The Day Of
It’s been almost two weeks, maybe three, since I’ve posted. My husband and I headed to Italy on September 14 for a trip we had planned for quite some time. I thought that I would blog while we were away. I thought I would be posting pictures on Facebook of our adventures! But then, life’s unforeseen events took place! On September 18, while we were site seeing in Volterra, Tuscany, Tim had a heart attack. He was rushed by helicopter to a cardiology hospital in Pisa.
I thought I would spend the next several blog entries telling you about what we experienced, how God intervened and what it all still has to do with a journey on a path of grief.
September 18 started out as a beautiful day on our trip. We had a wine tasting lunch scheduled at noon and so drove to San Gimignano first and walked through the town. It was fabulous. The views were spectacular and literally brought tears to my eyes. After the lunch we drove over to another quaint Tuscan town, Voltarra. At one point we had to walk up a hill to get back to the square. Tim kept losing his breath and we stopped several times to rest. It seemed weird because prior to our trip he had been working out to get in shape to be able to do all the walking we knew we would be doing. We got to the top of the hill and Tim sat down to rest. Seconds later, he collapsed on the ground and I watched in horror as his body went limp and his eyes vacant. There are no words to describe this frantic, terrifying moment. At that moment I thought I had lost him.
I yelled for help and knelt beside him. Within seconds a man ran to us and told me he was a doctor. He began working on Tim and another lady called the emergency number. Paramedics were there in minutes with a defibrillator. The ambulance arrived within moments. While all of this was happening, I stood and prayed out loud for God to keep him alive. Other people around me joined me to pray. We prayed without stopping. They got Tim’s heart going and stabilized him and told me they were taking him by helicopter to the hospital in Pisa. There is a very good cardiology hospital there, Ospedale Cisanello.
A very kind lady put a pin on the map on my phone to show me where Tim was being taken. Another very kind lady helped me get our rental car out of the paid parking lot (our ticket lost) and I headed for Pisa with my phone on google maps and figuring out the route. Unfortunately Tim and I had forgotten our chargers so my phone was gradually dying enroute. I made a wrong turn and stopped at a gas station. Not only did they redirect me, but a woman who was driving a delivery truck had me follow her to lead me to the Superstrada that would take me to Pisa. Once on the Superstrada I was able to stop at a gas station/store and get a charger. When I got in to Pisa, the pin on my map wasn’t exactly where the hospital was and I had to park and try to figure out where to go. Another woman happened along and once again, got in her car and had me follow her to the hospital. I have to note that neither of these two women spoke English and I don’t speak Italian. And yet, they figured out what I needed and helped me.
I was able to find Tim through the Emergency ward and he was in very good hands at the hospital. The doctor indicated that surgery was very likely needed and it was clear that we would be there for awhile. At this point I was finally able to reach out to family and let them know what had happened. They were all so amazingly supportive. I had nowhere to stay in Pisa (every hotel I called was full) and was literally sleeping in our rental car in the hospital parking lot. My sister, Shannon, got online and found me a place for the next night. The owner of the Bed and Breakfast was very kind and helpful.
The main thing now was that Tim was alive and in good care. He remembers very little of the day, which I consider a blessing! The immensity of emotions felt that day was a lot!
Now, you may ask, what does all of this have to do with A Mother’s Grief Journey. Well, it seems to me that God intervened every step of the way on September 18! You see, we often think that God’s intervention means that nothing bad will happen to us. That’s not possible in this world. When things happen, He is there with us every step of the way. God put so many people in our path that day to help us. He did the same when Mikael died. Put people in our path. We can have absolute faith that God is with us in the hard! He is with us in the impossible!
