Endure it well

Hey guys,

Leah reporting to you at 3:21 AM from Room 409 of the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. Yep, we’re back again. Tony came in on Monday morning to get his weekly CT scan done per doctor's orders. Even though we've enjoyed having him home, we know he isn't well. He sleeps a lot, he's winded when he walks up the stairs, his energy level is really low, and on Sunday at one point, his heart rate was at 39 BPM. I was concerned at how low it was, until he opened up a can of Pepsi and drank it and not long after that, his heart rate was up in the 70s again. He also got moving, took a shower, and his heart rate was much improved afterwards.

Getting dressed for CT scan

Anyway, Monday morning, we came to get a CT scan, learned that Tony's creatinine levels were high, which would indicate impaired kidney function, so before he even did his CT scan, he was given IV fluids for an hour prior to his CT scan, in addition to IV fluids given to him for another hour afterwards.

On IV fluids before and after CT scan

Not long after the CT scan, Dr. Doty came and told us that the pseudo aneurysm (or hole) had gotten bigger and that they were going to need to do something soon, so Tony was admitted. It looks like they'll work on putting in a "plug" to stop the growth of the pseudo aneurysm, and if that doesn't work, then they'll be doing open-heart surgery this week.

Cardiologists performed another test on him - a transesophageal echocardiogram, where they learned that he didn't just have one hole, but several, and so something is most definitely going to need to be done.

Post-TEE test

So here we are back in our "old room" (what were the odds of that happening?!), awaiting procedures to be done this week, and wow, this has thrown us for a loop. I seriously had hoped that the doc would've said, "you're clear for another week", you can go home now, but here we are with "you're staying here, we'll do a procedure on you, possibly open-heart surgery". 

Getting an EKG done so they can see what's going on with his heart

Nurses came in around 2:30 AM this morning because they noticed that something was going on with his heart rhythm and they didn't appear overly concerned, but it has been enough to keep me awake this time. It was not something scary to them, but it was enough to jolt me out of my sleep. And now that I've been awake, I hear running going back and forth outside in the hall of the hospital floor, and I wonder if they're going to come into Tony's room, so I think it'll be a while before I sleep.

It's easy for me to be on edge right now, probs because I'm tired, and I'm worried and I want to make sure everything is okay. But in my time of being awake and praying and writing this post and thinking on things, a thought keeps running through my mind: "Endure it well." 

In the 1828 Webster's Dictionary (check it out online here), endure is defined as:

"ENDU'RE, verb transitive [Latin durus, duro.]

1. To last; to continue in the same state without perishing; to remain; to abide.

The Lord shall endure forever. Psalms 9:7.

He shall hold it [his house] fast, but it shall not endure Job 8:15.

2. To bear; to brook; to suffer without resistance, or without yielding.

How can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? Esther 8:6.

Can thy heart endure or thy hands be strong? Ezekiel 22:14.

ENDU'RE, verb transitive To bear; to sustain; to support without breaking or yielding to force or pressure. Metals endure a certain degree of heat without melting.

Both were of shining steel, and wrought so pure.

As might the strokes of two such arms endure

1. To bear with patience; to bear without opposition or sinking under the pressure.

Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake. 2 Timothy 2:3.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. Hebrews 12:7.

2. To undergo; to sustain.

I wish to die, yet dare not death endure

3. To continue in. [Not used.]"

While I was waiting for Tony's IV fluids to be finished, I overheard a conversation between a doctor and another family, where they were being told that a woman (I'm assuming it was their mother) had ovarian cancer, and he was explaining the procedure that was going to take place to remove tumors. Endure. I met a cleaning lady who'd moved here from Somalia only 4 years ago and has been working to make ends meet while trying with her husband to have a family. Endure. I met a Thai nurse whose father was murdered when she was 15, so she quit school to go and work to support her family, then moved here to Utah after she got married, and in 2005 became a US citizen, then worked on her GED, attended a local college to get her Associates in Nursing, and in 2014 graduated with honors from the University of Utah with a Bachelors degree in Nursing. Endure. Endure is one thing. Enduring it WELL, well, that's the stuff great stories are made of, right? Grateful for those of you who inspire me and the rest of us by your experiences of endurance. I hope you know that we're acutely aware that we're not the only ones in the world who are facing challenges at this time and who are enduring. Our prayers for you are that whatever you're all facing at this time that you'll be blessed with strength, wisdom and courage to not only endure your challenges and storms, but to endure them well. We're working to do the same as well. Glad to be in the same boat with you. :)

We're grateful for you, we love you, and we continue to pray for you all. May peace continue to be with you as you endure your trials well.

With love and gratitude all the days for you,

Leah