The Life is in the Blood aka When the Music Fades
The First Phase of Covid – 19: part 3
News of the Angiogram
Looking back, I think Alan thought it might be the end of his life when he went to have the minor op called an angiogram, which was to look at his heart by inserting a camera. The doctors couldn’t figure out for a week why he wasn’t recovering from the Covid. Oxygen levels were fairly stable but he was exhausted. What was the cause?
Eventually, they decided to have another look at his heart.
Covid and heart attack – similar symptoms
Covid pneumonia produces chest pain and fatigue. So does heart attack. They’d done an EEG early in his hospitalisation which revealed a healthy heart. But after a week they decided to look again…
When Alan (and the consultant) told me he was to have an angiogram, Alan said, “Walk on water, Darling.” I thought he was referring to our talks months before about wanting to live in the Spirit 24/7 and of our frustration that it wasn’t forthcoming. I thought he was encouraging faithfulness. In fact, I think he was also warning me…I think he was telling me he thought he might to die — certainly he could die — and I needed to trust the LORD.
Result of the angiogram
Well, the angiogram revealed he’d been in heart attack condition for a week. They put two stents in an artery. After it all, Alan seemed to recover; the cardiologist told me he’d be released in two days as regards the cardiology issue, but perhaps a bit longer if the respiratory recovery was slower.
He was never released of course, and the weakened heart played a big role in that.
Blinded by disease
Why did it take such a long time to look at Alan’s heart? Why, if he’d experienced a heart attack on the 1st of January, did it take until the 8th to have a closer look? Because Covid and heart attack “look” so similar. The disease is so new, and someone healthy like Alan simply didn’t flag up the heart issue beyond a cursory look after admission. I think the doctors felt badly for not spotting it, but who can blame them? They do the best they can with human eyes and science’s limited information.
Don’t look at the Storm
Of course Jordan and I were relieved. It was horrible Alan had experienced a heart attack, but he’d be home soon, they’d found the problem and he was recovering. Praise the LORD! Lots of people have heart attacks and recover. They change their lifestyle to cope, and that is generally a good thing. And of course we had the faith to believe anything is possible.
Alan’s independence and determination to come home
But although Alan got up every morning after the 8th and washed on his own, he was exhausted afterward. He was eating but sporadically. And he was so tired.
Then came silence from him for three days and nights, and that really make me uncomfortable. Around this time I practiced prayer life more deeply. I looked at Jesus, no matter how distant and silent and remote I felt from Alan. Quietly, I drew in more and more others to pray.
There was optimism. I began to write an outline for a book we’d write together (though I didn’t have the opportunity to share this with Alan at the time). Prayer continued and I began to spread the net wider as Alan seemed “stuck” in his healing. I received tremendous encouragement from others who were drawn in to pray.
On Friday the 15th of January, Alan rang and we chatted a bit. Oh, I was deliriously delighted! He said he’d felt that he’d been in the belly of a whale, but knew the nurses were talking to me, so he didn’t worry that we weren’t communicating. He also said the LORD had told him He would take him “through the valley of the shadow of death”. Well, certainly he had been deathly ill. But he was getting better, at last…..
That night, two others, very much warriors in prayer, joined with me together over the phone to pray for Alan. It was a powerful time. We prayed in detail for healing, we praised GOD for the breakthrough. We hoped Alan would be home by the next Sabbath. Later, one of these two and another person who was praying in Hong Kong, sent songs about breath and breathing to forward to Alan; I did so. Over that night, the LORD also had me literally breathing for Alan — “the two become one flesh” took on whole new meaning for me that night!
Sunday 17th I was awoken in the night to pray. The LORD also led me to cast the net wider for prayer and an entire TV network was invited in.
I noticed that Alan hadn’t been looking at his What’sApp. He didn’t feel strong enough to listen to the music he’d been sent, which was a concern for me. But I — and many others — prayed on, trusting the LORD for His healing of Alan.
I got a call that night, 17th of January at 10:30pm, from a consultant. Alan had collapsed and was in a bad way and would probably be taken to ICU.
Storm
The storm was crashing, but I deliberately and determinedly looked to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.
I don’t remember what I said to our sixteen year old son after the hospital had rung that night, perhaps nothing at all; he was aware each time the hospital rang and never asked the report. We only talked about the matter of his dad being in hospital a little: sincerely and honestly, but rarely.
We went to bed soon after, and I even managed to sleep that night, which must have been a supernatural gift.
I believed breakthrough was imminent.
* Photo courtesy of Revelation TV