Heart Condition Part XIII
6/27/12
As we approached Cedaredge the remnants of the festival was still visible on each side of the street. Many of the venders had closed up shop and were placing their remaining items into various vehicles, essentially cleaning up and heading home until next year. Some people were still hanging around and having conversations along the sidewalks but for the most part and by catching a quick glimpse it would have seemed that the festival was a success. As previously stated we had decided not to attend the festival this year and to be honest we really have not attended that particular festival very often, which is another shame on my part since the festival can be added to the many options of beauty that this State has to offer and I have refused.
Many road signs warned of us possible children at play and even saw one that said to be watchful of animals suddenly crossing the road. Small town festivals have always been an interesting concept of mine in that it brings out the actual life of the town which can be represented as the heart of the town which is what makes that particular town thrive and sets it apart from every other town in the area. As we slowly drove down Main Street we decided to stop in at one of the popular shops and get some apple cider to keep in the refrigerator for a while. All of us like apple cider and since we are from the area we have a prejudice that the local cider is the best. After a few minutes in the store we all climbed back into the van and continued our trek towards home.
As we left Cedaredge Bonnie asked how I was feeling and I turned and said that I was feeling great and that I had no pain all day and that I was hardly tired at all. I then asked her how I looked and she responded that I did look ok but however I looked tired. The usually short fifteen minute drive from Cedaredge to Delta is a pretty one but some of the time you get behind some people that are driving way too slow for highway speed and frustration can arise. We had come upon a long line of cars and at that moment we were the last vehicle in line which we soon gave that title to others that approached from the rear. The short drive lasted almost twenty minutes to the intersection of Highway 92 and then a short four lane stretch back into Delta.
We crossed town and began to climb the small mesa that would lead us back to our pink house that sat close to the side of the road. As we approached the house I asked everyone if they had a good time and everyone was in agreement that it was a great day and that we should do this more often. We pulled into our dirt driveway and I parked the van close to the back gate behind the house. The young girls quickly unbuckled themselves from their seats and began to open the sliding door of the van. Bear had woke up and realized that we were home and a renewed energy came over him, he was ready to get out and be back at home. I sat in the van for a second and looked around to see if I could carry anything inside. Not much was left since we did not take too many things up with us. Tatem got out wand then closed the sliding door behind her, Bonnie was already out with Bear and both were already in the back yard. I opened my door and jumped down pain free and closed the door behind me. A click was almost immediately heard when I pressed the electronic lock and I walked to the gate went through it and closed it behind me.
As the back door to the house opened we were greeted with the familiar confines of our house which even though we had a wonderful day it is always nice to be back in your own home. We put our things in their respective places and then began to prepare for the start of the week. The girls had school, preschool and other places to be the next day so all bits and pieces had to be accounted for before the morning came. Tatem headed to the bathroom to take a shower and Bonnie and I headed to our bedroom to take off the excess clothes. I finished first and walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Bear met me and jumped up next to me and laid down, he still looked at me in an unusual way but I ignored it as he placed his head on the couch.
I sat on the couch and thought about the trip that we had just taken and how much it actually meant for us to have spent the day together. Since school started, and all other times of the year to be honest, we did not spend as much time together as a family and when I realized that I was truly upset with myself and told myself that that work, work, work mentality had to stop and that my family deserved to have me in their life more. But, it was not at this time that I actually put that plan into motion in fact when Bonnie came around the corner and asked me what I was going to wear for work on Monday those thoughts flew right out of my head.
The other side of the picture which I knew about but really did not believe applied to me includes the fact that people with heart problems should not be engaging any activity in high altitudes. Humans with undiagnosed heart problems are especially at risk when they enter into these conditions. Ever since moving to this beautiful state I have had the experience of working on many hunters from the South who come up to the high altitude and have major heart attacks or die because of they did not realize the presence of their underlying heart condition. Even if they do not have a heart condition others find themselves in the same situation due to the effects that high altitudes take away their functional oxygen levels simply because the air is thinner at these levels than at lower elevations. I have mentioned this before but it is worthy of repeating once again.
Then you take my problem in which I continually ignored all of the small symptoms and then totally denied other symptoms and went up into high altitudes and having one of the best days of my life, kind of ironic don’t you think? The heart muscle needs every bit of the oxygen molecules that surrounds the heart’s environment it gets used to this level of oxygen and then responds accordingly. So if you take this supply of oxygen away from the heart, even for a few seconds the danger of something happening to this environment increases proportionally and completes the damage many times without the person knowing it which is exactly what occurred in my situation. The decision for us to take a small day trip to the mountains was really a good idea but in the long run my insides reaped the damage that would soon appear.
Not many events occurred that Sunday evening it was pretty quiet in the household. Bonnie was completing the laundry for the girls and making sure that all of their things were around for school in the morning. Dinner was nice and as usual a family affair. I continued to feel good with no pain and really arrived at the point where I was beginning to place the entire situation into the back of my head and moving forward with the workweek. After the girls got put into their respective beds the older kiddo and we adults settled into the evening. It was chilly outside so it was time to build a fire for the overnight heat. This time of the year it was still warm enough during the day to not have a fire but in the evenings the temperature would drop to below freezing some nights and this night was one of those nights.
It took me a bit to get the fire started but it eventually lit and began to burn. The smell of wood smoke in the house was always a wonderful smell to me. Growing up in the south we did not have too many opportunities to build a fire but we did enjoy them when they came around. Bonnie on the other hand was raised with wood heat and basically froze when she was subjected to gas heat. I loved to build the fire and watch it grow in the insert that we had. The crackling of the wood and the warmth that it provided to the house cannot be accurately described but as delightful. We usually burned pinion and cedar for the most part which would always keep the house quite toasty.
After the fire was properly started and producing some heat, a few minutes of television was next on the agenda. Since the next day was going to be busy and an early one not much sitting up would be done by Bonnie, but we watched a few programs and then watched the first portion of the news and decided to go to bed. I usually stayed up later than Bonnie since I worked evenings and I could return to bed if I chose to after everyone else had left for the day but as the evening continued I found myself becoming more tired than normal so all of the older people in the house went to bed at approximately the same time.
As we were preparing to get into the bed I noticed that Bear was sitting at the end of the bed staring at me. I looked down at him and asked him what the matter was and he just continued to stare and not move too much. At first I thought he was not feeling well or that he was tired but as soon as I bent over to pick him up he became his normal wiggly self in his anticipation of getting to sleep in the bed with us. However, he did not take his normal position at the foot of the bed but instead he plopped down right next to my pillow and did not move. When I got into bed he moved down to my side and basically remained there for the remainder of the night. As the light went off Bonnie asked me how I was feeling and at that point I had no pain but I was very tired.
As I look back on things I remember that God has a funny way of letting people know that things are not “right in their world”. In this case it was my dog Bear. He noticed something about me that sent an uneasy feeling to him and as far as we can know it was something that he understood about my inner begin that I failed or ignored to recognize. God is an amazing character in which our finite minds will never grasp His concepts but one thing is for certain, His love for us endures throughout all trials and circumstances both the ones we can see and the ones that we cannot see. His Word tell us that He is a forgiving God and one who wishes for us to be restored back into communion with Him. I have many more things to share concerning my heart story which will eventually include a second part of my heart condition, but for now I will proceed with this specific event in my life.
DLB
Part XIV to follow….
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