Two Boats and a Helicopter

     As my sister and I were serving in the kitchen for a funeral luncheon Saturday, she said, "I wonder if any Christians who die of Covid get to heaven and God says, "I told you to get the vaccine!" Interesting thought, especially since my sister is not vaccinated. Our church has had two funerals in just a few weeks. The first man was unvaccinated but, at 68, in really good shape. He had recently out-hiked twenty somethings as he prepared for an upcoming elk hunt. He had, however, some scarring in his lungs from GERD/reflux and that, plus Covid, caused blood clots, one of which led to a heart attack. He was in the hospital at the time and on blood thinners, but there is no way to prevent that particular complication. God is sovereign, so I assume this was his appointed time, but wouldn't it be sad if he found out in heaven that he could have had his elk hunt, not to mention more time with his family, if he had taken the vaccine.

   The funeral Saturday was for a 76 year old man who had been vaccinated, but had so many preexisting conditions that, though he survived Covid, his already weak heart could not recover from the strain. Ted's family gathered around his bed to say goodbye. When his son suggested family prayer, Ted was the first to pray. His physical heart was failing, but his heart for the Lord was strong as ever.

    There is an old joke about the Christian caught in a flood who turned down two rescue boats and a helicopter because God was going to save him. After he drowned, he asked the Lord why he didn't rescue him and the Lord said, "I sent two boats and a helicopter!" What if the vaccine is like that? Why do Christians who believe God can save them from Covid believe He can't protect them from potential side effects of the vaccine? 

    After my husband's description of a friend's experience with Covid--lost 22 lbs. because he couldn't keep anything down, potassium so low it could have caused a heart attack, body aches so bad it hurt to text, fingertips blue from lack of oxygen--I felt better about being vaccinated. As a Christian, I have no great fear of death, but I can't say the same about suffering. No one wants to die of diarrhea. Since the people I know who are getting infected now have not changed their lifestyles or places they go, I am resigned to eventually developing Covid, but I am hoping my experience will be more like that of my vaccinated Dad, brother and older friends at church--minor cold symptoms. I can handle that. Nausea, diarrhea, aching, blue body parts--not so much. 

   There are things I hope to hear from the Lord after I die. If not ,"Well done my good and faithful servant", at least, "Welcome home." But there are also things I don't want to hear, such as, "I sent you two boats and a helicopter!" And especially not, "What are you doing here?" 

    

 

The Blind Men and the Elephant

     Since Reed's heart episode, he has been getting lots of dietary recommendations. This is good because he is finally willing to follow them, but it is also bad because the diet data is contradictory. For example, his heart information says the pizza he loves is unhealthy because of the nitrates in processed meat. Meanwhile our family doctor said the meat is fine, but the crust is unhealthy. It reminds me of a poem I heard in school called:  The Blind Men and the Elephant. Through the wondrous wisdom of Wikipedia, I can share it here.

.

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT.

A HINDOO FABLE.

I.

IT was six men of Indostan 

To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

II.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me!—but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

III.

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: "Ho!—what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 't is mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

IV.

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:

"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

V.

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'T is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

VI.

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

VII.

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

VIII.

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong! 

 

       The moral of this Hindu fable is about theological disputes. I am going to apply it to the topic I started with, but mine is in the form of a joke:

   Four dieticians are eating in the cafeteria, when a man sits down at the next table to eat his cheeseburger combo meal.

 The first dietician says, "That man is going to have a stroke from the fat and sodium in his french fries.""No," says the second, "he is going to get diabetes from the sugar in his soda." 

"Not likely," says the third, "he'll have a heart attack from the fat in the meat and cheese before that happens."

"You're wrong," says the fourth, "there's nothing wrong with the meat and fat, it's the carbs and gluten in the bun that's the problem."

 

     Nutrition science is as problematic as Covid science, facts are filtered by the focus, and sometimes the personal food preferences of the "expert". The basic recommended diet for both the healthy and the unhealthy is lots of veggies, lean meat and whole grains/little saturated fats and sugars. Diet and exercise play a role in the health problems listed above, but so do age and genetics. My diet inspiration is Dr. Atkins who, after a lifetime of depriving himself of potatoes, pasta, pastry and bread, fell, hit his head on a New York sidewalk, and died at 72. I think if he had known that all his sacrifices for the sake of health would be undone by a slab of cement, he would have eaten whatever he wanted. 

