![]() |
Debbie and Robby Aylor |
How many times have you jumped when the phone rang or
even dreaded a phone call? Like you,
it’s probably those middle of the night calls that are the most frightening,
but then there are those that thanks to Caller ID, we dread because we know
what’s on the other end of the line. A
solicitor, a politician (click!), our child’s teacher, one of our friends that
is known as chatty-Cathy (of course she doesn’t know it) and you are on your
way out the door, or, it could be your spouse, your parents, your children.
On this particular day, I had
sort of “a disagreement” with my husband, Robby. He had been spending a lot of time in
Somerville, helping his newly widowed Mom.
On this particular day, Friday, May 27, 2011, he had called me around
2pm to tell me he would have to stay again that night, but would come home on
Saturday. Me, being the gracious and soft spoken person that I am, explained in
the nicest of ways that I really, really wasn’t happy with that choice. Funny thing, he seemed to take it pretty well. Wow!
I’ve made such head-way with my persuasive communication.
That afternoon, one of our
daughters, Amanda, and her two girls, came to our house to eat supper and spend
the night (since helpful Dad would still be out of town). She had gone to get them something to eat, I
was standing in the kitchen putting dishes away, cleaning off stainless steel
appliances, and just really “enjoying” my Friday night at home.
At 7:30pm, our son Greg
called. He was working a second job at a
mall in Sugar Land and didn’t usually hear from him while he was there. So I was glad for the phone call. He said, MOM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? I
started to tell him about the wonderful evening I was having, when he said,
Dad’s called (?) and he’s having a heart attack. Paramedics are on their way. Grandma (who has dementia) is there with him,
Debbie’s flight has just landed and she’s on her way to your house, who’s there
with you, get your bag packed and I’ll be there in a minute. We have to hurry and get to the hospital in
Bryan. At that very moment, Debbie
(Greg’s wife) walked in the door, with a totally frightened expression on her
face. I called Susan and Tom and
explained to them what I knew. She and
Tom were at dinner on the other side of town.
She said she would see me in a little while. It was then, that I am certain, God’s sweet
Holy Spirit took over every fiber of my being, and my Heavenly Father’s plan
began unfolding.
I packed (Greg said to pack for
the night and I told him it probably needed to be for a week or so), Greg came
home, Debbie went and packed them a bag, Amanda had someone come and pick up
her girls, Angela and her fiancé (now husband!) and their five kids were out to
dinner and had to be contacted and then Angela and Amanda hooked up and came to
our house. We were trying to reach our
other daughter, Allison, who lives in Marble Falls. They were at a High School graduation for one
of her husband’s nieces. They finally
answered the phone, left the graduation, went home and packed as quickly as
they could. So we were all headed to
Bryan.
I was riding with Greg and
Debbie and as we got to the overpass at Dixie Farm Road I received a call from
Robby’s phone. I said, “It’s dad, it’s
dad!” But it wasn’t. It was a nurse at the hospital. She then told me to please get there as soon
as we could because Robby was in critical condition. Not wanting to believe her, I handed the
phone to Greg. He listened, asked a
couple of questions, and when she told him to be careful and not get hurt on
the way there but to get there as soon as possible, Greg momentarily lost
it. Debbie called the others and the
“forever trip” began. We were headed to
Bryan not knowing if Robby was still alive (and Mr. Policeman, please forgive
us, but we were going faster than a speeding bullet and not being especially
spiritual to those who got in our way).
We arrived at the hospital
around 10:45pm. Robby’s Mom, two of her
close friends, Robby’s sister and Tom and Susan were waiting for us. Then I saw the nurse with a clipboard. She was waiting for me. She asked if I would please follow her into a
side room. I told her no, because I knew
what going into a side room meant. But
as a family, we all went.
“Your husband has had a massive
heart attack, we lost him two times, we do not know how long he was down before
the paramedics got to him, he was not responsive, we put a stent in, have
called a neurosurgeon in because we do not know what has happened with his
brain, and that he is in very critical condition. Do you understand? Please sign these forms.”
They then took us to the ICU
area and allowed me, Greg, Debbie, Angela, Amanda, and Allison to go in and see
him. As much as they tried to prepare
us for what we would see and what to expect in the coming hours, we were all in
disbelief. There was a man lying there
with tubes, drains, arm cuffs, and IV’s everywhere. He was so swollen, blood in several spots,
bruises had already begun from where they shocked him and man-handled him and,
he was in a coma. The nurse began to
explain what he was doing and what we could expect through the night. Bottom line for that night, keep him
alive. They allowed the others that were
there to stop in quickly and see him. We
prayed for him and then went to wait.
