In Sickness & In Health E48

A frightening late night ambulance ride to the ER for Shawn changed the topic direction of this episode. Courtney & Shawn will celebrate their first year in business together another time. For now, they recount a long two days of uncertainty and the importance of remembering that sacred vow to love each other in sickness and in health. 

It's an episode with laughter and gratitude!

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As always, thank you for listening!

#marriage #adventures #jesus #healing #children #husband #wife

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Episode 48 of Adventures in Marriage. Courtney, welcome to the episode that was supposed to be about one thing but turned into another because you know that's life.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

This is definitely a real look at life.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

A real look at life in sickness and in health. Not what we intended this episode to be about.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Absolutely not what we intended it to be about. It was going to be about the one-year anniversary of us owning a business together and what that journey has looked like.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Right, I know, which was going to be a great conversation.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

So happy anniversary to us and the creamery.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yes. Yes. Happy anniversary. Uh it was fun to tell the girl to remind some of the girls at work up front, hey, you know, it's been a year, and you're like, oh my gosh, yes, yay. You know, so.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

So yeah, one year, May 1st, we 2025 bought the creamery, and it has been a pretty wild adventure these past 365 days. There's a lot of things, just life, but just a lot of life that's happened in 365 days, but add the cream.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Life be life and for the horns bees, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

So sprinkle little ice cream sprinkles on top of that, because you know we're in the ice cream theme, right? Isn't that funny?

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

And uh yeah, it's been an adventure. So it's been uh just touching on that for a minute, it's been an adventure because it's been very much a learning opportunity for both of us. Because in case you didn't pick up on it, we'd never owned a business before and certainly had never been in the food business before. So a lot of uh learning, and I'm gonna say a lot of learning still to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

But tons.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

We still got things we got to do that we should have had done a long time ago, one year ago, when we owned this business.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

All it takes is money. Oh, wait a minute. Some of those things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Some of those things that take some time.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

It does.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

And sitting down and just doing it. We won't get into all those details for anybody who's listening. But we still have things we want to do. Yes. We're still learning. Uh, we are grateful. I'll say real quick, we're grateful for customers, first of all, who have supported us and grateful for the staff because several of our staff members have been with us for the full year. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, we've had there's a handful that have been there with us the whole year.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

We have employees who are more than employees. We really enjoy these uh young people and and and their stories and that. Uh it it it's it's kind of neat, you know. We care about them, we we want good things for them, we want them to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

And several are graduating and getting ready to, you know, they're still gonna be with us, but doing new things, so that's exciting too. And uh I will say it is challenging trying to work run a business together because we both have full-time jobs, so we're trying to balance that.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

We're both we're both always right.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

We both have full-time jobs and that takes up a lot of our time. And you have more flexibility in your job than I do, and I can't come and go as much as you do. Um but I you know, trying to figure out what my role is to help and support, because you know, as the uh as our girls say who work up front, if you want it done, you need to tell Courtney because she'll remember it.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

So I'm like, we ran out of gummy bears the other day. Sean's like, yeah, they told me a few times. And I looked at one of them, I said, What what who do you tell? When she was like, I know, I need to tell you. I'm like, because here are the gummy bears. Now, you do big stuff and complicated stuff, but like my administrative gifts allow me to get those little nitpicky things done.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

And that and that's and that's probably what happens is I look at that and I'm like, gummy bears are not part of the profit center of this of this business. Uh when we run out of meat and buns, I'll worry, you know, and those kind of things I'm on top of. We never run out of those. Uh gummy bears, I'm like, okay, yeah, it's nice to have them, but we can we can run this business 365 without gummy bears.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Right, but it's just the added little bit of a big thing. No, you're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

It is. It it it takes it and it makes it nice. It makes it a step better. For children, for families. Absolutely, yes. Yeah. And so I'm but we can pay the rent without gummy bears.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

So I'm just trying to uh I'm always about how do we capitalize, make more money, bring more people in, make it look nice, you know, that kind of thing. Make it more enjoyable, right? Right, right. Better experience for people. Absolutely that people automatically think of and not forget about. Because we'd heard that for a while. Always forget to go there.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

That a year ago that was definitely the message. Oh, the cream rare. I yeah, you know what? I used to eat there. It was a good place. Yeah, they have a good burger. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

