Tough Day for the Hood Family

Thursday (January 17) was not an easy day for the Hood family. After returning a few emails, eating breakfast, and taking a quick morning bike ride, I experienced a severe headache, some chest pain and tingling in the left arm. After taking some aspirin, Jennifer drove me to the Emergency Room where we began a long journey of discovering what had happened. After a few nitro pills and some other medications to relax my body and reduce my soaring blood pressure, I felt much better and we began to think that I had not had a heart attack. But as evening approached, the proverbial elephant on my chest grew heavier. I then received two more nitro pills and eventually a nitro IV drip was needed to remove the pain. The plan had been to take a stress test on Friday morning, however, the blood enzyme tests revealed that I had indeed experienced a heart attack and the pain revealed that I needed a heart cath by early morning at the latest.

The next morning, my cardiologist performed a heart cath on me and discovered that one of my main arteries was 100% closed. The other vessels were clear so he cleared the blockage and placed a stint. There did not seem to be much damage and the heart was recovering well. I recovered in CCU and then PCCU for two days and was released on Sunday morning.

I will be taking many new medications for the rest of my life, but I am expected to make a full recovery and lead a very normal life. I should be back to regular excercise in just a few weeks. I will take a few weeks off from work, continuing to preach on Sundays, and then adjust back to full time the following two weeks.

It was a tough day for the Hood family, but there was no fear in our hearts, it was just tough for each of us to watch the other having to go through it. God carried us through and he deserves the praise.

Saved by grace and ALIVE by grace,
Bro. Wade