Trifecta

Life for me comes what seems to be in triplet. The three unproductive employees no longer affected the decisions made in our school. The mismanagement and harassment was gone. I was informed by my colleague that there were only three Horticulture Instructors left teaching in the DOC and when Instructors left they were not being replaced. The curriculum my colleagues redesigned was a herculean effort and for the first time our students would be able to secure, upon passing the testing process, Michigan Department of Agriculture: pesticide licenses. In addition, our students could study and test through the curriculum of the Michigan Landscaping and Nurserymen Association. Passing the exams would guarantee them a credential once they were released from prison and they began working in the green industry. I had to give my colleagues credit. It was a huge effort on their part, they faced many obstacles because of the prison but their persistence paid off. However, there were only 3 instructors left to teach it.

The stress the prison environment had created for me over the years began taking its toll on my physical health. I started feeling tired after hiking a couple of miles with my dog and over the next few months I seemed to get a whole lot worse. I made an appointment with my doctor and he ordered a stress test. I flunked the stress test and was told to make an appointment with a heart doctor. I made the appointment but never made it. The day before my appointment I came home from work exhausted and had a strange pressure in my chest. I had coworkers help me make a donation of around 500 lbs. of produce grown from our prison gardens to our local food bank earlier in the day but I just seemed to be getting worse. The pressure in my chest was increasing and when I got home my wife took my blood pressure. It was very high and she called for an ambulance. I was feeling exhausted, by the time the ambulance arrived. I knew from experience this was not going to be a good thing, and made peace with my creator. I felt I gave life my best shot and if I was now cashing it in, I better make it right by him. So of course I prayed. Even this shall pass, and hopefully not me Lord.

When the medics arrived I was immediately treated and transported to Ascension St. John Hospital where I was kept on an IV of nitroglycerin. I was then sent to the heart lab where the Doctors determined three of my arteries were blocked at 98, 97, and 96 percent. I would not be a candidate for angioplasty. To stay alive, I would need triple by pass surgery. That news had me saying some immediate prayers. The Doctors informed me that the nitroglycerin was keeping me from having a heart attack. Had I waited one more day, my wife would have been widowed. I met the Doctor in charge of thoracic surgery, and he introduced me to the surgeon, his colleague, who would be doing the surgery. His name was Dr. Omar Habib. He explained that he would remove a vein from my leg, my arm, and my chest to by pass the arteries that were blocked. He also explained that it would be minimum 8 hour surgery. I would be put on a ventilator when the surgery was completed and moved to the intensive care unit where my healing process would begin. He shook my hand , and told me not to worry. I would heal well. I thanked him in advance and prayed a whole lot more hoping the three mined veins would be healthy. My life, prayerfully, would not end in a surgical attempt of saving it with triple by pass surgery. To be continued….