My Family

I met my Wildwoodflower at Duke in 1955 where I was a staff physical therapist and she was a student in the School of Medical Technology. She gets mad when I tell everybody I picked her up, but it's the truth. I saw her waiting for the bus out to the hospital, liked what I saw, and went around the block to offer her a ride but she was gone. The next morning, I was Johnny-on-the-spot. It was almost love at first sight; took at least two days. I was leaving Duke at the end of the summer but did some fast talking and got a commitment for June of 1956. We've been married for 42 short years. CHF or not, our goal is 50 years.
     After Muriel completed her MT (ASCP), we moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma. She worked for a couple of years while I began veterinary studies. A few months into my first year, I became seriously ill with rheumatic fever and had to drop out of the freshman class. I was in bed about a year and took 200,000 IU Procaine Penicillin monthly for 3 years. I returned to school the next year and managed to finish in 5 years.
     We became "parents" of 5-week-old Greta von Wurtzberg, a miniature red short-haired, female Dachshund. She ruled us and the children to come with an iron paw. When she was displeased, she would cough. After Greta died, Bruce and Buddy, also Dachshunds, made their place in our hearts.
     Our first daughter was born on September 1, 1961. She was our first miracle from God. We adopted her and 8 months later, her twin sisters from the Home of Redeeming Love, in Oklahoma City. It was the best decision we ever made.

My Work

After graduation from veterinary school, we had the wanderlust. I worked for the federal government in Texas. When living in other states, I shortly wanted to go back to my home state of North Carolina. Because of damage from rheumatic fever, I took a job with the state as field veterinarian, then in the state veterinary lab as deputy state veterinarian and finally back to my first love - field veterinarian. In between jobs, I worked as ranch veterinarian. I was a farm boy and I enjoyed working with large animals. During my active years, I always had flare-ups of breathing difficulties that gradually increased over the years. I pushed myself until I ran into job difficulties and resigned from state work.
     I was now waking up at night, gasping for breath. I'd sit on the edge of the bed two or three times at night, gasping, with the sweat pouring off. I'd go to the ER but nothing would show up on x-rays. By 1985, I moved my beloved back to her home in East Tennessee and I took a physical therapy job at a center for the mentally retarded. Now, I was up on the side of the bed half the night and holding down a difficult job. Finally in 1988, Muriel took me one Sunday morning to a 7th Day Adventist Clinic. After waiting to see the doctor for about two hours, she asked the nurse to take me in and observe my breathing. The doctor saw me sweating profusely and sent me to the J.C. Medical Center where I was diagnosed with blockage of vessels in the right side of the heart. Later, I learned more damage occurred behind the heart than first noted.

My CHF

I took a medical disability and because I was short of retirement by a few months, I've been on SS since. I did take about 20 chelation treatments which seemed to help, but the expense was too great to continue. The breathing difficulties became less until last November, while visiting a daughter in Florida, I came home sick with breathing and sweating problems. I made the usual rounds of doctor visits, ER and EKGs, until one night at the ER, a heart man was on call and actually saw me gasping for breath. My atrial rate dropped to 40. On February 14, 1998, a surgeon put in a pacemaker. It helped but I continued to get worse. I returned to the hospital in June. The doctors had consultations and decided to do a 5 way bypass and a mitral valve replacement on June 24. The surgeon insisted I go to Knoxville for a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan on June 23 before surgery. After the PET scan, the surgery was canceled and I was given my death sentence. The PET demonstrated I have a lack of oxygen to the base of my heart and to the right side of the heart. Even if I survived surgery, the muscles would not have an adequate blood supply for the mitral valve to function properly.

Coping

Muriel and I are orphans. We soon realized we were meant for each other. She says when she was about 12, she asked God to choose her husband and to give her a family. She tells me she can't complain about me to God because I am her answered prayer. We might say the same about our children because they were a special gift. We prayed on our wedding night that God would direct our home and promised we would try to serve Him. We work as a team and make the commandments our guide.
     Both of us had a 3 pound birth weight and were not expected to live but we did. Both of us had heart problems but never paid attention to them until forced to do so. I'm scared and I'm not taking this very well. I want to continue to live with my beloved for many more years, but we try to remember the promise we made 42 years ago of "not our will, but God's." If I live long enough, I'm going to learn the computer and put my beloved out of work as my secretary. I'm trying to choose a screen name with something in it about my favorite animal, the cow. Thanks to all of you for being here for us. We already feel close to each of you, especially, thanks to Jon. Our prayers are for all of you and your families.

Meds

Muriel -- August 16, 1998

All information on this site is opinion only. All concepts, explanations, trials, and studies have been re-written in plain English and may contain errors. No one here is a doctor. No information on this page should be used by any person to affect their medical, legal, educational, social, or psychological treatment in any way. This web site and all its pages copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Jon C.