      And that is my recommendation for Reed. Eat what you want, but not so much, and not too often. Sip the sugary drinks. Eat snacks by the each, not the handful. Deprivation diets lead to frustration and failure. Moderation makes eating manageable.

And now for the punchline:

  

     The man finishes his combo meal, gets up, turns to the dieticians and says, "I should probably get more exercise, too." So he picks up their table and their tofu, carrot sticks, cottage cheese and quinoa clatter to the floor. The dieticians decide to leave quickly. . . for the sake of their health.

 

 

   

 

 

 

Then What Do We Do About . . ?

     I did not realize my brother had a severe case of Trump dysphoria until he called to see how Reed was after his recent hospitalization. He complained that the hospitals in Anchorage were overcrowded with Covid patients who had refused to be vaccinated. From Covid he launched into his familiar complaints about Trump, even though he has been out of office for nine months. You would think, as a veteran who works on an army base, if we were analyzing presidents, Biden's recent, disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan might have come up. My brother's solution to hospital crowding was that they should ration care to the unvaccinated.

    If they did that, then what do we do about those who health problems were caused by their abuse of drugs and alcohol? My son's alcoholic former roommate practically had a punch card at the hospital because detoxing made him feel like he was having a heart attack. Besides depriving others of a hospital bed, he also wasted the services of cop and an ambulance. Often unemployed by his own drinking, his use of these services was paid for by our taxpayer money. And what should we do about those hospitalized for the many health problems caused by smoking? One of the reasons my brother is so terrified of Covid is that he is at higher risk of dying because of COPD caused by his decades long decision to smoke. And what do we do about patients hospitalized because they refuse to take care of themselves, most of whom are on Medicaid? When I worked at the hospital I had patients who returned repeatedly because they refused to monitor their diabetes. As with alcoholism, the fact that it is a real disease does not remove the responsibility to manage it. My nurse son, before he moved to pediatrics, said many of his patients were only in the hospital because they did not make the lifestyle changes their condition required and/or they enjoyed the attention and room service. One patient delayed his discharge by not arranging for a ride home just because the hospital had a better cable selection.

    And what do we do about people who get injured committing a crime? fighting? in jail? reckless or impaired driving? irresponsible sex? It is a slippery slope to decide some are less worthy of hospital care than others because they made a decision not to get vaccinated. My decision was to steer him back to what he said he called for in the first place, how my husband was doing. Not an easy task. For a counselor, he is not a very good listener. As for what to do about the Trump dysphoria, I think should see a counselor.

A Little Closer to Home

     Covid did not touch our lives much beyond the protocols in the beginning. For a long time it was friends and acquaintances who got it. Then family members, my brother-in-law, Dale, and his son who lived in another state. Neither of them had serious symptoms. The only way they knew it was not just a cold was that they lost their sense of taste and smell. But now that the Delta variant is going around, it is starting to hit a little closer to home. Three weeks ago Debbie Wolfshorndl died of Covid at 68. We did not know her personally, but her husband taught each of my kids at the Christian school. Our hearts go out to Roger and family. Then, while Reed was in the hospital, we found out Paul, who worked under Reed as a mechanic years ago, had just died of Covid in Lincoln, NB. He was younger than us.

     Closer to home, there is a friend from church in the ICU with Covid. He and his wife, on the advice of their naturopath, did not get the vaccine. They both got very ill and Jeff, around age 70, was hospitalized. When his condition improved he was sent home. More than a week later, while Reed was in the hospital, Jeff was readmitted with blood clots in his lungs. The clots caused a heart attack, his family said their goodbyes, he was not expected to survive the night. The church has prayed for a miracle, but Jeff passed away September 15, 2021.

    I talked to his wife when I brought a meal to their house between hospitalizations. She said they had prayed about taking the vaccine and felt they should not do it. I do not know how she feels about it now and would never ask her. I just hope people are not compounding this difficult time by vaccine shaming them. But I am not writing about the vaccine, I am writing about people. And all I know is that Covid deaths are starting to happen to people we know. God is sovereign, I refuse to live in fear, but I must live in reality. This variant or another will inevitably strike closer to home.

