"Are these for our family album?" I questioned the cardiologist. He handed me two X-ray photographs showing the main artery of Tom's heart along with other arteries and capillaries. My husband had just undergone the procedure known as angioplasty to stretch the aorta. A permanent stent was inserted through the artery to keep the aorta open, allowing life-sustaining blood to flow unobstructed through to the other vessels.
The pictures look like an airplane view of a river with several of its tributaries. The two photos are almost alike. The arrow drawn on the "before" photo calls attention to a 95% blockage in the thicker artery. If it were truly a river, one would wonder how the "river" could possibly continue onward!
Indeed, how that blood could cross the blockage and continue its life-giving flow from the heart to the rest of the body was the mystery that needed to be attended to immediately!
Just how Tom found himself in the care of a cardiac interventionist physician, skilled in the technology of "threading" the artery with a catheter, a small balloon attached, pushing aside the plaque in the artery to open and placing a stent there to keep it open is the story of how God in His grace guided the whole scenario that I might now see the results in the "after" X-ray photo.
We had gone to visit my sister and her husband in their new retirement residence, a trip of about 2 hours by automobile. The three-night visit culminated with a Father's Day barbeque at our niece's home, another half hour more of driving time, where more relatives gathered.
Upon return to our guest apartment, Tom suffered an angina attack with much pain and difficulty in breathing.
"Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'here I am.'" (Isaiah 58:9 a)
Our son urged his Dad to contact the cardiologist under whose care he has been for several years; now, only one-half hour's drive away. That we should be that close to the doctor, that the office had a cancellation, that the right specialist was available along with the very busy catheter lab in the local hospital, could only have been God's-incidences at work!
"You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance...he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him." (Psalm 32:7, 10b)
Tom's "after" X-ray picture shows a strong blood flow to the heart, where the blockage once sent out the alarm! The patient's overnight stay under the careful watch of the medical staff on duty resulted in an amazing recovery. He was discharged the next day from the hospital, along with the added tenth stent in his life-giving collection!
"And He said, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'"
(Exodus 33:14)
The Lord took care of me as well. It just so happened that our son and his wife had not yet left for his business trip, and I was cared for at their home overnight. It also "just so happened" that our daughter's house, also close by, was available after the hospital stay for more rest and recovery before our 1 ½- hour return trip home a couple of days later.
We continue to agree and say with the psalmist,
"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation." (Psalm 91:14-16)
Praise the Lord!
