Friday, April 22, 2011

God Loves JJ

Father, Thank You for your Constant Love. JJ is home now. On Tuesday, April 19, my son awoke to massive chest pains...so bad that he could not even get out of his bed to come and get me in my bedroom about 5 feet away. God provides... a friend had just bought me a phone and the service time and minutes to go with it. JJ called me on that phone to let me know that he needed help. After taking his BP and heart rate (Both normal), I thought that perhaps it was refracted pain from maybe his stomach, appendix or gall bladder. The pain did not let up and I knew that insurance or not, this healthy, strapping young man needed to be seen by a doctor, so off to Sutter Roseville Hospital ER to see a doc. When we arrived there were questions, questions, questions and then off to triage. His BP/Heart Rate was still normal and an EKG also came back normal...Into a room to see an ER doctor and more questions. Although the doctor keeps asking questions that would be asked of a heart patient, no one, including the doctor is really thinking in terms of heart because the only presenting symptom is massive chest pain (not in arm, back, neck or anywhere else and JJ does not do drugs) and heart attacks are extremely rare in young people who are not druggies (Oh and believe me they asked this one over and over and I am sure did a screening for drugs after the results of the troponin blood test). However because of family history with blood clots and strokes, the doctor said he would do some tests with this in mind. God works again...The doctor said he is not really sure why he decided to do a heart enzyme blood test but he did.

Cardiac markers (also called cardiac enzymes) are substances that are released into the bloodstream when the heart muscle is damaged. These markers can be measured in a laboratory to help diagnose a heart attack (myocardial infarction). The cardiac markers that are most useful in making a determination of heart muscle damage include: Troponin, Creatine kinase (CK), and Myoglobin (Mb)” -Mayo Clinic-

Here is the info off the lab report from the hospital: “Troponin values from 0.0 – 0.10 are considered normal. Values from 0.11 – 0.59 are indicative of minor cardiac injury, unstable angina or are predictive of increased risk of cardiac event over the next 30 – 40 days.” Just so you can put this into perspective, when the first test came back, JJ’s count was 6.5 and his count went up to 21.22 the next day.

Is there any question that God has had His Hand on JJ? Glory and Honor to God. There is no doubt for me and I know that a huge part of that is because of the many many people that were praying for my son.

So, here is the official diagnosis...Myocarditis/Endocarditis due to a virus that attacked the heart. An echocardiogram done before JJ was discharged showed that damage has affected heart function. His heart is also still enlarged but the doctor feels that a long slow recovery will ensure that the heart function returns to normal. This is still a serious situation and I am requesting your prayers for the coming days and weeks and ?

On a personal note, as I sat in the hospital with my “baby boy” and realized that this is about as serious as things can get, many thoughts ran through my mind. I thought of JJ’s dad, Jim and how I much I wished he were with me and his son right now. I thought of how the last piece of my husband could be taken. I thought of how JJ is only 17, ready to graduate High School, just got a job, getting ready for his Senior Ball and his girlfriends Jr. Prom, ready to take steps to fulfill his dream of becoming a firefighter. I’ve lived my life; this should be me in that hospital bed...not my son with his whole life in front of him. But I also thought of how loved my son is, I thought of how much family means to me, not just earthly but my amazing family from God and most of all I thought of how My Father always does the best for His children (even though we may not always understand why). My Lord has always been there for me, through the good and the bad, teaching me, loving me, bringing me into a closer relationship with Him and all the while showing me over and over that He loves us with a love that is all encompassing. He assured me that he loves my son even more than I ever could...and so I trusted Him completely with my son and even though the human factor was there...a helpless mom watching her child, a mom praying for her child, a mom putting her son into The Father’s Hands, there was a wonderful peace knowing that JJ was in My Fathers most powerful and yet tender Arms.

Please continue your prayers for this my son, JJ.