never before experienced and would change my attitude forever.

Finally, around 2:00am or so, Michelle woke up and the nurse and I helped her get up and use the bathroom. Knowing she had the kidney stones really makes this a touch and go operation. You have to go, you’re afraid of the results. Michelle is a very tough woman, but this experience was testing her strength and resolve.

After the nurse helped her back into bed, Michelle and I prayed together and we talked for a few minutes. I assured her I was fine staying there (despite her wishes I go home) and wouldn’t think of leaving her side. After she fell back to sleep, I also drifted off and didn’t awake until the nurse came in around 6:30 to get her vitals. We knew she was going to have a procedure in a few hours, and so I left her in the nurses care and headed home for a quick shower and a few phone calls to catch up the family on her status. I returned to the hospital in time to talk to her and escort her down to the prep area.

Michelle is in the surgical suite, waiting for a catheter to be inserted to temporarily take care of her kidney stones. Her Mom and Dad are sitting with me in the waiting area. Lynda asks about the previous evening, and I give her a pretty complete recap of our experience with the nurses and relayed what had happened with me as well. The following conversation is pretty close to word for word:

Lynda: So do you feel ok today?
Me: Yeah, I feel fine. Sure was weird though.
Lynda: Has it happened since then?
Me: No.
Lynda: I wonder if you had a heart attack?
Me: Sure, I'm gonna tell my wife as she's about to go into surgery "Hey Honey, Mom thinks I had a heart attack last night."

This time I was only 500 feel from the Emergency Room . . .