What Could Go Wrong Did Go Wrong

by Neil Murphy

What Could Go Wrong Did Go Wrong

Now I don’t really remember the night before open-heart surgery, something Catherine says is not abnormal given the events that followed. I went through surgery successfully getting 5 bypasses. Everything went ok but after I was closed up, and they started to move me off the operating table I had a massive heart attack. The surgery crew immediately broke my chest back open with the surgeon pumping my heart with his hand  for 11 minutes.  I had so-called beating heart surgery and was therefore not on a heart machine nor had I been, so he had to do something fast. They finally got me hooked up to a bypass machine but by that time my heart was enlarged from all that was done, and I was comatose from the medications used to keep me living. They couldn’t close my chest due to that swelling then, so I went to the SAMC CCU. I went back to surgery three days later to close my chest up which was uneventful by comparison. By that time it was discovered I had had what was characterized as many strokes, not mini but many like they didn’t know how many. Catherine said my brain scan looked like a night sky all lit up. My brain had been showered with stuff from the heart attack and  that causes real problems.  It was becoming apparent that I might not survive at all and if I did would most likely be in a vegetative state  at best. From May 23 till about June 17 time stood still for me, not for everyone else but to me it was like a second in time. Prayer warriors and friends covered us with hope and prayers and supported Catherine with help and kindness nonstop. Our farm was run by neighbors without even being asked out of sheer love and kindness. Our livestock looked after all that time by kind loving neighbors who were never asked to help. Doctors were preparing for the worst, talking to Catherine about ” terminal weans” and death related stuff, but she never quit praying, never gave up on me and believing God was in control no matter what ultimately happened good or bad. She stayed with me days on end holding my hand and praying for a miracle but never seeing any change.

submitted by cs murphy 9-19-20

this post is part of a short series by Neil

visit Neil's website Long Journey Back To Joy

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