I have always been very thankful for the life and family that we have had. I worked hard to build a career and support our family and to be supportive of our girls. We raised three girls with a strong work ethic, personal integrity, and caring and respect for others. But this weekend I learned that their world can change in a instant!
At the age of 72, I have generally felt that I was in decent physical health. But I have been using our time in the RV park to stay healthy by walking 30 minutes every day. Saturday morning I got up and could not even walk to the bathroom without having to gasp for air. I knew that something was drastically wrong. I told Pam to put on street clothes because I was going to call 911. Marion County Rescue 28 showed up in short order. The medics were very efficient and very professional. And we were very quickly off to Ocala Regional Medical Center. Three hours in the ER and the general consensus was congestive heart failure.
Rather than bore you with a lot of medical jargon, the bottom line is partial heart damage caused by blood clots to the lungs. It appears that the clot broke up. If it had stayed together, it's very likely that the outcome would have been fatal.
We each live our lives in the moment and never really consider what can go wrong. But in an instant it can all change. Here we are, more than a thousand miles away from those that we care about the most and care the most for us. In an instant all of their worlds could have blown up. I was very fortunate. The outcome could have been very different. So while I have been thankful for the life we have all had together, I am ever so much more grateful now! I am so blessed by all of the people that care about me. I will continue to be thankful for all of them. But from now on, I want all of those people to know that I am thankful for each and every one of them! Recognize your blessings and acknowledge them.
No comments:
Post a Comment