May 2007 - Page 2

God is at Work

SCBridge (South Carolina) Convention:

Then there was SCBridge. This was a new first-time convention - the brain-child of three families seeking to serve the Lord and "offering the best and the brightest in the way of vendors, speakers and programs for parents, children and teens." The list of special speakers was impressive: Chris Klicka and Betty Statnick of HSLDA, Lisa Welchel (former star of "Facts of Life," current homeschool mom and author), Zan Tyler (former homeschool rep of Broadman Publishers), Joyce Herzog (I've heard of her!), and many more! It was being held at the Charleston, SC convention center. This promised to be a fantastic event!

Then on Friday as we were preparing to go, we found out that there were only 240 signed up to attend That was a surprise. I know one room where I was to speak held 180 and I was NOT a keynote speaker at that event! Nevertheless, we'd made a commitment and would see it through. I was presenting ten workshops over the three-day conference and I would not let them down. We were planning to leave on Monday, arrive on Tuesday and rest Wednesday in preparation for the full schedule.

It was on the Sunday preceding the trip that the wrench was thrown into the wheel. We were getting ready for church when Tom said, "I don't feel well. I feel weak and my tummy is nauseated. I don't think I should go to church." In the minutes that I debated whether to go without him or to stay home with him, he took his blood pressure and said, "I think you need to take me to an ER." Still thinking we'd make it to church, we went to a nearby hospital branch, but that proved to be a major mistake. It wasn't an ER, but an "urgent care," and they could not treat Tom. It turns out his heart rate was down to 41 and his systolic blood pressure (the TOP number) was down to 83. They wanted to ambulance him to the hospital, but said it was already "full" and not encouraging people to come in. Turns out the ER at the main hospital was already caring for seven ICU patients who could not fit in ICU! Tom did not want to use an ambulance and said I could drive him. They let us, but Tom had to sign out "against doctor's orders" to do that.

What a day. Tom's heart rate was not even strong enough to make a blip on the monitor; it was a flat line - all day long. They tried a shot of some kind meant to get the heart going again, but it had no effect though they "shot" him twice. They monitored it a while and decided to admit him for observation. The heart remained between 41 and 44 (Tom's "normal" is low - but not that low!). So we made arrangements to stay the night and wondered if we'd make it to the convention - or even get out of the hospital alive. I notified my contact of the situation and called several others to be in prayer. At one point as I walked past the nurse's station I overheard a nurse on the phone saying, "I'm looking for a room for Tom Herzog who is in heart failure and needs..." Those words had not been used in my presence and the tension went up a notch! But I know that prayer teams across the country were busy that day - and night!

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