The summer of '08 is one that we will always remember. On July 23, DH had a heart attack but wasn't really aware of what was happening until he got to the hospital (call to dr. advised him to get to the emergency room ASAP). They did tests and put in a stent. He spent 5 days there. The day he came home DD and her family (husband, 4 kids and a dog) arrived from Idaho. Her DH went back to Idaho the next day. Everyone stayed for almost 3 weeks, plus DS arrived from St. Louis with another grandchild. It was hectic, noisy and fun to have all of the grandkids interact with each other (some of the cousins had never met each other). I felt like an activities director trying to find things for 5 kids and 3 adults to do to get them out of the house. We took lots of pictures and have lots of memories.
Picking and eating blueberries!
Ice cream from Cooks's Farm Dairy is always on the schedule (we went twice for ice cream and once more just to see the animals).
Getting ready to go to the Farmer's Market wearing hats made by Grandma/Amuma.
It was very quiet when everyone left, but we will have the memories!!
On Aug. 28 DH had quadruple bypass surgery. It was a very long day that began at 5:30 a.m. I was so blessed to have friends from church be with me for most of the day --Pastor Curt was there at 5:30 and stayed until Keith was in his room at 2:30. JH brought breakfast food and we had a "mini party" in the family waiting area (until others arrived). K pulled through just fine, but it was a shock to see him right after surgery. Then we began our long hospital stay. It was to be 5 days, but complications kept happening (irregular heart beat, high blood sugar, high blood pressure and the worst--the clip on his arm where they took out an artery for the surgery came off and they had to do a second emergency surgery on his arm to get it fixed). So finally he came home after 10 days in the hospital.
We are now getting on with recovery. We are walking every day--that is new for him, he wants to ride his bike and lift weights, but that has to wait until much later. This whole thing was so unexpected. He is the last person every one thought would have a heart attack. He works out very regularly (almost obsessively), rides his bike faithfully (he had just completed a 70 mile ride 4 days before the heart attack, with no problems), maintains a good weight and watches what he eats. BUT we found out that doesn't matter much if there is a heart problem in your family--heredity trumps everything. His dad died at 53 of heart problems. So now we move forward with a deep appreciation to the advances in the medical field.
