First, thank you for all your prayers. We all appreciate them and will continue to appreciate them. As you may know, the first 24 hours are crucial.
Here’s what happened. Last night, he had some heartburn, which he thought was some sunflower seeds he’d had, but the feeling went away. Around 3 am, he woke with more pain, again just in the chest, not in the extremities like they warn you about.
He remembered thinking and praying that God would not take him now for the sake of Patti and the kids. The pain faded again and he rolled over and went back to sleep. He got up this morning and did the usual errands—took the kids to school, filled up the gas tank, stopped at the store. He got home and soon came in to the house and told Patti he needed to go to the hospital in Norwood, the next town over.
She wanted to call an ambulance, but like most of us guys, he was afraid of making a big deal over what could be nothing so he said no. Instead, Patti’s mom, who is a nurse, drove him. As they were leaving the pain was getting worse. She asked him if he wanted to go right to the fire station in Canton, where they live, but he said no. As they got into Norwood, they were sitting at a light in front of the fire station and the pain was starting to shoot up his neck and he was having cold sweats. She asked again if he wanted her to pull into the fire station. They were only about a half mile from the hospital, so he said no.
But as soon as the light changed and she started to roll forward, he changed his mind. She pulled in and started honking her horn and the firemen all came running out. At that point he collapsed and doesn’t really remember much until he came out of surgery.
He’s still in ICU. We got to visit him for a few minutes, but they were doing tests so we had to leave. Right now I’m back at their house with all the kids and friends who are over. Everybody’s in good spirits, but there is tension. The little kids know something’s up, but they just know that daddy’s sick.
Anyway, thanks for all your prayers.
