It's Gordon's Turn

OK, so I know this is Joshua's blog but I am hoping to use this to get the word out. Gordon is in the hospital today. They are moving him out of ICU to a cardiac floor today so he is finally stable. Maybe I had better back up and start from the beginning.
Yesterday afternoon Gordon started feeling that his heart was not beating in rhythm. It is called atrial fibrillation. He has had this before but it has been a long time. Well he did not want to go to the hospital but I was worried so I insisted he get a blessing. Well one of the 2 men from our church who came was Brother Cameron. Lucky (OK just one of many blessings we had last night) for us he is a doctor. So after the blessing he checks his pulse and says that he needed to go to the ER right away. With his insistence Gordon agreed to go. Once there the doctor in the ER decided to cardiovert him with paddles. They gave him a pain med and hit him. No warning, nothing. When we told brother Cameron he was shocked, he couldn't believe that they did not put him out for this. It was frightening for me and painful for Gordon. However he dropped from 150 beats to 88 per minute. So the ER felt he was OK and they were going to send us home when things went from bad to worse. About 20 minutes after the shock Gordon told me he thought he was "fading". I looked at the heart monitor and saw 23 beats, 20 beats, and flat line. I yelled for the nurse that his heart stopped and they came running. The doctor felt for a carotid pulse and said his heart has stopped and to begin CPR and bag him. They were preparing to intubate and everything but he came back in about 30 seconds and they got him stabilized. By now I am freaked out and he is very confused. He did not realize what had happened and kept telling them he was ready to go home. Needless to say I was not OK with that. Well that brings us to today, he is out of ICU and on the cardiac floor and doing extensive testing. Even the cardiologist says that what happened is very rare and they need to figure out why his heart stopped. He just finished an echo cardiogram, which is a big word for an ultrasound of his heart. I was proud to say I recognized the aorta, left ventricle, and two valves. Tomorrow he is scheduled for a stress test and a nuclear stress test. They have taken tons of blood and are checking cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes. I really like this doctor because he is thorough and cautious. He is waiting for every test before he decides what to do. We have heard everything from pacing to medicine to an automatic implanted cardiac defibrillator. One thing I like is we will have answers tomorrow so that is good, I can't take waiting at this point.
Now, on to the important stuff: BLESSINGS
1. Brother Cameron and priesthood blessings in general
2. Going to the ER and not having this happen at home (they told us he would have died)
3. Being able to call the Bishop and not be alone when I was so very frightened
4. Health insurance (became active January 1)
5. Good doctors, I can't say enough about how impressed I am with the cardiologist.
6. Another day together (I will never let him go to sleep again without telling him I love him.
7. A great ward, they have rallied and taken the children in without question
8. Sister Flores who stayed most of the night last night and did my dishes
9. Family who fasted today for us.
10. Just the knowledge that no matter what we will always be together

I will keep everyone posted but right now we are just waiting for a plan to move forward and I am very excited because he is very cranky and I see that as a good sign. Poor Gordon, his chest really hurts, just the shock would have been enough but the CPR did him in.