Stroke intervention

It was weekday morning,
September 17, 2008.

I woke up feeling fine and had plans on going to the gym with my friend Linda.

We planned on my driving and leaving around 9.
I had started to get a headache but thought it was probably that I had just not eaten.

The closer it got to 9 the worse my head hurt so I called Linda and let her know I didn't think I would go.
She offered to drive so I said to come on over.

By the time she got to the house my head was throbbing so I decided not to go at all.
Then I remembered...

Linda and I both enjoy sewing.
I had finished my granddaughter a dress and took a picture of it before putting it in the mail.
I sat down at the computer screen and brought up the picture.
I looked at Linda and remember saying "something is just not right"

I stood up to walk into the livingroom and slumped to the floor.

From then on the memories are sketchy.
The pain was gone but I felt I was in a complete fog.
Linda called my husband then the paramedics.
I can remember being curled in a ball on the floor, unable to move.
I remember Linda sitting and reading scripture.

When the paramedics arrived there were two hospitals they could take me to.

The choice made a life changing difference in my life.

They decided because my husband would be driving from the East to go to the hospital closer to where he was.

After tests to see if I had a brain hemorrhage, the ER decided I had a blood clot causing a stroke.

That hospital had a stroke intervention drug called TPA

Tissue plasminogen activator

on hand.  We found out later the other hospital did not have this drug. There is only a three hour window for this drug to be fully effective and by the time all the drive and tests were done, it had been 2 hr 45 minutes.

The drug has a 5% chance of fatality but the choice was easy.  As my husband tried to explain to me what was happening, some of what I remember was crying, I had no movement, and speech was just grunts.

I knew I didn't want to live in that state for the remainder of my life and although I couldn't say, I agreed with my husbands decision on my behalf, to try the drug.

Within the hour I was able to talk, lift my arms and move my legs.
I was kept in the hospital for a few days and by the time I went home, although weak I was back to normal.
You might notice, it has been a long time between this and the last entry.  One of the children in my sisters church in Kansas lost her battle to cancer.  It really threw all of us for a loop.  Why.

I don't understand why God allowed me to be spared, and others not to be,
maybe just to tell you of His Great love.

Blessings,
Debbie

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Voice Lessons

PSALM 100: vs. 1 - 2

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands."
"Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing."

I had always loved to sing but never thought I was talented enough to join our choir.  We have a very progressive and contempory sound, guitars, drums.  I thought maybe someday I could join them.

I had decided to step out in faith (this was so difficult) find a voice teacher and take lessons. I found a teacher and  I drove to her home, my heart just pounding--didn't know what to expect.  She was really cordial and she had to decide if was even worth her while to give me lessons, I had to just start singing a song so she could here my range. She said I did have potential and took me on as a student.  I did weeks of trills before I actually sang anything.  I took lessons for a year.

One day (NOT ACCIDENTALLY) a friend of mine at church who had no idea I had taken lessons asked me to audition for the choir. We had gone to church together years before in a small little church and we sang carols together in the Christmas Programs.

The day came to audition and I took a tape that my teacher had played on the piano. It was a beautiful song and I sang the lyrics. Our director said wonderful and your "in".

Our lives at church have not been the same since that day.  As a result we have been involved in "cell" groups within the choir, we are now in a life group and have 16 people in our home twice a month to do "life" together learning how to live a great christian life.

As a result of making so many friends we are active in many other areas of the church.

That ONE conversation from a dear friend has enriched how we worship and how we fill our days.

Our choir at a special service on 9-11--Honoring Heros.

Ann

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Hyperpyrexia

The year was 1977. 
We were:

NOT THE REAL THING JUST THE SAME STYLE

Enginer Bob and Conductor Debbie 

on 

THE HAPPY DAY EXPRESS. 
"We're going up to Heaven on the Happy Day Express
The letters on the engine spell J E S U S
The guard call "All for Heaven!"
We gladly answer YES
We're going up to Heaven on the Happy Day Express"

We were planning a large event at the military chapel for their Easter Outreach.

We had a beautiful little girl who was two and a son only 2 months old.
For the program we wanted a backdrop so I designed a banner using  5 queen size sheets sewn together.

Bob and his ventriloquist dummy, Brother Sincere, at the end of the program.
The lady was the head of the childrens programs for the chapel.
This is a small section of the banner.

It was a huge undertaking to do the quilting there was,

a train engine (with the Letters JESUS)

coal car

 pasanger car with windows flaps on the windows to to use for puppets

and a caboose.

On the morning plannned for some other ladies to come by to help quilt the finished cars onto the sheets I woke up so sick to my stomach. I had to have a neighbor watch our children.   I called the ladies to cancel and they insisted on coming anyway.  "just sleep it off on the couch and we will do the work."  I don't even remember answering the door. I guess I was really out of it with a horrid headache, vomiting and a fever so they called my husband and then took me to the military hospital.

I do remember being on a gurney, and a few words like issolation and 107.
My husband says when  he arrived it looked really bad, they had padded the door so it wouldn't shut because the sound made me cry out in pain.What  he didn't understand the peace he had.

Here was his wife, the mother of his two babies, 

possibly dying 

yet feeling that God was in control.

He had called some friends and they experienced the same feeling, trying to pray and just a peace that God was in control.

Spinal taps were done and they came out normal even though they were sure it was Spinal menigitis.
I was put in a room, on IV's and they tried to get the fever down.

Hyperpyrexia is an excessive and unusual elevation of set body temperature greater than or equal to 41.1 °C (106 °F), or extremely high fever. Such a high temperature is considered a medical emergency. It differs from hyperthermia in that in hyperthermia the body temperature is too high above the set point, whereas in hyperpyrexia the body's temperature regulation mechanism sets the normal body temperature too high. It is very often fatal http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_high_can_the_temperature_be_before_you_die

I had actually lost use of my left side.  Three days later, YES I said THREE, the doctor came in to the room and said "I don't know what you had, We didn't do anything but ice baths, asprin and liquids, but you are back to normal and can go home."


God is a God of Miricales and sometimes we don't even have to ask if it was a coincidence or accident. 
We know God was in control.




Blessings, Debbie

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THE STOPLIGHT

 

PSALMS 33:20

We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

One evening when my children were little, I was visiting my parents and went home around 8:00 pm.  My husband was a firefighter and I would often have dinner with them instead of eating alone.

To get to our house there was one major intersection with a stoplight.  I consider myself a cautious driver but had often just trusted the green light.  This night my light was green but as I approached the light I slowed down to almost a COMPLETE STOP.  For no reason really.  Suddenly a driver ran the red light going about 70mph.  After he sped by and I managed to get through my green light I had to pull my car over.  I was shaking and crying and thanking God for protecting my little family.

This was NOT ACCIDENTALLY.  This experience has affected the way I drive to this day.  I always look to see if the other driver is aware of his light!!! And now with people talking on their cell phones and texting, it's even more important. Thank you Jesus for looking after us that night.



Ann

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Linking with :
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