Tony's Hospital Stay

Well, Tony started having chest pains and thought they were his gallbladder, since he had had them before, 2 years ago. Gallbladder problems seem to run in the family, so it was a natural conclusion. He had 5 episodes during the weekend. They would last about 5 minutes, then he would feel fine, so he thought the gall stones were being dislodged. He said it felt like heartburn then moved to his back. On Monday morning, Jan. 12th, I took him to the ER in Jacksonville. They did an ultrasound and confirmed gall stones and thickening of the gallbladder wall. We went to an appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday. He asked a lot of questions, like do you get these pains after exertion, etc. Tony just went up our small ladder to take down Christmas lights on the eves on Saturday. The surgeon said he would schedule the gallbladder removal in about 3-4 weeks. Tony kept thinking about the questions and called the surgeon back to tell him that he was worried about his heart. The surgeon set up an appointment with the cardiologist on Thursday at 1:00. Meanwhile, the pains were getting more frequent and Tony couldn't even walk around the house without hurting. While in the office, the doctor did a rough test. He gave Tony a nitroglycerin pill. This took effect in minutes and asked Tony to walk up and down the hall of the office to see if the pain was relieved. He said he felt great. The doctor set up a stress test for the following day at 10:00am and said he wanted Tony to go directly to the hospital from the office, because he did not want him to have a heart attack. Well, they did tests as soon as we entered and late that night, the doctor told us Tony had had a mild heart attack already and that he needed to go to Greenville, NC to East Carolina Heart Institute at Pitt Co. Memorial Hospital(the best in East Carolina). He was transported the next morning to put stints into his arteries that were blocked. Part of the procedure for stints is a dye test into the arteries to see where the blockage is. Tony had 100% blockage in one and 85-95% in another. There are only 3 main arteries going to the heart and evidently, he has had this blockage for some time now. Because he plays sports with his kids, small arteries(country roads) were developed through the years to help get blood to the heart. These small arteries became blocked as well from the 85-95% blocked artery and caused a minor heart attack. This was such a blessing, because it would have been fatal the doctor said if he hadn't developed the small arteries. Yes, keep exercising to be healthy.
So, we had to wait 5 days to get bypass surgery, because they had giving him an anti-clogging drug on Friday. They monitored him the whole time. He was stir crazy waiting and not knowing when surgery would be.
Fortunately, our bishop, also our home teacher, came Thursday night to give us blessings. He said that Tony would do fine throughout this and recover well. We trusted in Heavenly Father and our faith and prayers from all of you has pulled us through all of this. The surgery was on Wednesday morning and Dr. Kypson said it went well with no complications. We are so blessed to be alive. We are so grateful that Tony has more work to be done here on this earth. I feel so blessed and grateful for my God, my family and friends, and my life, which is so fragile. Trusting in the Lord is the only way peace and strength comes to us.