On Sunday, March 10 last year (2024) I had a saddle pulmonary embolism at the pulpit. Many don’t survive such a thing.

The following 48 hours were also quite astonishing. There’s no doubt that the Lord preserved my life in a dramatic way.

Here’s a text my wife, Linda wrote the following day (Monday), providing an update for the family. As you read it, please join with me in giving thanks to God for His great mercy to me.

March 11th, 2024

I’m so sorry for the slowness of this update. Tired doesn’t quite describe how I was feeling yesterday after hardly having slept since Saturday evening. I got a couple of hours’ sleep in a row last night, and it has helped immensely. We are in awe at the goodness of our God through your earnest prayers for John.

John was literally about 10 minutes away from being taken from his room to where they would have been performing a heart catheterization when a pulmonary doctor came into John’s hospital room. He had been included in John’s care because of John’s sleep apnea. He was very direct with rapid-fire questions, even as he was very approachable and kind. Within 2 minutes of evaluation, he said he was canceling the heart catheterization, and he wanted a CT of John’s lungs immediately. “Out of nowhere”, a change of direction most likely saved John’s life.

Within a very short time, it was verified that John had a very serious amount and size of blood clots in the saddle of his lungs (the area between the right and left lung), besides many other clots throughout his lungs. Everything went into action from there for him, having a procedure called an echo sonic endovascular system surgery. In this procedure, the surgeon inserted catheters into John’s lung area, and then the catheters were used to infuse incredibly strong medicines that break up/dissolve the clots. It’s actually pretty fascinating to read about this incredible technology. We appreciate your prayers regarding the risks and after-effects of these incredibly potent medicines.

John had no choice but to move forward with the procedure. All of us had already experienced the gravity of what would happen again if he didn’t. The fact that on Sunday it wasn’t instantly fatal is such a mercy of God. (I apologize that I told you that the surgery was going to be a thrombectomy. This is what the hospitalist at first referred to it as.)

The procedure went incredibly quickly, 30 minutes, but the protocol afterwards made for a long night for John. He had to lie in the same position on his back for 13 hours. He was originally told it would be 6 hours, but they kept adding a couple more hours and a couple more, etc. His numbers have been great (blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate, etc.).

However, he did have a 45-minute time this morning when his monitors went off for about 10 seconds, and then he felt incredibly “off” and had a worrisome demeanor/feeling. The docs believe this is part of the healing process as his body and more specifically his lungs and heart have been through so much and then have had what they call “insult with the surgery”. I guess that means these organs are “put out”. I so want to thank you again for your prayers, and I want to encourage you with the miraculous mercy God provided by the confirmation that the pulmonary doc gave me. He said that he almost didn’t come to John’s room because he had such a heavy patient load and was going to put it off until the next day, but felt that he was supposed to.

He confirmed that there would have been a huge risk to John having “thrown a clot during the heart catheterization procedure,” dying on the table. I was able to share with him how all of you are praying for John and that I believed he was God’s answer to our cries for help and mercy for John’s life. He actually agreed as he knew that he was so close to not coming, but so strongly felt that he had to. Please continue to pray for supernatural wisdom and guidance, as the blood doctor will now have the task of finding out why John has so many clots. (The ultrasound of his legs shows he still has more.)

The medication he continues to be given is for keeping his blood thinned out and for clots to not be able to form. John’s dad had horrific thrombosis for decades, so we realize genetically speaking, he is very predisposed (Incredibly, his dad still lived to 88 years old). I’m sorry if this is more detailed than you wanted to know. I didn’t know how else to clearly give God the glory for the great things he has done for us.

We should be moving from the ICU into a regular room tonight. Not sure what we will be told to do from there, but I will do my best to keep you informed. Thank you so much for your deep love and concern that has caused you to cry out for this precious man so profoundly and effectively. He’s still not out of the woods, and your continued prayers are so greatly coveted.