Machetes, Salvation, and a Major Heart Attack

{Could be subtitled, “Our Vacation and What We Came Home To“}

The content of this post and its title are not going to appear to match, that is, unless you read it all of the way to the end. Most of the content will be about a quick trip to New York for two nights. Specifically, my daughter and I went to Watkins Glen.

Again. (Our first trip here)

This is our fourth trip and it’s beginning to feel like a second home up there. We love the nature, we love a place of small town charm, we love the marvel of a gorge, and a natural wonder with 19 waterfalls, right at the town.

Spoiler Alert: I like barns.

More barns…

Next stop: Taughannock Falls

The next day, we headed home. So. Barns…

And if you’ve made it this far in the blog, congratulations, I do believe this is the most photos I have ever uploaded into one blog post.

My daughter and I had a very good time, but we were both tired and ready to relax at home.

But relaxation was not meant to be.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway, we felt a vibe that seemed to indicate not all was well.

Silas met us and his face seemed to be filled with concern. I was led to the backyard, where as I am told, Enric had cut himself with a machete in the leg and even though I wasn’t able to see anything, was also told that he was bleeding a lot. Miranda also showed a face of worry but yet, a grasp on the situation. She had clearly been struggling to get the truck downhill our back yard so she could put Enric in there, as he was not able to walk without bleeding to death.

Miranda called out to me, “Watch my kids!” and took off with my son.

This was seriously the last thing I would have thought to come home to. We eagerly waited for news.

He was stitched up in layers, he had really penetrated deep.

He had been cutting vines in our backyard, something Miranda had been fighting with for years, Mom was too before she passed away. Enric had made substantial gain in the vine war, when he hit a tough set of vines and so he swiped at it harder and then the machete went through like butter, and so, with the follow through of such a hard swipe, hit his leg with force. (He likes it when we tell the story and mention that he did most of the vines before his injury).

After spending the day watching the kids and being very concerned for my son. I finally got to rest in my own bed. Oddly I woke up in the middle of the night. Once again, not doing what I normally do, I looked at my phone. It was a message from John’s sister, Georgie. “Give me a call when you wake up.”

This is not a normal message from Georgie. Am I awake? I do believe I am. I called her. John had been rushed by ambulance with heart problems. Later to find out it was a heart attack.

Georgie and I talked for a good while, but when we hung up, I realized I really needed to talk to him or someone in the hospital directly. I called. They handed the phone to John almost immediately, but not before a nurse cheerfully explained that he was having an angiogram test to see if there was blockage around the heart.

John gets on the phone. He sounded better than I expected. However, I had a million questions about what had happened, and all he could talk about was what happened at church that day.

“Look, I have to tell you something.” He started breathlessly. “You remember John from church, the one they call “Big John?”

I thought I knew who he meant, but I was kind of impatient to hear how he landed in the hospital. John just continued, “He told me that he wanted to talk to me after church. So I did. He asked me why didn’t I take communion when the rest of them did. I told him that you told me not to. He then sat me down and asked me questions which I answered.”

Turns out, Big John led my John to the Lord. Then my John goes home, eats lunch, cuts the grass, and has a heart attack!

This is not how it’s done!

The moment I had been praying for, but I could hardly enjoy it!

John went on to tell me his good news and then gave me the details of ending up in the hospital. Seems he should have called the ambulance right away, but he needed his big sister to insist. I am glad he took her advice.

He was told he needed to hang up but that I was perfectly welcome to call back later. Which I did. In that short span of time they had him in surgery giving him a stent and he was talking, quite animated. He was excited he got to watch the surgery.

The people at the hospital, after hearing his lifestyle, were perplexed how he could have had a heart attack, but eventually decided it was genetics.

Enric has been patched up.
John is learning a new normal post heart attack.

And how we get to live the rest of our earthly lives, with the Blessed Assurance of eternity with our Savior.