The Best Place to Have a Heart Attack

I had been busy with life, teaching Bible studies, serving as a chaplain, and doing many other things. One day, during story time with first graders, a pain suddenly shot up my left arm and into my chin. I silently prayed for protection.

It went away. On Tuesday, the strange pains returned.

Sharp, piercing pains. They continued all day.

My husband took me to the hospital.

I was soon on a bed having various procedures, including blood work. Moments later, the doctor came into my cubicle. He said, “Try to relax, Pat. You are having a heart attack.” They would not let me go home. I spent many days on hospital bed rest.

I wore a heart monitor. I didn’t look sick.

My friends were all teasing me.

An ambulance trip to the Kingston, Ontario, cardiac unit for an angiogram was not encouraging. Severe blockages to and from the heart created scary prospects in me. I had always thought that right living would overcome all the obstacles to good health. That is not always the case, as I was to learn.

Genetic inheritance can be deadly. I became part of the “Zipper Club” when I had a triple bypass. The morning after my surgery, my surgeon came to visit me. He said, “I held your heart in my hand and watched it warm up, turn pink, and start beating. You will heal quickly because you are in such good health, otherwise.” Strict written instructions came home with me a few days later. Mostly, it was walk, walk, walk.

I send out a warning to other women.

If it happened to me, it could happen to you.

Signs of heart issues in women are not as dramatic as those in men.

There was no outward sign that anything was wrong.

I exercised every day and lived as healthfully as possible, but that was not enough. Through it all, I kept thinking of the text where God promises to take out our stony hearts and replace them with hearts of flesh. My heart had been on a one-way trip to disaster. Now its plumbing is replaced, and I am on the way to many more years of usefulness.

Patricia Cove