Journey into Lightl

It was October 5, a beautiful Fall Saturday morning. I looked forward to a busy day of Saturday chores. However, as soon as I got out of bed, I sensed a tightening of the muscles in my chest, like someone had thrown a net over me and was pulling the net tighter.

I immediately recognize this as a possible heart attack and laid on the floor. I called to my wife to call the paramedics. Within minutes, our place was crawling with paramedics.

They began running a number of tests and then about ten minutes later carried me out to the ambulance. We were heading to a local hospital. They had not detected signs of a heart attack and did not think it was necessary to take me to a large hospital in San Bernardino that specialized in heart treatment.

At the hospital, they began running a variety of tests. None showed that I had anything wrong. However, as I was being positioned to have a stress test, I groaned that the pain level had gone from a 3 to a 7. This caused the technician to pause and seek counsel from a cardiologist.

The cardiologist ordered that the stress test be stopped and that a CAT Scan be done. I learned later that the stress test would have probably killed me.

The CAT Scan revealed that I had an aneurism of the aorta, the large artery in the heart. However, this hospital did not have the resources to deal with this medical problem. There were two hospitals in the area that did have the resources, but neither hospital had an empty bed.

So, they waited as I had an aneurism that could burst at ay moment.  Finally, a bed opened at 2:30 A.M. Monday morning at the large hospital in San Bernardino and I was delivered there in the wee hours of Monday morning.

The doctors began to run test and determined I also had a number of partially blocked arteries that would require surgery in a couple of years. However, the doctors were more focused on fixing the immediate problem, which was the aneurism of the aorta.

The aneurism was slightly smaller than what they required for surgery. They therefore, seriously considered using medicine rather than surgery to fix it. However, one of the doctors was suspicious that the aorta was bleeding because of the back pain I was complaining about.

They finally decided to operate on Tuesday morning. When they did operate, they quickly discovered that my aorta was bleeding, which would have killed me if it had continued bleeding much longer.

So, after a 9-hour operation, I had an partially-artificial aorta and 6 bypasses. Two major surgeries were done at the same time.

However, The prognosis is good. No heart damage and expectations of a full recovery.

So, what can we learn through an experience like this? These are some lessons I learned in a deeper way:

• God is very much involved in our lives and makes sure that nothing happens outside of his will. His will was for me to live this time and he made sure the doctors made the right decisions. “Whether for correction, or for his world, or for lovingkindnesses, He causes it to happen” (Job 37:13).

• We really do not know what will happen to us in the future. I had no idea I would be fighting for my life that day when I arose that beautiful Saturday morning. “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

• God has purposes for each one of us being on earth. Until those purposes are fulfilled, he will use his Almighty power to keep us alive. I believe he had other works he wanted to do with me before he took me home to heaven. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).

• God rules!