Through the Valley of the Shadow #3

More excerpts from my prayer journal:


One of the wonderful nurses who had taken care of Monty, told us before she was leaving for the night that she would not be back and that she wanted us to know that we were a blessed family. She said she could not tell us before, but that the stents were put into the artery called the “widow maker” because most of those who have blockage there don’t make it!!! It is the largest and most important artery in the heart…………the Left Anterior Descending Artery!!! The first thing that came to my mind was the verse You gave us on Monday in my One Year………….Psa 27:14 “Wait on the LORD. Be of good courage. He will strengthen your heart. I say, wait on the LORD!!!!!” Praise Your name. You are worthy of our trust and praise. You have strengthened his heart, in more ways than one!!! Sovereignty. We did not go home today as they had thought!!! You are still using all of this for Your glory!! I pray for that nurse to see You in us.

What a great day of rejoicing Wednesday was……………until that night when I was here alone with Monty!! At 10:00 p.m., he suddenly groaned…….when I was writing in this journal. As I got up to check on him, the alarm on his monitor began going off loudly and people started rushing in……..his new nurse, a wonderful man and several others. His heart rate had suddenly jumped to 160 and he began complaining of his chest pressure. He was sweating profusely. When asked how much pressure he said a 4. It was horrible to watch him suffering so. After about 5 hours of trying different medicines and amounts (3 A.M.), it finally went from Atrial Fib to sinus, which is the normal rhythm and remained in the right rhythm the rest of the day. But then, about 4:30 P.M., he began to have pain in his left shoulder and when asked this time, he said it was a 5, which was the highest so far. They gave him Nitro, some pain medicine, & took an EKG (or as I heard recently an ECG), which showed no attack, but was still called heart pain or angina. They got that calmed down. Thank You for competent people who are your instruments for Your Sovereign plan.

When the nurse change over occurred at 7:00 P.M., the new nurse was standing by him to do his evaluation and noticed his rate suddenly jump to 166 and then boom………he was back into Atrial Fib and it was staying so high and bounced back and forth. But this time, he showed no reaction to it. His body was tolerating it………… without the sweats, chest pain or anything else. In fact, we were rather amazed that he was not having any signs of stress. If we had been home, I would not have known. Thank You that You still have us here......sovereignty. The new nurse, another guy was really indoctrinated quickly into the Churchill saga You were creating. This time he stayed really high in A fib.

Thank You so much for the way You are using all of this in so many lives, healing relationships, creating open conversations that needed to happen. I have thought about a great verse in Eccl............"Better to go to a house of mourning than a house of feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart".....7:2, I think. For the many people who are being affected by all of this, not that it is a house of mourning, for sure, but it is a time for the living to reflect. I pray that it will go well with their discussions and following up in communicating their love for each other.

I know that You are answering prayers that Monty and I prayed so long ago.

Finally, after several hours they still were not able to get him out of Atrial Fib, but they did get the beat lowered to a more tolerable rate, that being under 100. He was still in A Fib all day today. Dr Kerns was concerned that possibly his artery to his kidney was causing the whole issue of the high blood pressure, by constriction in it and that the hormone secreted by the kidney to protect it was able to be changed. So an ultrasound of his kidneys was done today, but they all seemed to be normal. SO, it would mean that Monty is left to take the medicine that has higher risk of side effects that Dr. Kerns does not want him to have to take. But the safer ones were not working. And the other thing he doesn’t want to do is put him on Coumadin since he is already on another blood medication, Plavix, after having a heart attack.

How great it is to have that quiet confidence that You are in complete control.....of kidneys, of blood clots, of heart rhythms!!! We are fearfully and wonderfully made!! You are a great Creator and Sustainer of life. In you we live and move and have our being!!

O Father God, how great You are and greatly to be praised. You are so worthy of all praise and worship. Today at 5:00 P.M., the medicine worked and he converted back to sinus rhythm. He all of a sudden perked up and is doing so much better. We all shouted with joy because we knew he had turned a corner. It meant that he might be able to go home this week-end after all. How good You are!! It is good to see Monty’s smile back and his warm personality.

Another one of the ways I have seen You provide Your grace to me has been through the many calls, emails and visits of Your messengers who love us. I am asking You to bless them and richly reward them as only You can for their acts of kindness to us.


Once again, I want to leave you on the same positive note we were all experiencing at the end of Day 5, Friday.