So I want it to be at the top of people's minds. Like, that's such a fun place. It's so nice, it's cute, it's family memories that we're making. So, anyway, uh, how do we balance that where you maybe value what I say or my suggestions and you know, move forward with them instead of like, mm-hmm, that's good, we'll look at it later. You know, actually, you know, as we as we said, I'm the majority minority partner, right? You're the majority partner.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Uh yeah, yeah. Um well and and I think I think part of that was I have white knuckled, you know, h hold on to this thing, like, okay, the rent is on the first, the taxes are on the twentieth, um, you know, the energy bills around the twelfth or fourteenth, you know, and so so I've got these these major payments throughout the month, and I'm like, okay, I gotta I guess I'm I'm so focused on cash flow because it's also new, right? And and so you have said some things throughout the year, and I'm like, yeah, that's good. But I'm thinking, okay, what sales, what inventory, blah, blah, blah, blah, payroll, you know, and and and so now that I've seen this work out for a year, I feel a little more confident in the flow of things, and I'm like, okay, let's talk about some of these things.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Like if we can make it with one year and still be, you know, like have some cash and still be able to open the doors, yeah. Not knowing anything, oh golly, hopefully year two is gonna be great.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Right. And and and you know, the the thing that we we've told uh some of our employees that ask uh about, you know, that care about how the business is doing. Uh we're like, look, Cordy and Sean did not buy this to make a living off of it. Um we have our day jobs, and that's why they get priority. One day, not too long ago, uh things were not going well at the creamery. There were a couple of things that I'm like, you know what? It's gonna have to sort itself out. I have day job responsibilities with my role as a pastor. And I just let those things and they worked out.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Um and I circled back and and kind of short things up, but um it might have been during Lent when the friar stopped.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Well, that was part of it, but there was other things too.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Yeah. And so it's just like, you know, ultimately, uh it's good and we want it to be successful, but I I think the God's answering one of those prayers in that we're finding more capable people as as we kind of raise the uh standard a little bit, and we're finding more capable people that we know we can pay a little more and and and trust a little more responsibilities to, and they can run some of the the store for us. So all part of this process of learning and and uh rolling through the um you know the the the business cycle for this year. So and again, that was what we thought we would kind of go in depth on for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

That was the original Yeah, that was the original and I will yeah, that's the original answer. No, I was just gonna say that just in general, wrapping that part up of the conversation, this has been a year of learning more about each other in a completely different way. You know, just when you think that, you know, it's 27 years of marriage, we pretty much know everything. This has been a completely new experience that has made us have to uh work together and communicate in a completely different way, um, learning to respect each other's opinions and gifts. And I think that goes both ways. I'm saying that as it goes both ways. Like I understand you have gifts that I don't have, but I want you to understand that I have gifts you don't have, and I want I want you to, you know, I want to do my part to help you. Because I know this is really more your venture than mine, but I want to help you. I want to be that partner, but you also have to find ways to allow me to help, you know, in the ways that I can. Yeah, right? Like I'm I don't want to do Excel spreadsheets. Don't make me do that, you know. We're gonna get into that in a minute, too. Don't make me don't make me deal with Excel. Don't make me have to deal with the money or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Uh all the nasty plumbing and electrical. Like, I don't want to do that. That makes me tired. But I can order ice cream like a boss.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah, I know. The those administrative things you you knock out so effortlessly sometimes, at least from my perspective. And then and then I have fixed some things. I hope you've been impressed. You know, there have been a few times I've had to fix something or or uh get something going or whatever, you know, and then of course the uh all the the payroll and the money stuff, you know, I get to use some of those skills I've picked up over the years. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, and I I look at it as you know, people now know we own it. And so if if it's something doesn't look right or isn't isn't right, that's that's all not us. And that's attributed to our name, our reputation, and so you know, I want to make sure we're doing right by our employees, by our customers, for the public. So it has definitely been an adventure. And uh yay, we made it. We made it one year. I don't know if we knew if we could do that, but we did.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

And so uh we we felt pretty confident, but at the same time, it was like it's just unknown because we haven't had the repetitions to to to look back on for experience.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

