Touches of Serendipity

My past two days were filled with touches of serendipity - the dip of the serene into the common responsibilities of life. I sometimes call these God's hugs.

Wednesday morning started fairly normal. I had exercised for 2+ miles on the treadmill, which is also my prayer time; showered; fed Ari, our golden retriever & started breakfast. My day was fairly open until the evening, when I watch & teach the Puggles curriculum to four two-year old boys at the AWANAS nursery. At 8:20 a.m. the phone rang. My sister, Esther, was calling at my Mom's request. Mom had just sent Dad to the Marcus Daly Hospital in Hamilton via ambulance. Dad, who turns 83 in January, had sat down to the breakfast table, his eyes rolled back & he collapsed in his chair. Mom caught him before he hit the floor. She then called 911. As the ambulance arrived, Dad was coming to & complaining of chest pressure. I thanked my sister for calling, wrote a quick note to Louis, (who was still sleeping after a late night of work for DirecTV) & headed towards Hamilton in the car. I made it to the E.R. - about 45 miles away - in record time. I even beat my sister, who lives only about 20 miles the other side of Hamilton.

Dad had received two Nitroglycerin tablets under his tongue, but was still having some chest pressure, so the ER staff placed a NTG patch on his chest. He was hooked up to oxygen & the cardiac monitor, which revealed some minimal arrhythmias. An IV was infusing saline & an anticoagulant into his blood... the ER MD was preparing to transfer Dad by ambulance to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. The Cardiac Cath. Lab. would be ready when he arrived to do an angiogram & whatever else they deemed necessary. Dad appeared to be at peace although uncomfortable. Touches of serendipity began:

. My father's brother walked into the ER to check on Dad. Robert still listens to the ambulance calls via a scanner, as he has been an EMT for years & years & his daughter manages the ambulance section & emergency dept. at Marcus Daly. He was eating breakfast when he heard the dispatch about picking up a patient at Dad's address. He quickly got on his coat & came to be with Dad.

. The Pastor who picks up Dad's hospital chaplain & hospice chaplain responsibilies when Dad is out of town, just happened to come to visit a hospital patient from his church & heard from the staff that Dad was in the ER. Before Dad left for St. Pats., he was able to turn over his caseload to this Pastor.

. My aunt/uncle from Idaho, had called our home to wish us "Happy Holidays". They had received our Christmas card the day before & just felt impressed to call this morning. They have never called us, but have always written us before. Louis gave them my cell phone number & I received the call just as Dad was being wheeled to the ambulance. I was able to assure Dad that Aunt Jo & Uncle Ralph would be praying for him like the rest of us. Dad was already on three different church prayer chains by now.

. I drove Mom home so we could pack an overnight bag for her & one for Dad, before we drove icy Highway 93 to Missoula & St. Patrick Medical Center. A winter storm was predicted for later in the day & was already dumping snow on Spokane, Wa. - due west of us. God slowed that storm down. It didn't arrive until Thursday night - about 36 hours later than expected & after we were all through with hospitals & back home safely.

My Mom & I always have funny things occur when the two of us are alone together. That happened again when we entered the ER at St. Pats. We asked to see "Alvin House" & said we were his wife & daughter. The ER nurse escorted us through two rooms & spoke to a patient behind some curtains. We heard a man's voice, that didn't sound like Dad, answer her. As she opened the curtains to let us in, we saw a dark, middle-aged man we have never seen before, laying on a stretcher. His eyes got as big as ours probably were. We quickly told the nurse that this was not who we were looking for. She said, "But this is Al Howe; isn't that who you came to see?" She became quite embarrassed as we repeated Dad's name & mentioned that he had been transferred from Marcus Daly Hospital. Because of her obvious embarrassment, Mom & I saved our burst of laughter until we were in the elevator headed for the Cath. Lab. where Dad was almost through with his angiogram.

(More to follow)
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