Clinging to Joy part three

Monday evening we were told that the surgeon would be a Dr. Noda.  The nurse said we were really lucky to get him, as he doesn't stop the heart to do bypass surgery and is known as about the best heart surgeon in the St. Louis area. She said that Dr. Noda is actually leaving St. Clare to go to St. Anthony, which is why she thought it lucky. Another nurse told us that he is the reason she is at St. Clare...she followed him here so she could work with him.  I smiled and kept silent, but in my heart I was thinking, "Luck?  No such thing.  God is just doing what He does best; revealing His great love and protecting His children." 

The next morning Dr. Noda came for a visit.  He explained that Dr. Wagner had called him in for a conference over the test results.  After a thorough investigation he had discovered that not only was there indeed the blockage, but part of the reason for it is that the artery that feeds the right side of the heart is immature - a hereditary birth defect.  The two arteries on the left had taken over and were extra large, which is why his heart is able to be so healthy.  If he had a sedentary lifestyle, this would most probably not be true.  He then told him that the other reason he had the attack was stress related.  He asked about his job.  When we told him that he works a 40 hour week, over half of the weekends each year plus is on call 24/7 and gets called out at all hours in all kinds of weather, then comes homes and has been mowing three lawns, gardening, working on 2 houses and around our house and is always watching to see if a neighbor needs help with anything, he looked at us and told us that from now on he was going to have to learn his limitations and when to say no.  Family genes may have been the stone, but stress was the catapult that set this off.

Another aside for you: only a handful of heart surgeons in the United States are beating heart surgeons.  Most of them are in the St. Louis area.  Keeping the heart beating is paramount in swift healing.  Where a stopped heart surgery takes the patient about 4 1/2 weeks for recuperation (not complete healing...that takes longer) the beating heart surgery allows the patient to recuperate in 2-2 1/2 weeks, cutting the time in half.  In my husband's case, Dr. Wagner told him he probably wouldn't get to go home until Thursday as he had three obstacles to overcome - walking the hallways at least twice without being wobbly, all tubes and oxygen removed and a bowel movement.  And then he would gradually build strength over the next week and a half or so.  However, he came in to visit Sunday after the surgery on Thursday and said he had no reason to keep him.  He would be dismissed on Monday!!  Another miracle!!  More later!!