Chapter 12: Saying Thank You

Slide1It was Monday morning and I was feeling tired, but anxious to be discharged. Various nurses had mentioned that I was indeed on the list to be discharged today. The process started in the late morning.

Dr. Charron came by to pick up payment for the two angioplasty procedures he had done on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. We were paying him in cash that Jenny had brought since we couldn’t write a check in Canadian dollars. I was grateful that she and Jameson got to meet Charron, the youthful father of four. It was during his visit that we learned of the difficulty he had reaching the blockage in my left anterior descending artery.

After going in through a small slit in my right wrist, he discovered that there were a couple of arteries that were crossed somewhere between the insertion point on my radial artery and my heart. While this is a common challenge – often catheter manipulation is more difficult because the radial artery is smaller than the femoral artery and while a different and smaller catheter is used, it is a tight fit – navigating the right subclavian artery can be unpredictable. In a bit of a race with time and the ongoing damage being done to my heart due to the back up of blood, he was making a final effort to reach the clot before resorting to cutting open my chest and doing open heart surgery, when he was able to get through to the clot and break it up. He said that doing open-heart surgery in emergency situations like mine don’t turn out well and it was not what he had wanted to do. We also learned that I was one of five heart attack patients that had come through the ER that night for Dr. Charron.

I grew more thankful for the mercy of God, the prayers of his people and the skill and persistence of Dr. Charron and his associates. Being able to thank the doctor one more time felt good to my soul, as well.

We don’t know the ways God and his angels have protected us and saved us over the years. So, being made aware of our closeness to death is an awareness that makes all of the people and creation around us all the more precious.

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Jimmy Locklear

One seeking to live from his heart as a follower of Jesus. Son, husband, father, friend. Writer, marketing and fundraising strategist. Veteran of corporate, agency, and high impact organizations.