First Baptist Church of Muncie, Indiana

Here is a recent story from Sally Jones that I would like to post here. Sally has recently been hospitalized with heart issues. She sent me this email this past week and I have posted this with her permission.

Dear Wade,

I wanted to share this with you. I have been wondering why God allowed me to have a heart attack earlier this month. I'm only human, but I was hoping it was not just a wake-up call for me but that my experience would perhaps help someone else. God has changed my life, drastically, these last few weeks. I am more outgoing and talkative, able to share thoughts and feelings more readily to my husband, Jeff, as well as others in my life. Hopefully, I will have a better comprehension and compassion for my patients in the hospital that I come in contact with after I return to work. I believe I will because I truly have experienced what they're going through and what they may be facing in their recovery. I find myself reaching out to others, especially those I have met in rehab sessions, just because we do have that common bond of having had a heart attack. I have been a patient in the hospital as well as being an healthcare/dietary hospital employee.

I have been following my diabetic, low cholesterol diet without too much difficulty, but also with alot of prayer support. I do have some issues with episodes of low blood sugars after excercise or during the middle of the night, but these are also learning tools and are being addressed. I had another scare this week, November 25th, after seeing my cardiologist for the post-hospital office visit and being cleared to return to work December 3rd, I again, experienced the pressure in my chest, numbness in my left shoulder that soon extended down to my hand, as well as the fact that it was not going away in a few minutes. I had learned from the info given to me in the hospital that many diabetics have "silent heart attacks" with out the usual symptoms. Women, also, experience heart attacks differently sometimes from men. Needless to say, Jeff and I made our way back to the ER, Tuesday night, about 10:30 p.m. The nitro tablets under the tongue were not helping too much and I was really bummed out and scared.

I was admitted to the hospital, but fortunately released Wednesday noon, with a prescription for a nitro patch, that delivers a constant dosage of nitro into my system to help dialate the blood vessels. I am learning how this may effect my daily routine, excercise and diet, as the nitro can also lower your blood pressure significantly. I have also been experiencing low blood sugars, especially at night after going to bed. I am working with my regular doctor to regulate my insulin, diet and excercise. I will see him December 5th and will hopefully be released to work by December 10th. I want these new factors to be tried and true, workable options for me.

I'm sure you are wondering what this is leading up to, and I want to share a visit I received from a co-worker in the diet office, a thearaputic assistant, just like I am, Her name is Laura and she came to visit me before beginning her shift Wednesday morning. After the usual shop talk and how are you doings, she said to me that she had a rough time of it last week. It seems that her mother is not always honest about her health/feelings because Laura is the type of person to tell you how things are and not pussyfoot about. She shared with me that because of her granddaughter, Katie, hearing my heart attack experience over the last couple of weeks, she was able to put two and two together, and contacted Laura while she was staying the night with her great-grandmother, Laura's mother. Katie, is only 11 or 12 years old, but was able to see that something was not right that night and went against her great-grandma's request to not contact Laura about her condition. Laura told me that even as she was driving to the ER, she herself, was not sure that her mom was not just faking symptoms for attention. The cardiologist on call told them that she was indeed having a heart attack when she arrived in the ER. She was taken to the heart cath lab and needed two stints. She is now recovering at home. This was my answer from God. He is truly in control.

If you would like to share this with anyone, feel free to do so. It just might help someone else.

Sally J. Jones

Thanks for sharing this Sally!