It’s Sunday afternoon and I have had some time to reflect on this past week. It seems all we hear about are the bad people in the world. I’m writing today to tell you about good people in the world, especially the good people in my world. It was a normal week of work until Wednesday at 11am. Your world can change in a heartbeat, and that is what mine did. It changed in a heartbeat, or should I say a missing heartbeat or two or three. Off to the St. Cloud Hospital for a pacemaker.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate living in a small town that has a first class health care system. Arriving in the ER when things aren’t going very well for you and seeing familiar faces and even some good friends as nurses and doctors is very comforting at the moment. You have the comfort of knowing they are doing everything possible for you. I don’t remember too much that was said in the ER, but I remember the faces around me. Faces I recognized put me at ease in the moment of a crisis. Saying thank you doesn’t seem enough for what these nurses and Dr. Hacker did for me Wednesday morning. Thank you Madison Health Care Services!

Because of my job at the radio station I get to know a lot of people. When the three Granite Falls paramedics showed up to transport me to St. Cloud, in walks a familiar face. The minute our eyes connected we both smiled. Again I felt comforted and at ease with someone that I knew. I have never been transported by ambulance before, so going 80 mph with lights and sirens on was interesting to say the least. The biggest problem during the trip was I didn’t have my cell phone with me. That alone about killed me. The whole trip to St. Cloud they kept me informed as to what they were giving me and how things are going. Very professional people. We are lucky to have them in our area. Thank you to the paramedics from Granite Falls.

I was in Centra Care Heart Hospital in St. Cloud from Wednesday afternoon to Friday afternoon. The technology in the medical field is absolutely mind boggling to me. I really didn’t know anything about a heart pacemaker before last Wednesday. While the doctors were explaining to me what they were going to do and what a pacemaker does, my mind was exploding with amazement at what they were saying. Plus I don’t listen very well, that is why my wife is with me. So they implant this dollar size coin into your upper left chest, right below your collar bone. I was surprised when they handed it to me at how heavy it was. Inside the pacemaker is a battery that lasts 10 years, along with a small computer! Two threads are then connected to the pacemaker and fed through your chest cavity into your heart muscle. One on the top and one on the bottom. At the end of the thread is like a cork screw type apparatus that screws into your heart! Say what? So when your heart doesn’t beat the electrical pacemaker shocks your heart to beat for you. Amazing, but scary!

I don’t know how many nurses and doctors I came in contact with, nurses in my room, in the surgery room and the many doctors that visited with me. It seems like there is a specialized doctor for everything. I think I want to mention this as well, with whats happening in the world as far as race relations. I had just about every nationality working on me, and I can’t thank them enough for the kindness they all showed to me and my family. The young doctor that did my surgery, I’m guessing she was from India, was a smart, kind, and a very compassionate woman. I can’t forget the cleaning ladies that came in to clean, we had some good chats while they were cleaning my room.

When I was about to leave the hospital, I received a Snap Chat from the LQPV Asset Builders wishing me well. I will be man enough to say the kids made me cry. Again just saying thank you to all these people doesn’t seem enough. I can’t find any other words to describe how I feel about these people. My church family at Calvary Baptist gives me comfort in knowing they are praying for me. We are a family at Calvary. My work family at KLQP, I love them all. From all the personal messages on my phone to the social media posts it all has been overwhelming to me.

I want to end this blog telling you about my incredible family. My sons, Brandon and Josh, daughter, Brianna. son in law Seth and daughters in law Kristine and Katie, along with my grandson, Zane. They dropped everything to be with me in the hospital. Jeremy and Jen who live in Wichita Kansas, couldn’t be here but I appreciated their calls and text messages. My brothers and sisters, hearing their voices on the phone and visiting with them is always nice. Sitting in a hospital room with your adult kids, talking, laughing, arguing, laughing some more and sometimes just being dumb is good for the soul and heart.

My wife Roxie is my rock. The love I have for her is deep. She is incredible. I know life is short and being in our 60’s you never know when the end will come. So our long hugs and tears together the last few days have a new meaning for us. We have been together for forty six years and thinking for a moment that could have come to an end was hard on her. She’s a good person with a big heart. I learned so much because of what happened the last few days. Hug and tell the people you love that you love them and do it often. You see a paramedic, nurse or doctor, thank them for what they do. Be kind to people, its not that hard to do. So this past week I found out just how many good people there are in this world, especially my little world.