Appa was still living in Rourkela then. I remember hearing Sheba telling me about it over the phone. She was in Chhatisgarh at that time - serving at Champa Christian Hospital. I was in Jharkhand, at the Nav Jivan Hospital.
After we got married Sheba told me that that most people live another 5 years after such an attack. By God's grace, not only did Appa pass the 5 year mark, but he passed the 10 year mark as well and has crossed over 11 years too. A massive contributing factor has been how carefully Appa takes medications of all kinds (he is a diabetic too) and how often he monitors his health through regular checkups with his physicians. And he (and all of us) pray too. God answers. We are so glad for these years that we have had together.
Last month Dr. Thomas Koshy gave a public talk on the heart and I saw something that I never thought of before. This amazing organ - which so tirelessly pumps blood all through us - is itself served by such a limited set of blood vessels on the outside of it. Just like the crudest thought of bankers as people who randomnly dip into the millions that pass through their hands whenever they want to - so somehow I had never actually considered where the heart got its own blood supply from. Having never actually thought about it - I guess that I had just assumed that it sort of 'took on' blood as it pumped the fluid of life out to the rest of the body.
Hardly.
Suddenly all the talk about 'clogged arteries' etc. makes sense. Cut off the supply to these few
feeders - and the machine will slowly wind down - just like your computer does when the power suddenly flickers down to a dim-glow-bulb level (often seen in Mussoorie - but occasionally cropping up in my office in Thane these days). Put simply: No red juice - no working ticker. No working pump - no life in the body. Hence the value of making sure that ye olde arteries supplying the heart be without buildups of plaque and other gunk. Hence the concern over cholestrol other mouth-ingested-food-factors which contribute to poor areterial health.The 'heart attack' takes place when parts of this amazing constantly working muscle is deprived of blood from portions of its coronary artery. Blocked arteries lead to muscle death since it is not getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs. A tiny amount of tissue necrosis may even go unnoticed. But there comes a time when it cannot be ignored. Muscle death can lead to heart failure. A heart that fails means that or body doesn't get the blood it needs. How strange that I spend so little time thinking about this beautiful vessel which makes life possible. How glad I am that my vital functions do not depend on how much I think about them.
Yesterday morning we got a call from Vishakapatnam. Amma said that Appa had not been well the previous night and had been sweating abnormally. Not a good sign at all. People with diabetes apparently often do not have pain in the chest when a heart attack happens. She had Appa taken to hospital in the morning and admitted for tests.
We spent the day praying. Text messages went out to church friends here in Mumbai-land and family members up North. Prayers went up - and out - as others texted the message further.
In the evening we talked to Amma again. Appa was a lot better. It may have been a change in the diabetes medication which caused a lower blood sugar level than normal - and triggered the sweats. Appa was cheerful and had been discharged home in the afternoon. He will be taking an ECG on the morrow to see if there is any heart involvement.
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