Stopped in your tracks

Monday afternoon started normally. I left school about 4 pm, met my husband and we headed up to The Wellness Center, a health and fitness center connected to our local hospital. I went to water aerobics while husband went to work out on the treadmill since recent cataract surgery prevents him from being in the pool. I left class about 10 minutes early because I had an early evening meeting and wanted to have supper between exercising my body and exercising my brain. As I headed out to our meeting place, one of the fitness trainers greeted me with the news that my husband was headed to the emergency room. Apparently while he was exercising he felt faint and queasy. When they checked his blood pressure it was through the roof and he complained of weight on his shoulders. I ran to the emergency room and found him undergoing preliminary tests, all hooked up to electrodes, IV's and oxygen. He was feeling fine, but was very anxious and his blood pressure was 187/132. We feared the worst - that he had had a 2nd heart attack. (He had a heart attack in 2000, and has a stent.) Blood work was inconclusive, and after 5 hours in the ER he was admitted to the ICU for observation and more tests. I got home about midnight, wrote sub plans for Tuesday, and called the sub coordinator hot line. Tuesday I was up in ICU at 6:30 am and he was feeling fine. His blood pressure was lower, but still not where it should be. After many more tests, it was determined that he did NOT have a 2nd heart attack and by 4 pm Tuesday he was released. We still don't know exactly what caused his extremely high blood pressure. Wed. he was back at work, and we were back at the Wellness Center exercising. He has an appt with his cardiologist in two weeks, so perhaps we'll learn more.

Being stopped in your tracks, putting everything on hold even for 23 hours opens your eyes to what is important. And it's not meetings, or jobs, or meals.