 

The Bridge

      Ever since our friend Dave died in an avalanche in February, I have been praying for an opportunity to speak to his widow, also our friend, about Christ. I have shared spiritual things with her before and once wrote her a letter sharing how I came to faith in Christ, but those were the condensed versions. I had never had one-on-one time with her to share the unabridged version. I have been trying to support her in her grief journey, but I also wanted to do something tangibly helpful. Since neither she nor her daughter, who moved back in with her, enjoy cooking (Dave was the main cook) and food is my love language, I have been bringing them food. But with or without food she seems to welcome the visits.  She gave me a standing invitation to come over on Fridays, which is her Grandma Day with her youngest granddaughter, and mine with my oldest.

     I recently made a large pot of chili (I toyed with the idea of making a small batch, but that seemed inconceivable), so I brought that and some cookies out to Janelle. I thought the Lord had again answered no to my prayer when I saw another woman and her toddler already there. But they left early, her granddaughter went down for a nap, and mine wanted to play outside in the playhouse. God gave me 30 to 40 minutes to share privately with her. Conversationally, no "you should" or preaching that pushes people away, just sharing my heart, my struggles and what Christ has done, and is still doing, for me. Her heart is hungry and I finally had a chance to share spiritual food with her. She asked what to read in the Bible and I suggested John, the book the brought me out of Mormonism and into the light. I was even able to share my bridge illustration, that trying to get to heaven by being good is like trying to jump the Grand Canyon. Some may make it further than others, but no one can jump the distance. That is why He sent Jesus to die for our sins, to become the bridge, for all who believe. Christ provided the way for us to be with God.

     I do not know how God will use what I said, only that part of it came from Him and all of it can be used by Him. And, God willing, there will be more opportunities. There is a bonding that comes from being honest and vulnerable with someone you trust, and I think we both felt that. But having God answer my prayer so unexpectedly, sharing spiritual food, brings a satisfaction that Jesus described in John 4 as "meat to eat that you know not of".  For hours I enjoyed the fullness of feasting on that meat. More importantly, if God answered my prayer for a chance to share with her, surely He will answer the most important one, that God will guide her across the bridge.

I Guess It All Makes Sense

     We have a had a couple letters to the editor in our local newspaper blaming the recent, disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan on George Bush, the president who initiated military action twenty years earlier in response to Bin Ladin's terrorist attacks. Even many Democrats recognize the illogic of that argument. Regardless of who authorized entering Afghanistan two decades ago, the only one to blame for the botched, bloody exit strategy is our current Commander-in-Chief and his military advisers.

     I would like to think if I sold a car that was resold again three times over twenty years, and the last owner caused a fatal accident, that I would not be blamed for it. I would like to think that, but in our over-lawyered, litigation loving nation I would be wrong. Gun manufacturers are sued for the sins of criminals who stole the weapons. Aircraft manufacturers get sued for accidents caused by pilot error. Aircraft mechanics with liability insurance get sued for accidents involving planes that crash many years after they last maintained them--which is why Reed does not have that coverage. Lawyers regularly sue people they know are not responsible because they also know most insurance companies would rather write a check than right a wrong. 

     But I guess it all makes sense in a society that wants people who have never owned slaves to pay reparations to people who have never been slaves. Although our welfare system and victim mentality mantra are the next best thing. In a cupcake culture that is offended that people of 200 years ago were not as woke as we are, we might expect Bush to be blamed for Biden's bungle. Such an idea requires giant leaps over logic and possibly time travel but, to the letter writers and their kind, it all makes sense. But if time travel works both ways, it could also be argued that Biden is responsible for Ford's failure in the fall of Saigon, after all, the images of desperate nationals clinging to departing aircraft defy coincidence. So, Uncle Joe, here's what I want to know--The U.S. got out of Afghanistan, but how do we get out of Fantasyland?      

