gratitude sundays (good friends and family)

It's been one of those weeks. One that reminds you just how unpredictable life can be, while at the same time bringing you blessings that you didn't ask for and probably didn't deserve. On Tuesday, Jon started to feel some pain in his chest after mowing his parent's lawn. It continued off and on throughout Wednesday and into Thursday. We just assumed that it was heartburn, but he didn't sleep very well on Wednesday night because of it, so when we got up on Thursday I made him an appointment for later that afternoon. Actually, first Jon went to the dentist and had two cavities filled, THEN I made him an appointment. As I was finishing my last piano lesson, he called to let me know that they were sending him over to the hospital to spend the night for tests and observation and that I needed to come and drive him over. His blood pressure has never been high, but it was elevated enough at the office that it concerned them given that he was also having chest pain. Fortunately my mother was already planning to come and get Abbie for a sleep-over, so she just took Derrick along while I went to get Jon. We got to the hospital and got checked in around 5:00 pm. They hooked him up to a heart monitor and ran another EKG (they had already done one in the office). They also hooked up an IV, gave him an injection in the stomach of some type of blood thinner (he got several more of these and now has a lovely 3 inch purple bruise on his stomach), and had him take some nitro for the chest pain. They took him later for some x-rays and shortly after that I had to go get Derrick and put him and Gracie to sleep for the night. He was scheduled for some stress tests in the morning to check on his heart and I planned on being there even though we weren't told a time. That was the plan, anyway. I have been doing some bookkeeping for my father-in-law's business. Usually he makes the bank deposits, but they are out of town so I have been doing it. I also had the employees paychecks that needed to be taken to the store, so I needed to stop on my way to the hospital and take care of these things. As it turned out, the noise I had noticed my car making the night before turned out to be a flat tire waiting for just the right moment to surprise me, which it did about 1/2 mile away from the store. My husband is in the hospital, my father-in-law is out of town, and my father was already late for an important meeting. Yes, my dad did teach me how to change a flat, but that was 10 years ago with a tire that didn't weigh a million pounds. So, my mom came to get me and the kids so we could go get our other car that we had to leave at the doctor's office the night before. The plan was for my dad to change my flat when his meeting was done. The errands were taken care of and I got to the hospital shortly before they brought Jon back from his tests. So far things were coming back OK, but he had spent an interesting night with the nurses. I think they thought he was in more pain that he was because he had to refuse a morphine drip and a nitro patch during the night. Don't get me wrong, he was in pain, just not THAT much pain, I think they thought he was going to have a heart attack at any moment! Anyways, Derrick was glad to see his dad, Abbie was with my mom and clueless, and my car was sitting on the side of the road. While at the hospital, we decided that it would be better if I just called Big O Tires and asked them to come pump up the flat enough to get it to the store for a repair. My dad is a busy guy, so one less thing for him to do is always a good thing. Up until a few years ago, Jon's parents owned the Big O Tires in town. There are several guys still there who always take very good care of us to this day because of that. We try not to abuse this, and always try to pay for whatever we need done, but it doesn't happen. Anyways, I left the hospital to go and meet the guy at my car. I got there and in the process of switching my kids back into the car with the flat, one of the ladies that I work with in the Primary presidency drove by, saw us on the side of the road, and whisked Derrick off to play with her boys, assuring me that he could stay as long as I needed him to and to come pick him up whenever. I had to fight back a few tears right as the Big O guy was getting there. He then tried to air up my flat, but it wasn't going to happen. So he decided to just put the spare on, except he couldn't get it off the back of the car. After searching through both of my cars and his for the necessary tools to get the spare tire off (yes I needed a wheel lock and didn't have one), he decided to have another guy bring some tools down. When the second guy got there, he still didn't have what he needed. He then tells me just to go take care of Jon, not to worry about the flat because he will take care of it for me and we can just come get it when we are able. Despite my protests that I should stay, he insisted. I tried to make sure he had my phone number in case we needed to buy a new tire, but he didn't take it. He sent the second guy back for a used tire to change for the flat so they could drive it to the store where they attempted to fix it, but couldn't. There was a giant triangular piece of metal that I had run over. They just let us keep a used tire and wouldn't let me pay for it when we went back that afternoon. So, I left to go back to the hospital because our doctor was supposed to come talk to us around lunch time. When he got there, he assured us that so far everything was coming back normal with Jon's heart. He still wanted to run a test to make sure that he didn't have a blod clot, which came back normal, so he released Jon with instructions to come back on Saturday morning and finish the second part of the stress test. Chances are that he has some type of gastro-intestinal problem or maybe an infection. We are supposed to schedule a follow-up visit for this week in the office, and Jon is now taking a daily Aspirin, Prilosec, and blood pressure medicine until they tell us otherwise. He is still feeling some chest pain, but has gone back to work and we're waiting to find out what is really causing it. To top it all off, despite repeated warnings not to kiss Gracie when they were sick, Derrick and Abbie couldn't help themselves and now she is sick, too. I think that about covers the last few days. Now here comes the good, that which I am grateful for. People saw a need and didn't hesitate to help out. They took my kids, they changed my tire, and they made sure my husband was alright (OK, we're going to be paying THOSE people, but I still appreciate them.) All in all, it's been a good reminder that things aren't so bad. And when they may seem that way, good friends and family will be there to help you through.