That Darn A-Fib

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Happy Easter!  This Easter weekend hasn't gone the way we had planned.  But nonetheless the fact is true and remains, Jesus is not in the tomb!  He is Risen!  He took our sins, bore our grief and carried our sorrow.  Jesus is Alive and Victorious over the grave and death! 

This morning as I listen to our church web cast on Easter I'm thankful.  I'm thankful for a husband who takes care of me so well.  I'm thankful for friends.  Yesterday morning I wrote on FB about my heart.  Quite unexpectantly, it went out of rhythm Friday afternoon while reading a book.  The book wasn't even something scary, of all things the book I'm reading is The Secret Garden.  Yes, the children's book.  I have never read this book and while Dena and I were on our trip to San Antonio and the Hill Country, I found this book in Anthropologie and it was marked down.   It is a beautiful illustrated book and I might not even given it a thought except the author Madeleine L'Engle whose books I've been reading mentions The Secret Garden numerous times as a children's story that has grown up themes; the power of love, the power of words and the transformation from ugly to beautiful that results from love and encouragement.  Sitting in the reading room, a happy place for me, as I read the delightful story of a long lost but now recently discovered garden, I felt the all too familiar beat from the past in my chest.  I kind of dismissed it because every once in a while I feel it but this time it kept on, beating and pounding harder and harder.  I put the book down and got my blood pressure cuff and oxygen monitor out of a bedroom drawer.  My heart rate was high and getting higher.   I got out the monitor thing and took a heart reading and then I told Roy.  I laid down and rested for a bit.  I remembered that my Dr had told me I might have occurrences like this and to keep a heart med around and here I will go biblical on you, for such a time as this.  Then if I didn't see a change rather quickly to get thee to a nunnery...no get me to an ER.  Since having the ablation in March 2012 I have not had a big episode like this.    I asked Roy much later in the evening if we should go and do just that, get to an ER but he suggested it might be even more stressful for me, for one thing he would be driving me there.  If you have never ridden in a car with Roy as the driver, thank your lucky stars. Secondly, the wait and the chaos might over stress my already stressed system.  I told him I would call for an ambulance to take care of the first stressor.  We prayed and asked God for wisdom and for the meds to do the job, to settle and slow down my heart rate and God answered that prayer because the meds kicked in during my sleepless night.   My heart rate came down to 105.  Saturday morning I knew I needed other believers and friends agreeing with me in prayer and I asked on FB for prayer.  I closed out FB and put my phone aside as I slept and read all morning and afternoon.  I was blown away when I looked at FB much later in the day and so thankful for all those who took the time to let me know they are praying and believing God with me.  You have probably forgotten that I was writing about being thankful today and for these friends and family, I am thankful. 

This morning I am still out of rhythm but barely.  I think I will take one more day of quiet rest.   How I feel goes up and down.  When we were putting away Easter decorations, I had the worst fatigue attack that I've had since all this began Friday afternoon.   But with Roy doing yeoman work moving storage containers around, we accomplished the goal.  I found another box of Easter decorations and I knew I hadn't put out everything but in hindsight not having so many decorations to put up today was good.  We had planned our Easter meal on Thursday.  We ordered some sides from Luby's, we grilled corn on the cob and we had Costco roasted chicken.  It was a very good Easter dinner.   I finished The Secret Garden this afternoon and have started the new Barbara Brown Taylor book Learning to Walk in the Dark.  I have loved her previous books and she mentioned that this book is the last part of a trilogy.  Basically she's writing about finding a particular spirituality that works in the nighttime.   She is a former Episcopal priest who teaches in seminary and she is helping us to learn how to redeem and rehabilitate what we have learned to fear.

Thank you again for praying and please continue to do so.  The powerful meds should kick in by the middle of the week.  We have taken readings with my hand held monitor but now we need to reconnet the equipment to our phone to call it in on Monday.  I was feeling so sure I would never need that equipment again.   I so want to be able to feel good to take my neice on our trip coming up soon.