And and and you know, kind of this is our geekiness. We have a lot of data now. We have so much data based off what we're nerds like that.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I and I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, I want to know how many quarter pounders we sold in one year, you know, or how many uh banana splits, you know, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

So didn't I look that up how many hamburgers we sold? Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

We just looked it up, but as we're about to transition. We literally just looked this up just a few days ago, but as we're about to transition, uh none of us neither one of us probably remember much because the past few days have been sickness and in health.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah. Good God.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

So we already knew that April spring was just gonna be really intense because as we've talked about before, we hadn't lent, and that was a really busy season, and I had a major festival that we just finished one week ago today, and I was truly still physically recovering from that. Uh it was two and a half full, you know, two and a half days, but those two days were like 15 hour days.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Yeah, you worked a week in those three days, two and a half days.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, very physical outside, moving, lifting, literally in the river.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Whoops.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, sorry. Look at my Facebook page if you follow me. You can see, you know, we were in the river.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Um I've got a couple other candid pictures I didn't post of you on your backside, like trying to kick ducks down the chute.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

I got some, somebody took some on my phone. Yeah. Yeah. And so just tired, just physically, you know, one, it's the culmination of months of planning, and and you're getting to that point, and then it's physical work, it's outside, it got hot, I got overheated and sunburned, but probably definitely didn't drink enough water and got dehydrated and and emotional too, because it's just you're dealing with everybody's what about this? What about this problem? Oh, this didn't happen, oh, we don't have somebody here, you know, and so the culmination of all those things. So that was already a lot, and and just quick shout out to everybody that I work with that helps, you know, because including my own child, um, or two of my children. One got in the river in a kayak scooping up rubber ducks, and you know, the other one was kind of my sidekick for two days, just helping and being wherever needed, you know, extra body, extra hand. So was coming into this week uh really tired but grateful, but you know, ready just to kind of have a day or two of rest and ease into the week as we uh move into a uh a season where we're about to have a mayoral election, which um for most who know that a re-election.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Re-election. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Re-elect Stacey all Britton Mitchell. Early voting starts today.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Plug that. But that obviously is my employment, and so you know, we've been, you know, m moving toward that. So that was all that was certainly a big is a big event that we were like, what that's next. That's the next thing. Yes. And so moved into that to this week, and then just the biggest, baddest curveball just got thrown and like knocked us back. So I'm still in like recovery, kind of chilling and trying to get my stuff together, and then boom, now it's sure. Now the floor is sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

The floor is mine. So so the day of your you have the Riverfest, which I I'll just give a shout-out. If you live in a community that has any type of festival and it goes and it runs smoothly, uh find out who those people are and send them a little a little thank you, whether it's on social media or whatever. They get a ton of like complaints because nothing goes perfectly. Here here's the way I said it, it runs smoothly. Nothing goes perfectly. Like there's always, there's always there's just too many variables. But uh watching you and the team, you know, uh your cohort Jonathan and and uh who who y'all partner, you know, co-direct this thing, and then all the folks that come around y'all because they love you and they love they love this community, uh, it's fun to watch because y'all do a great job. So shout out to them. Definitely if you live in a community like that, you you need to say thank you to those people because uh there's a ton of questions that get asked and and decisions that get made. So the day that the uh all the decisions are are finally coming to fruition, the day of the festival, or at least that Saturday part of it. Uh I went to play golf with uh ULM Wesley Foundation um because you gotta support my boy Alan Johnson, uh the minister of that ministry, and and he is also, of course, as as mentioned before, my partner in the Fight in the Shade podcast.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

And um He's got a great new episode about to drop, so we're leading into that.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

So Yeah, that's right. It could have been a crossover, Courtney. It could have been a crossover.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

It could have been a crossover. It kind of was because I was in the room.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

You were in the room, yeah. Get into that. I forgot about that already, gosh. So uh Alan, Alan went out and played golf, had a great time, did not feel like that afternoon. I felt pretty good that morning, I guess, but afternoon I just started to feel queasy, is the way I describe it. I I was not nauseous in that I wanted to vomit, but just like something in my in my chest and and upper body just wasn't right. And and so it just felt off. And uh I didn't sleep well that night. I didn't sleep well Sunday night, and I wear a Garmin watch, and it I know it's not an exact science, but but it is a a consistent metric that I have in my life, and I'm like, oh, okay, my sleep is great, it's not being recorded, something's wrong. Uh that went on, and then Tuesday morning, you and I go to PJ's and we have coffee and we're sitting there chilling. You left and uh ran into a a scout dad, uh, one of the the Boy Scouts uh dads, uh shout to Reza, and um we're we're sitting there talking, and I and I've got a 10 o'clock appointment. And at some time in the in the end of our conversation and and and transitioning to that appointment, I realized, oh, this could be like a blood pressure issue. Because I felt this same uneasiness for for like four days now Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

