We're Back!!

My, oh my . . has it been an eventful February.

And, not a super-go-lucky-fantastic February either.

It all started about 3 weeks ago. . . on a Thursday morning.

   I have a Women's Bible Study, hosted at my mother-in-law's house - every Thursday morning.  I dropped off the boys at church, for their play time, as usual.  Once I got to Dot's house, I was greeted at the door by our Pastor's wife who informed me that Aunt Eleanor (Great Aunt Eleanor) had had a heart attack and was just taken by ambulance to a local hospital.  Dave and Dot were upstairs getting things ready to take to the hospital for Aunt Eleanor.  This was a surprise to us all.  Thankfully, Dot caught this attack at the forefront and was able to get the EMT there quickly while she was still experiencing pain in her chest.   We decided to have our study as usual and to clean up/lock up for Dot.  I called Tim to let him know and we called Dave and Dot to get an update.  According to the doctor's she had a mild to moderate heart attack and she had to undergo a procedure to determine how bad the blockages were.  I told Tim to call his dad to invite them over that evening for dinner - to make sure that they eat and get out of the hospital for at least a little while.  We had a lovely dinner with them and really enjoyed our evening together.
   The next day, Friday, we got the results back from the tests and they showed more than 5 blockages, all ranging from 60% blocked to 90% blocked.  Surgery, at this point in her life, was a high risk.  At 95 years old, not many things are 'as normal'.  The other option that the doctor's gave us was to let her die peacefully and give her medications to subdue any pain.  Not caring for either of these options, Dot opted for the third option - a small balloon that would be inserted into the veins to open the arteries.  Again, there was a low risk of death due to her progressed age, but it was the "leaser of evils".
   I called Tim to let him know the update.  She was supposed to go in at 2:00PM that afternoon.  However, we waited and waited.  It was quite delayed.
   David called me at 4:00 to let me know that she still had not gone in.  So, we just continued to pray and wait.
   Tim called me around 4:15 to let me know he was on his way home and asked if I still had the phone numbers of some of the companies that had contacted him about other job openings.  I hesitated to answer knowing, very well, why he would be asking me this - now.  Sure enough, Tim was laid off (again!).  His contract ended and the company decided not to continue any contracts.  To be honest with you - Tim was quite relieved.  We have had some reservations about this specific company.  They were not at all honest with their consumers and were 'cutting corners' just because they weren't being caught in the act.  So, Tim had a real sense of the Lord's perfect timing on this one.  As hard as it was to hear that he was out of work, again, so soon - we have a peace.
(funny fact . . . this was the exact same day - February 19th - that he was laid off last year)
   We had planned on going on a date night this evening, since the boys were with my parents for a sleepover.   Tim told me that we were going as planned, though.  We desperately needed a date night, so we were really looking forward to eating at the Cheesecake Factory - despite the events of that day.
Dave called around 5:00 to let us know that they took Aunt Eleanor in for the procedure and that they would let us know as soon as she came out of the OR.
   I called some family members and our Elder and Pastor to let them know about Tim's job, so that I didn't have to put it on the prayer chain, in case it would get back to Dot.  We didn't want her to know yet.  She didn't need any more stress in her life at this point.
   We went to the restaurant and had a lovely dinner.  As soon as we were done, we packed up all of our leftovers for Dave and Dot to enjoy and went to the car to leave for the hospital.  Dave called to let us know that Aunt Eleanor made it out of the OR and was in the recovery/ICU room and gave us the room number to her room.  Tim and I really felt a sense of relief that she made it through - and we assured them that we were on our way.

10 minutes later, we received the devastating news that Aunt Eleanor's blood pressure plummeted and she had just passed away.  We were in pure shock.  We even asked "What?" as if he weren't telling the truth.  We let them know we were minutes away - then there was just silence the rest of the way there.

   We got to the hospital and just sat and grieved with Dave and Dot.
   It was a day full of sadness, shock, sorrow, grief, questions.  But, we delight in that Aunt Eleanor is with her Savior.  And that she got to hear Him calling her Home.
   This was the end to our day.  We left the hospital and went to Dave and Dot's house to sit with them.  We made them eat something and left the rest of the leftovers at their house.  We talked until midnight.  We laughed and laughed.  I think it was just what we all needed after such an eventful day.