It started last September, when a general authority by the name of Elder Hales visited our stake. His job was to choose a new stake president. Rex and I had an opportunity to briefly meet him and have him autograph a copy of his book for ourselves and one for a sister that had just moved from our ward (We thought it would be wonderful to give a copy of his book to her as a gift for the many years of service she has rendered to our stake). Sister John was the pianist for all the funerals, or special events in town. After the conference was over we had a chance to say a final farewell to Elder Hales. He looked into my eyes and told me to take good care of my husband.
Several months have passed, but I remember that feeling, and have paid greater attention to Rex's health and well being. This summer, in June he casually mentioned a weird thing happened to him at the gym. Of course, he mentioned this over an hour after the incident. He said he was on the treadmill and all of a sudden he was blind for several minutes. It was like looking into a bright light and then looking away, you can only see a bright light but nothing else. I immediately recognized the symptoms as a mini stroke or TIA. I made him go to the doctor and they ran tests and found out that he did have a mini stroke because of a 49% clogged carotid artery. Rex would have brushed it off and so would I, if I wasn't prompted to pay closer attention to him. We are watching him and he is doing some added things to try to reduce the clog, which seems to be inherited. Rex's brother Jack has been experiencing some dizzyness for quite some time and we told him to get tested and he also has the same blockage, but not as much as Rex. The doctor said it was good we checked it out, because of his healthy lifestyle, great blood pressure, fantastic cholesterol, etc. no one would have thought to check that artery as a possible problem.
I also insisted (because of the prompting) that Rex get an annual check at the dermotologist, because he has been a beach bum his whole life. In years past he has had little things removed but never had cancer. This summer he has had two. One on his arm, and one on his lip. They took a very large piece out of his arm and the cancer spot was very small. The doctor told Rex if had let his lip one go much longer it would have been much worse and much harder to repair than it was. What appeared as a tiny white bump, when removed, underneath it was very large. The amount taken out of his bottom lip, required plastic surgery to fix. Once again we were blessed, because you can't even tell.
I have come to understand that our Father in Heaven loves us and cares enough to give us warnings, if we but listen and take heed and are trying to keep the commandments. Some might say, "The general authority probably said that because dad looked so much older than the other Bishops". That could be true except for the feeling that I had at the time. I know he allows us to go through some hardships at times, only to protect us from some much worse things. We have much to be great ful for this summer! All has turned out okay.
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