Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Best laid plans...

So, tonight was organize the room (always a necessity), get things outlined and ready to go before driving to Iowa tomorrow to visit my brother for the weekend. I was hoping to get that 'top ten posts' meme (how do you say 'meme' anyways?) that Adoro tagged me with done at about this point in the evening, and hit the sack early. Instead I'm eating a cold dinner at 9:00 at night.

What's that about how to make God laugh, tell Him you plans?

Between confessions ending at 5:00 and Mass at 5:15, my friend Kelly called to inform that our friend Tim was having a heart attack and was on his way to Christ hospital, could I get there NOW? (Ok, put this in the right context:) "Shit, I've got Mass at 5:15, I'll go up when I'm done!"

By 6:00, I was in my car heading up to Clifton and Christ hospital, which is only about 1.5 miles from the Cathedral. By the time I got up there, he was in surgery, and I sat and talked to Janet, his wife, for a while. (The hospital chaplain scored major points and showed up as well.) Janet's sister and nephew showed up shortly, and we were eventually brought back to see Tim and speak to the doctor. (Dr. Jennings, a parishioner from my former assignment, came out to see us as well.)

They had taken care of the blockage, one main artery completely blocked, and had put in a stint. Tim was back to his normal color and personality (something about the nurse looking at his legs?) By this point, Janet had greatly calmed down and relaxed, but she was very cute when we first got to see Tim, you could see the love in her eyes.

God was very good to him, Janet and the family (7 children). They were driving to deliver gifts for a family who had lost everything and had just stopped to fix a tire at a Speedway gas station, and he went out. The squad got there quick, and Kelly was right there to take the children back to the house so Janet could go with Tim to the hospital. Janet's brother (I think) lives next to Dr. Jennings. And she was right there to give him someone to focus on so he didn't drop completely off.

Praise God for his many blessings!

An email just came across the wire that friends are putting together a 'spiritual bouqet' for Tim and his family. If you want to add to it, just post it in the combox and I will forward it to them.

Friends, take care of yourself (me included!) Tim is a physical therapist and knows the dangers, but wasn't as cautious as he needed to be. It certainly woke him up, do you have an unhealthy habit that could lead to something similar?

2 comments:

Adoro said...

Praying! I'll offer tomorrow's rosary and whatever else I am inspired to offer at that time.

(FYI - my rosary and several prayers throughout the day, including some time in Adoration were dedicated to priests...)

It's awesome you were able to go to the hospital so quickly, and even fortuitous that it was right before Mass.

And considering that I thought I was going to lose my Mom the weekend after Thanksiving, can I just say that the Sacrament of the Sick means almost (if not AS much) to the family as it does to the person being annointed? The sense of complete relief I had when I learned that the priest had been by to visit Mom - beyond words.

Rich Leonardi said...

'Will pray for Tim tonight after the table blessing. Safe travels, Father.