I was born with a complete heart block and a steady heart rate of 46-48 bpm. In 1983 in northwestern Canada, busy helping develop a Christian community and college, my pulse dropped to a dizzying 24, 21, and then 16. Preferring not to depend on gadgets, I waited 24 hrs. praying my heart would stabilize. It didn’t. When the close friends helping and praying for me burst into tears, I let them drive me to the hospital an hour away. My sons ages 19 and 17 still needed their mom.
A Lear jet flew a cardiologist 570 miles to install a temporary pacemaker. It failed. That jet then medevacked me to Edmonton, Alberta for a dual-chamber pacemaker which worked.
Life gets very focused when your pulse drops too low to receive anesthetic. Sixteen bpm is one every four seconds–a long time and very quiet in between.
I prayed, “Dear Lord, please let it beat.” Boom. “Thank you.” Again, “Dear Lord, please let it beat.”
Pacemaers operate by wire leads threaded through veins to carry the electric impulse. My first set lasted twenty-nine years. Two years ago when I needed my seventh pacemaker, their fancy machine said that my second set of wire leads had failed. The problem was that with veins full of metal, there wasn’t room to add a third. The old ones must be removed although tissue had grown around them and removal can trigger a heart attack. I didn’t know all details but a second surgical team stood by.
Five minutes before surgery, the surgeon wheeled a different battery reader into my room—one like those used to know when car batteries need replacing. It said my leads were fine. The high-tech device that reports correctly 95% of the time was wrong.
Now two years post-surgery, the staff explained more about their contingency plans for getting the old metal out.
It’s quite something to have your life given back to you seven times in forty years. It’s also humbling to rest other people’s hands and experience their care and caring as they work.
Each time, there’s a certainty that God’s in charge and has more for me to do. I thankfully say, “yes sir, thank you, sir. What’s next? When? Where? It’s made me bolder and more confident.
Such challenges do us good in the long run. They are transformative and bring us to new and better places.
This Don Moen song from Psalm 73 says it for me,
Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon the earth
That I desire besides Thee,
My heart and my flesh many times they fail,
But there is one truth that always will prevail.
God is the strength of my heart (3x)
And my portion forever.
God is the strength of my heart (3x)
And my portion forever. Forever.
I know you’re equally thankful as for each next opportunity. Please share your stories of victory and thankfulness. Until next time,
Delores
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