Tim ..... On the other side

Since coming home fron the hospital, barely surviving a major heart attack with complications, doing the near death thing .... I have been asked often in various forms, "What was it like?" Here is how the question was put in the Yahoo group "a_savedsinglesgetaway":

Tim, what was it like ? what were you thinking and feeling during the whole time ? Did you think you were going Home ? Any Visions ? Any Voices ? Was there a Light in a tunnel ?

Would you be interested in sharing ?

As you know we all were praying for you, Melissa and your family did you ever think at some time during the whole time going to the hospital or in the hospital that things may have turned out different ?

I'm not really ready to answer this question yet but this is the answer I gave to the group:

I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointing answering this. My experience through the whole thing is so much different than for my family those around me. Never once did I think about death or dying ... It just never entered my mind! I don't really know what happened the first days other than I dialed 911 to have the Chiloquin ambulance to the hospital. I remember only very little of the emergency room and nothing after that until I woke up in Medford a few days later. All I can really say is that whenever I went through big anxiety or whatever (I was real sick for a couple of weeks in Medford and had to have 3 more surgeries) the Lord always provided this peace, a feeling of warmth and assurance no matter how much "faith" I had at the time.

The effect on Melissa, Ben, Xalina and Shay, was totally different. They were told I had next to no chance of living more than a few hours. I can only begin to imagine what that was like! Xalina in fact was told that if she wanted to see her Dad alive she better get in the car right now and make the trip to Klamath. She lives 6 hours away (I guessed it was 5 hours this trip) in Lincoln City. It was only a couple of days later after the "life flight" to Medford and many hours of surgery that the story changed and I was going to make it after all. My eyes still tear up thinking about all this ...

One thing I would like to point out is that a whole lot of Christians were involved in this which shows to me Gods hand in all this. My main surgeon Dr. Yondell, the greatest heart Doctor on the Left Coast, is very up front about his faith as well as the other surgeons. Many Nurses as well.

One last thing ... Please keep us all in prayer. Melissa and I are still sorting things out, My son Ben has lost it more than a couple times but is coming around with me and other issues in his life. The toll of Ben and his stuff on our marriage has been high. Xalina still calls me everyday to see if I'm alright. I have to see her again someday soon so she can see with her eyes I'm getting better. Its going to take awhile for things to return to normal ... In fact it never will as this has been such a life changing thing for all of us. Thank God for each new day ... I know now how precious they are ... troubles, hurt or not ...

Have a blessed afternoon everyone!

Tim