God Has A Plan. Be Ready For It.

I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation also called Afib at 23 years old which is some time ago. Afib is an irregular heartbeat.  I don’t have it all the time. It happened more frequently when I was younger. Before last year -2022, the last episode was in 2015. When that happened – long story, short – I ended up in the hospital for a week and was cardioverted. Basically, I describe cardioversion as the way they shock dead people. Doctors don’t describe it that way, but…

When I had another Afib episode last year, I decided I didn’t want to be shocked again or be in the hospital for a week. My new cardiologist was on board. She had a drug that could get me back into sinus rhythm, which is a regular rhythm. To make this happen, I needed to spend some time in the hospital and they would watch me to see if the drug actually worked.

I got to the hospital relatively early. I was hoping that it would be quick. The nurse practitioner told me I’d be out before lunch. Of course, that didn’t happen and I had a great hospital lunch. (I also have jokes.) What I was doing was just lying in the hospital bed waiting. I was checked pretty regularly. My doctor came by a few times too. On her second or third visit, she seemed a little disappointed, but not really surprised that it wasn’t working. I gathered that the usual protocol was to try this pill and when it didn’t work roll the patient into the area where cardioversions take place.

The next check on my blood pressure gave a result of 85/40. Clearly, I don’t suffer from white coat syndrome. Hospitals and doctors don’t raise my blood pressure. My normal blood pressure runs from 90/60 – 110/70. This extra low blood pressure is one of the reasons I ended up in the hospital for a week in 2015. After the Nurse Practitioner left from checking on me, I could see my heart rate was bouncing all over the place. 97, 114, 78, 123. This is actually unusual for me. When I’m in afib, my heart rate is typically a regular irregular of less than 60 bpm.

The only thing for me to do was wait, think…and pray. I remembered Dr. Khaalida Forbes speaking at a Healthy Churches 2030 conference a few years ago. She said something about letting God heal you the way He wants. She was really talking about mental health and how some of us don’t get the help that we need and is available. You know that sometimes we ask God for something and tell Him how to do it too. Not our job. In this moment, I knew this applied to me. I wanted to be healed, my way. I just wanted the pill to fix it. In that next moment I decided that whatever way I needed to be healed, I would take it. If I had to have a cardioversion or any other process or procedure, I would be ok. I’d be healed. Then I prayed that God heals me in whatever way He wanted. Almost instantly, I felt my heart go back to a normal rhythm. I looked at the monitor to see if I was just kidding myself. I wasn’t. I saw a pretty steady 64.

I just lay there for a little while and waited for the Nurse Practitioner to come back. She was talking as she walked toward my bed. I could hear in her voice that she wasn’t expecting success. When she finally got close enough to look at the monitor, she said excitedly, “You’re in sinus rhythm.” “I know,” I replied rather coolly. Next, she said, “You better praise God.” 

I’m still praising Him.

Btw, my blood pressure was 90/60 on that next check and I was free to go home.