John's adventure and a lost weekend

In case you're wondering where I've been, here's a summary of my last 2 and a half days.

I was minding my own business, working as usual, on Friday morning when the phone rang at about 10:30 AM. I often don't answer the home phone while I'm working, but I thought "hmmm...John went to the Health Center over an hour ago, for a quick visit to change the dressing on his back (from his minor outpatient surgery a couple of weeks ago), and he's still not back...maybe I should answer the phone." So I did, and it was Dr. Moore, telling me that John had fainted while at the Health Center. Dr. Moore, knowing John's heart history, ran an EKG on him and didn't like what he saw. The end result? John got a helicopter ride to Norfolk Sentara General Hospital.

On the ambulance, waiting for the helicopter to arrive:


Taking off...


I drove up to Norfolk, and we spent Friday night in the hospital. I slept for a few hours in a chair, John didn't sleep at all since every time he got close, someone came by to take his blood pressure, his temperature, and - a couple of times - some blood! On Saturday morning, the doctors decided to let John go home, as the blood testing showed he had not had a heart attack. He does, however, need to follow up with a cardiologist for some additional in depth testing within the next couple of weeks.

We headed back toward home on Saturday afternoon, but both of us were exhausted. I was falling asleep behind the wheel (the doctors recommended that John not drive until we have identified what caused him to pass out), and the traffic going to the Outer Banks was insane. So we stopped and spent the night in Kitty Hawk at the Hilton Garden Inn, thanks to the gift of a free night from my Dad, who has over a million Hilton points.

We slept late, ate a terrific breakfast, then did some leisurely WalMart and Food Lion shopping on our way back home. It was good to get back to Ocracoke.

I had planned a different weekend. I was going to organize my scrapbooking/craft corner, finish painting the hall bathroom, and a handful of other "around the house" tasks. So much for that theory... I'm certainly glad John is okay, though. And the bathroom will still be there next weekend.