Turn of events

What a difference a week makes!
This time last week we were preparing to see the oncologist to plan Rick's course of hormone and radio therapy for localised advanced prostate cancer (the cancer has moved outside the prostate into a neighbouring organ).
Having arrived home from Adelaide on Moday night we were planning how we would tackle the next few months of treatment.
Rick has been recovering well from his hernia operation 5 weeks ago but has been looking unwell (though very fit from a rigorous fitness regime) - in my opinion - ever since, despite the fact that he insisted he felt well. He has exercised and been eating healthily for a long time now so it was a shock when I had to take him to the local hospital on Wedesday morning at 8.30am suffering the symptoms of a heart attack. His heart rate did not go above 40 beats per minute for 2 days so there was obviously something very wrong.
By 3.30 pm he was aboard the RFDS plane bound for Adelaide and admitted to hospital just 90 minutes later for observaion, assessment and finally an angiogram on Friday. Jessie and I packed our bags and drove to Adelaide dazed.
Then the real shock came - he needs a double, and possibly a triple bypass this Wednesday.
The Dr says that had he not lived a healthy lifestyle he would've been back (after his heart attack and operation to implant a stent 2 years ago) a lot sooner.
Now he has two 90%, two 60% and one 50% blockages in the left artery. His right artery (where the stent is) is quite good, so he obviously has a predispostion to heart disease. We almost have 000 on speed dial as he is only allowed gentle walking so that his heart is not put under any stress whatsoever.
Now we can only pray that God will look after all of us as we face this next hurdle.
Rick should still be able to start hormone therapy to shrink the prostate once surgery is over, and then undergo radiotherapy in 6 weeks time providing all goes according to plan this week.
He will be having at least 3 months off work and I won't be teaching indefinitely.
We are so glad to have the unit as a base, even though the hospital is a 30 minute drive away, but we are grateful to have private health insurance and very good cardiologist, oncologist, urologist and surgeon - and we're learning a lot about human anatomy!