Because we were not going to be
allowed to be in his room for quite awhile, they gave us numbers for the area
motels. Greg called several and found
one close to the hospital. We all left
around 3am. When we arrived at the
motel, Greg talked to the clerk and arranged a deal for us because we were
there for a medical emergency. We slept
a couple of hours and then went back to the hospital.
The doctor came that day and
filled us in, and then told me the attack was in his ascending aorta, or
commonly known as the widow maker. Because
of the severity of the attack, he should not have survived. Overnight they had attached Rob to a
hypothermic machine that took his core body temp way down. This was to preserve all organs and
energy. It was to keep him from doing
anything on his own. After 24 hours + on
this machine, on Sunday, they began waking him up. This was a wonderful process, mixed with much
humor! Rob couldn’t open his eyes and
was still not realizing what happened.
This is when our wonderfully humorous (?) family began asking questions
only they would ask. At one point they
asked him to squeeze their hand if they knew who they were; then squeeze their
hand if it was ok to put pink flamingo tile in our pool (oh, did I forget to
mention the day Rob had gone back to Somerville (Wednesday) they began digging
a pool in our backyard!!!). Then they
asked him to squeeze my hand if he loved me and he squeezed it over and over
and over … I told them then, “He adores me!”.
Monday we were moved to a room
on the heart floor in order for him to be monitored and rehabbed. So began the week of many procedures, many
walks (short), and much talk about “we don’t know how to eat like this pamphlet
is saying we will have to”. And then on
Friday, one week after this traumatic event, we were headed home. As I write this, I am still in awe of this.
No doubt you are asking, so
where’s the spiritual aspect of this story, the hundreds of scriptures I should
be reciting throughout, where are the big prayer meetings … they are in mine and
my families hearts and private moments.
They were in the waiting room and hospital room during those long days,
when the people in our lives came to visit us, visit Rob, called us, facebooked
us, sent goodie baskets, cards, flowers, and gifts to me. They were in that hotel room at night when it
was me, the bed and Rob’s shirt. Never
have I felt closer and, yet at times farther, from my Jesus. He was not an intruder, He was a comforter;
He was not making me feel guilty for being mad at Rob on the day this happened,
He was a forgiver; He was not a big-booming-voice that shouted to all of us
that Rob would be OK, He was a still small voice that told us moment by moment
to rely on Him, no matter what the outcome.
Today, He is STILL the voice
that reminds me, moment by moment, to not be afraid. “But when I am
afraid, I will put my trust in you.”
(Psalm 56:3) Sometimes
I am listening, many times I am arguing that point, and then when I remember
that week, I realize that because of Him, I could hold on to that scripture and
see how God orchestrated every moment.
If I could go on and on, I
would! I would tell you: God put just
the right front desk clerk at the motel, provided motels rooms for us that I
could afford, provided free breakfast for us, food was brought by those that
visited us, had people send busy items and food for the little ones that were
with us, had Robby in Somerville and taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan
where he was met by the leading heart doctor in the area and a hospital that
does the hypothermic procedure, that Rob was aware enough at the beginning to
call Greg AND the EMT’s in Somerville and give them directions to the house
before he collapsed, that I was never left alone while in Bryan, that family
was able to leave their vacation and come back to be with us, that there was a
pool company across the street from the hospital where Greg, Deb, and I went
and found the tile for our pool that was being built, that on Memorial Day
weekend we had such amazing hospital staff, that on Memorial Day weekend we had
people from Crosspoint who drove two hours to pray and visit with us, that when
we arrived home we had meals brought to us for a couple of weeks in order that
I could get my head together and concentrate on Rob, that some of the “other”
things they were worried about in the hospital and we were to check up on when
we go home turned out to be nothing, that Rob’s recovery has been more than
amazing, and that I have a husband that whom the Houston heart doctor told him
the first time he met him that he was a lucky man, my Rob said, “No, I’m not
lucky, I’m blessed.”
|
First of all - I love that picture of you and Robby and I love both of you! I still remember the moment we heard what had happened. Robby is a miracle - one of God's better ones! Thank you for reliving that time for our benefit! Sometimes we just need to be reminded of how faithful God is!
ReplyDeleteIt was a wonderful miracle of God... I'm blessed to know you guys and love you much. Thank God for facebook, where we can keep in touch with those we love and that are far from us that we could learn of what was happening and were able to pray.
ReplyDelete