As he attempted to get up, he sat on the closed toilet and suddenly went limp...twice! How utterly scary! My college health aide training went into high mode as I quickly tried to figure out what to do. What would cause that?! Stroke?? Heart attack??
I grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. As I was talking to the operator, my 9 year old woke up and asked what was going on. I told him that I was calling the ambulance to help get Daddy to the hospital. He then got dressed and woke up his 6 year old brother and got him dressed. It's amazing how responsible he really is when called to action!
I also called a friend from down the street and she came right away and brought my two blessings to her house. Praise God for friends who hear their answering machine in the middle of the night and jump out of bed to help!
The ambulance team arrived shortly after I had called and worked very quickly to get my dearest in a neck brace and onto a stretcher. During this whole time he had been telling me that he didn't think that he needed to go anywhere. I was positive that I wouldn't be able to get him into our van by myself and that we needed to go to the hospital in case something serious was happening to him. He was awake and completely alert during the whole time as well, except the two times that he went limp after I had gotten up.
You see, he had awoke in the middle of the night because his foot was hurting him. It felt like gout that he had had in the past and he knew that some ibuprofen would help, after all, in a few hours, he would need to be headed to church to get ready for the service. He got two ibuprofen out of the medicine cabinet, went to the bathroom, and was then looking for some gout medicine when he fell. He didn't feel dizzy or anything, just fell. (Those two ibuprofen I found on the floor later that day.)
As we were then headed to the hospital, my husband in the ambulance and me in our van, I called his parents to let them know what our morning was turning into. They live an hour away and headed right over and were actually to the hospital before we were taken to the hospital room from the emergency room. I am so very thankful for them!
After running several tests, the doctors came to the conclusion that his blood pressure had just dropped after he got up from sleeping. There's even a name for it...and it's very common. Almost everyone can have that happen at least once in their lives. I had never heard of it...and hope that no one I know has to have that happen to them. He is fine now, really as though nothing happened at all! (The loud noise turned out to be him hitting our fiber-glass tub...which now has a crack...but he had no bruises or signs that he had hit anything.)
That Sunday, God really showed me how He is Sovereign (has a plan and is in control) of my and my family's lives. That day, I faced the possibility of having to raise my boys alone. What would life without my dear husband be like? I didn't at all want to even think about it...but that's what happens in those few minutes that seem like an eternity. A person considers what is never thought about. And at one point, I even stood over him as he lay in the hallway and begged him not to leave me. At which he was telling me that everything would be ok...even if something did happen to him. God would take care of us.
My life will never ever be the same...I don't ever want to take the time that I have with my husband and boys for granted...thinking that I'll have all of these days with them. Balled up socks in the laundry? Coats not hung up on the hooks? Toys out and not put away? Late night meetings?
None of those things have the same effect on me...I now LOVE un-balling socks and thank God dearly for my blessings each time I have the opportunity to do something for them that will make their lives sweet.
And that, in a nutshell, is just one reason I do not complain about anything...not my husband, not my children, not the weather, and not anything that God allows into my life. God will take care of us.
"Do everything without complaining or arguing."
Philippians 2:14
"Praise be to the LORD,
for He has heard my cry for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to Him in song."
Psalm 28: 6,7
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
I Thessalonians 5:16-18
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