Whew!

Sorry for the absence.  It's been a rough time for me and mine.  Getting ready for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, my husband kept saying he "didn't feel right".  Nothing specific, just that.  Plus he was short of breath.  Couldn't hardly walk three steps without gasping for air.  In addition, his blood pressure was super low and his heart rate super high. 

Now being a man, he refused to go to the ER.  I called his cardiologist and told them what was going on.  They'd started him on a new drug, a beta-blocker, about ten days before, so they told him to quit that, plus quit his other blood pressure medicine.  So he did.  By thanksgiving, his blood pressure was high instead of low, his heart rate still fast, and he still felt "not right."  We ate and watched football, while I tried not to worry.

Friday much of the same.  He sat around not feeling good, but said his chest wasn't hurting or anything.  Because the cardiologist's office hadn't seemed concerned, I tried not to be. 

When I got up at six am on Saturday to let the dogs out, he told me he was having crushing chest pain and had been since 2am.  He hadn't woken me then because "he didn't want to worry me."  I told him we were going to the ER and if he refused, I was calling 911.  He finally agreed, though he wanted to take a shower first.  I said no.

The hospital admitted him, but said his EKG markers did not indicate a heart attack.  They felt like he probably had some blockage.  They were scheduling him for a heart catheterization angiogram on Monday morning, which meant he'd have to stay in the hospital until then.

However, on Sunday morning my phone rang at 5:38 (scaring the bejeezus out of me) and he told me they were going to do the tests around 7am that morning.  Apparently someone else had an emergency in the night and the team was in place with the operating room ready, so it was a go.   

Great news!  So I jumped up, brushed my teeth and washed my face and got dressed.  I was out the door at 6:10 am and in Grapevine at the hospital by 6:30.  There's no traffic that early on a Sunday. 

We received an awesome report.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with his heart.  The doctor said no narrowing, no plaque build up, nothing.  They think it was either a reaction to the new beta blocker or else he had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in his lung.  They want him to have a CT Scan next week to check this.  They couldn't do that while he was there because of all the die they'd injected in him for the angiogram. 

So he got to come home Sunday.  We were both so exhausted, we went to be at 8pm and slept in until 8:30 am on Monday.  Then I had to catch up on laundry and groceries etc.  I'd managed to finish putting the tree up late Saturday night after I got home from the hospital, so I am done with decorating.  I'd done the rest of the stuff on Friday. 

And today is our 25th Anniversary!  We had planned a trip to Vegas and were supposed to fly out yesterday, but I cancelled all that and we're home.  We'll have a nice dinner out tonight to celebrate.

I'm very thankful, because Lonnie is my best friend and soul mate and I don't know what I would do if something happened to him.

And now today, I can get back to finishing that book.  The sooner I turn it in, the more I can focus on the upcoming holiday.  Oh, and I have a synopsis due on 12-15 too for my next Harlequin Romantic Suspense, so I'd better put my thinking cap on for that too.

What I have to say is this - Cherish your loved ones.  Don't take them for granted.  Give thanks and appreciate them every single day.