Winner ... and a bit of a bumpy week!

I'm sorry for the delay in announcing the winner from My Scrapbook Studio post HERE. It's been a bit of bumpy road for me this past week and I'll share that with you in a moment.

But first I want to share with you the winner of those Imaginisce goodies I posted HERE.

The winner is ......

Danielle said...

Great Scrap Space!

I took over my nursery, its small, but it works!

I love baskets! All my punches are in a huge basket that sits on my floor next to my desk for easy reach

4:41 AM

Congratulations Danielle. If you could email me with your mailing info that would be super!

So on to my story of this past week's events.

This whole experience has come as a HUGE shock!
I took the kids to school on Monday morning, came back home, changed into my running clothes 'cause I was going to go for a run. Went to the bathroom and then realized I forgot something upstairs. All of sudden (and I mean this was just a sudden thing) I had these strange ache in my upper middle chest. And then the ache and pain starting going down the back of my arms. It was strange. It wasn't sharp pains but the intense tension inside. I don't know what it was but something told me that I shouldn't go run. So I decided to have a shower instead and just get dressed for the day. I went out & did some errands 'cause we're planning a b-day party for my middle one (9th b-day) this Saturday. While I was out I still had this wierd ache and it was really uncomfortable. I came back home and the pain had subsided somewhat but was still there but I went about & cleaned off our front porch and swept it then went inside, had some lunch and spent some time on the computer before picking up my kids.

I started to feel the ache and pain seemed to get more intense when we got back home. I phoned my mom to ask her about some things and mentioned my pain to her & she said I should go to the hospital. Well, I hate going to the hospital because I truly thought it would pass. I was even going to wait it out 'til the next day. After getting off the phone I decided to go to a walk-in clinic first so I rounded up my kids and not everyone was being very co-operative so that made it harder. But they eventually realized that mommy wasn't feeling very well at all. I get to the clinic and they're not taking anyone, I mentioned that I was having chest pains and they said go right to the hospital. So I'm beside myself now thinking ok, I've got to drive there with my kids ... Lord please keep us safe. I phone my hubby and tell him where I'm headed. (now I have to admit that I kind of complain to him about pains that I have and his response is usually not all that sympathetic ... and I can't blame him but this time for some reason he felt it was different.) He met me at Emerg and we waited it out. I had several tests done until they realized that something was wrong and told me I was having a heart attack. A HEART ATTACK!!!! I couldn't believe it! Me. I'm only 42 years old!!!

They weren't too sure what the exact problem was and said that I needed to have an angiogram done at another hospital. (this is when they go through your groin with a catheter-type instrument and up to the heart to check out what's wrong I was taken by ambulance the next day. They found out that the left descending anterior artery has spontaneously dissected (torn). They had to put in 2 stents in order for it to open up again and have the blood flowing. I was awake for the procedure (as it wasn't an "operation" where they cut you open) so even though it was painful and uncomfortable it was kind of cool to watch it on the monitor as they were working. Of course, that was in between me sleeping and waking myself up with my snores! Great huh?
I am so grateful to the hospital staff and doctors as everyone was so nice and wonderful. It was amazing. And the response was so quick that I'm so thankful to God for his watchful care over me & my family.
The doctors don't know why this happened as it is a very rare thing - like 1 in a million people have it. Often women who are pregnant or post-menopausal.

But I am doing ok now and resting at home. I will definitely be taking it easy and learning how to manage things that stress me out so much (as I'm not very good at that and let little things really get to me).So I've got some learning to do.

Anyways, thanks to all of you for being patient with me in posting the winner. You never know what can happen in life and this was a reminder to not take any of it for granted. Realize what is MOST important in your life and love & hug them everyday!!

And ladies, if you ever, EVER feel any kind of strange feeling in your chest whatsoever DO NOT IGNORE IT!!!! I was going to that and I'm so glad that I didn't ... because I might not be here today to share my story with you. So please, I encourage each & every one of you to get yourself to the hospital immediately if you ever feel anything out of the ordinary. Don't ignore your body. (yes, as you can see I will definitely be a HUGE advocate for heart disease now.)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and thanks to so many of you who I know have been praying for me & my family. We truly appreciate it.