"You only have one heart"

said the nurse to my Mother...

We had plans to go to the Train Museum in St. Paul this past Saturday, my Mom, Bennett, Daddy P & myself. I texted my Mom to see what time she would like to meet but she said she didn't sleep well the previous night and was going to pass and take a nap. This was a little strange to me, as far as my Mom goes, but I didn't think much of it. The remaining 3 of us ventured out to the Museum sans Mom. While there, Daddy P received a phone call on his phone from my Dad.... my Mom was at the Hospital.

My Mom is healthy. She is not overweight, she eats small and healthy portions, she exercises somewhat regularly, and she has had a clean bill of health throughout her life minus a run-in with breast cancer that robbed her of one of her "girls". Cancer runs in their family... but this wasn't cancer-related, this was her heart. Evidently, she had woken up with irregular heart beats during the night multiple times... and she just felt that something wasn't quite right. She was shaking with fear. 

After deliberation, she went to Urgent Care who quickly referred her to the ER. She had bloodwork done there and stayed the night and had a stress test Sunday AM. She passed the bloodwork and the stress test with somewhat "flying colors" and was given a small dose prescription for her irregular heart issues and saw her regular Dr. for a follow-up today.. which has given her thumbs up. 

My Mom is OK. 

My Dad's birthday was yesterday and we went over with dinner and a cake and my Mom seemed like she was never even in the hospital, like I hadn't just seen her the night before with a tube in her nose and laying there in that hospital bed... that never makes anyone look good. The entire atmosphere is ominous. If it weren't for the multiple squares of glue residue left on her upper chest area marking where the sensors were taped to her body for the tests, I wouldn't have believed that she was ever in the hospital. I was thankful for that, she looked well. She looked healthy. And thankfully, she is healthy.... praise the Lord. 

I know inevitably our Parents will pass on and we will only have our memories to hold on to, but I know that I'm thoroughly not ready for that.. and even when the time does come, I still won't be ready. Just the thought makes me cringe and start to get misty-eyed. Definitely not ready... and so very thankful that I didn't have to be this past weekend. 

Life is so precious and we tend to lose sight of this fact because it gets lost in the daily shuffle of every day life. Sometimes it takes things like this to open our eyes to the reality of it all, no matter how scary it may be. 

“Life is a precious gift. Don't waste it being unhappy, dissatisfied, or anything else you can be.”