A few takeaways

This blog post is gonna be a little wordy. I don’t know how to make it short. Some people know what’s up but most don’t and there are some important take aways (imho) so I want to share.
This past Monday we celebrated my husbands 59th Birthday. Feels extra special to me because we almost didn’t get there.

Kev & I went to Lake George NY over Christmas for a relaxing getaway.
And it was. Until it wasn't.

We were set to come home Wednesday 27th. On the 26th after we went to bed Kev has a “Significant Cardiac Event”. We learned later it was not a heart attack and this was the title they gave it.




This "event" involved:
calling 911,
me doing chest compressions,
police - thankfully with an AED (that shocked him).
Lots of EMS,
16 hours of Sedation and being on a ventilator.
Ultimately, after being transferred to a different hospital in NY, Kev ended up getting open heart triple bypass on 1/2/24.
Happy New Year!

We came home 1/7.

The surgery went perfectly. Kev is doing great. It is a slow process and the doing nothing for a while is sure to drive him crazy.
But he is good now.

The takeaways…
There really was no reason to expect this. Kev never smoked. Never had high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Maybe twice in the past year he mentioned his heart racing.
He was, however, exposed to plenty of second hand smoke as a child and brake dust as an adult. Never thought of either till the Pulmonary doc mentioned it.

Get things checked.
The cardiologist in hospital #1 mentioned that he wished people would just go and get “Cardiac Calcium CTs”. Not covered by insurance but not outrageously expensive and worth it for the information. And also-don’t put off the stress test. Learn whatever you can.


Learn CPR
No. I haven’t been CPR certified in 20 years. Yes. I have been saying out loud for at least 10 years that I need to do that.
I am grateful that I worked crisis for long enough that the weird calm comes back and that for one moment of my life I could follow the directions the 911 operator was giving. 
Would I have felt better if I was recently trained? Don’t know- and hope I never find out. But that class is happening for me next month.
---watch the CW Class Schedule.  CPR will be a regularly occurring class coming soon. 


Take nothing for granted.
No joke.
You never know what/who won’t be there in the next minute to talk later or get around to it.
Say it
Do it
And decide every moment what is truly important.


The world is FULL of good, kind, helpful and supportive people.
Our friends and family (that knew what was up) were ALL OVER THIS.
Kev's brother dropped everything and come up to NY. His support was invaluable to both of us. 
A good friend drove up to NY to hang with us for New Years Eve and then forcibly made me let her and another friend clean my house
Another friend found us a recliner so Kev could sleep somewhere that may be comfy when we got home and our awesome neighbor picked it up and setting it up. Not to mention snow removal !!
There was grocery and meal deliveries.  Our medical friends and family constantly feeding me questions and information. And ALL the CW Crew picking up the slack and keeping the ship running smoothly.

The community we have is nothing short of amazing. It is sooo much more than this list. 

It wasn't just the people we know. 

The communities of Lake George and Glens Falls New York are no joke. They took care of us. Strangers. And we were absolutely taken care of.

Go to Lake George stay at the Adirondack Lakeside Getaways
The cabins are amazing and close to everything and I absolutely can’t say enough about the owners. They stayed in contact with me and did everything they could to help and make sure we were ok.

Get fancy and stay at The Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls. This is a fancy schmancy place and they take care of people displaced and dealing with trauma at their local hospital. Amazing. The whole community was amazing.

Nurses are Amazing
And to all the nurses out there. Wow. You are all a special breed. I thought I knew but I didn't. They made the difference.
They were outstanding in helping Kev and helping me understand things and not lose my shit.

So so so much Gratitude.
Life changer. All of this.

This was for sure an extra big Happy Birthday to Kev. So beyond happy we get to celebrate together.

For all of you 
Take care of yourself!
Pay attention to the little things. 
Love one another.
Live everyday.

Tracy McGovern is a Co-Owner of Complete Wellness. A Nationally Board Certified Reflexologist & Reiki Master.  

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