 

What Went Right

     My husband felt a little "off" Monday night, but not enough to actually go to the emergency room because--he's a guy. Like most men, he is a little "off" in health smarts. I should have insisted, but if I had that much influence with him, he would not have got in such bad shape in the first place. Not only did he not go to the emergency room that night, he did not even go to urgent care until after he readied the aircraft for the next day's flight. Urgent care, after taking his vitals and finding an extremely elevated heart rate, sent him to the emergency room. They wanted to send him in an ambulance, but it was only a few blocks away, he had driven himself all the way in from the airport, and--he's a guy. His EKG and enzymes were also a little off, and they gave him a shot to "reboot" his heart. When his heart beat slowed, he felt much better and wanted to go home for the night, launch the plane the next morning, and come back for tests. Strangely, the medical staff did not accept his "guy" guidance, so he spent the night in the e.r. to await his echo-cardiogram and cardiac catheter the next day. 

     Fifteen other patients also spent the night on gurneys in the e.r. because no beds were available. Covid is an easy scapegoat, and is indirectly responsible, but our son who works there, said that just like Covid has made housing inaccessible and crowded the schools, the hospitals are filled to capacity simply because there are more people living here. 

    They did the cardiac-echo shortly after 7 a.m. and everything was functioning well except for some thickening in the muscle wall. But he had to go from midnight to 3 p.m. without eating or drinking while waiting his turn for the heart catheter. The doctor found a 70% blockage in the major artery to the heart and that may have caused the rapid heartbeat, but they said it also sometimes happens, like so many delightful surprises, simply from growing old. They placed a stent and kept him one more night to make sure the artery where they inserted the catheter did not bleed. 

    After spending Tuesday afternoon in noisy, next-to-nurses' station, e.r. 1, he spent Tuesday night on his 3 inch gurney mattress in quiet, corner room 16. The next day they moved him to a shared room so they could get some of the patients out of the e.r. waiting area and into an actual room. His roomies in #18 were quiet but, because we had no TV remote, we were stuck with back to back episodes of "Mom" and "Two 1/2 Men", which made me feel like I needed to rinse out my brain with Holy water, even though I was deliberately not watching them. The staff hoped to have a regular room for Reed after his procedure, but we wound up back in e.r. 18. Finally, at 6 p.m. a room on the IMC (intermediate care) unit, where they normally put cardiac patients, became available. After the e.r., a regular room with a door and a real bed felt like the Hilton. The next afternoon we left that comfortable room for our much more comfortable home.

 

What went right:

• Although he experienced a cardiac event, it revealed a problem that, left undiscovered, might have led to the more serious conditions below.
• No cardiac arrest. His heart only stopped for a second, from the medication that reset heart rhythm. 
• No heart attack. No blockage to cause death of heart muscle.
• Partial blockage was easily fixed. (When I worked at the hospital decades ago, all heart cath was through groin. Much higher bleeding risk and recovery time.)
• Neither Reed nor I were anxious because he felt well and was reassuringly normal throughout. People having a heart attack don't typically focus on/talk about the Harrier aircraft used in the Falklands' war.
• Good doctors, good nurses.
• Good meds for a good price, on our prescription plan.
  
• Because Reed waited until Tuesday afternoon, I was not needed at the hospital until after my commitment to watch Britten's girls. Thus she could keep her commitment to work at my brother-in-law's largest business event of the year.
• My migraines, which had become regular, stopped. Sitting at the hospital can be restful, especially when not the patient.
• Reed's diet changes are now medical restrictions, not my recommendations.
• We have a Silver Sneakers benefit with our Medicare supplement (although I'm not holding my breath that he will go to a fitness center).
• His only outpatient limitation was 3 days of not lifting more than 5 lbs. with arm where catheter was inserted, otherwise, normal activity.
  

What went wrong:

• A 65 year old still eating like a 25 year old.
• A 65 year old still working long hours like a hungry 25 year old.
• Exercise cannot consist entirely of work, house/yard/vehicle maintenance, and sex.
• Although I stayed awake until 2 a.m. to monitor his breathing and trusted the Lord to wake me up, if needed, after that, it would have been safer to hurry up and wait in the emergency room Monday night.
• Some side effects from medication, but that is to be expected.

What the Lord did:

• Lots of people prayed for us.
• We both had peace through the whole experience.
• My message from the Lord was--If Reed had made regular doctor appointments where his increasing blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol had been noticed, he would have taken the meds but would not have been willing to make lifestyle changes. I'm hoping now that his heart is involved, he will. Because my heart is involved with his.