And just a side note, he had blood pressure issues when we bought the creamery.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Uh yeah, almost a year ago.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Yeah, literally the creamery.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

It had to do with around negotiating the lease because we we bought the we bought the business backwards. We did not have a lease when we bought the business.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

I don't recommend that, by the way, for example. Interested in getting their own business.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Thank you to the company who recognized that we were we were good people trying to do the right thing and they worked with us. Uh it could have been it could have really been ugly, but they but they needed a a less C and we needed a less SOR and boom, got it. Lease lease signed. Uh but that was a very stressful period. So I was on blood pressure medicine for about eight weeks, and then then I realized, you know, I I'm past that stress. Uh I made a few exercise and diet changes. I dropped a few pounds last summer and felt better. So I got off of it and and my blood pressure was back in control. Well, I thought maybe, maybe stress, who knows, dehydration. Uh, I felt a little dehydrated after the golf tournament. Maybe this is all blood pressure related. So I go to my PCP and and um describe what's going on. They do an EKG and they're like, uh, yeah, dude, you're an AFib. And I'm like, okay, I've heard of that, I get it. And she goes through the process of describing it. It's like basically your heart is out of rhythm. And so uh there's a firing sequence, and any if you're mechanically inclined, uh this should sound familiar, uh, but your heart, like a like an engine, um, has a sequence in which it fires so that all of the um the the chambers of the heart uh move blood in and out of the heart uh according to the plan that God has set forth. Mine's not doing that, and that's that uneasy feeling that I've that I have in my heart, because instead of a a a sinus rhythm, a regular rhythm, I have this irregular, um sort of this one node in my heart. It's just kind of you know, change the song, and and it's at a totally different rhythm. So the uh immediately get on a uh blood thinner. Uh this is Tuesday afternoon. Blood thinner, she calls a cardiologist. Uh cardiologist calls in a couple other meds, and uh I am at this point very compliant, which is unusual because normally I question everything. I don't just take meds. Uh I'm I'm very anti-pharmaceutical.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

You were a little put out that this was even happening, though.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

I was I was in d denial. Yeah, I was like, this is so stupid. I can't believe this. I'm so mad.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

I just aged 20 years in one day.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Oh, I did. I feel like I aged 20 years in one day for sure. Um because now I'm talking about AFib and and I I'll be honest, my my hang-up was I I do not want to be on pharmaceuticals the rest of my life. Uh I realized one day that might happen, but not at 50. So I I take the the other two meds, I take the first one, you know, with a meal, and then I take the next one right before bed, uh, as described on the on the bottle. Did everything according to instructions. Told Courtney we watched a little television. I said, Hey, I'm gonna stay out here, I'm gonna turn the TV off, I wanna sleep, kind of sitting up. Just it's a little more comfortable. I slept on the couch for a little while. I'll come to bed later.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

And you were supposed to be at the heart doctor that morning.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yeah, cardiology appointment, 8 30 uh Wednesday morning. This is Tuesday night. So about 2, 2.15 in the morning, I wake up. I was like, alright, I'm gonna go to bed. And I go to bed. And I and I and everything's sort of blurry after that. I I thought I went to the restroom, but I don't I don't remember 100%. Uh I feel like I plugged my phone in. I don't remember 100%. Anyways, but uh at some point, the next thing I absolutely do remember is Courtney going, Sean, Sean, and and she, and apparently that was about the fourth and fifth time you said Sean. Uh they were only the two times I heard it. And I wake up and I'm like, what? I'm trying to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yeah, you were aggravated.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

I was. I was like, why are you waking me up, woman? I finally got to sleep. Well, I wasn't asleep, I was uh passed out.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I don't think you were conscious, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yeah, I was unconscious. And and there is a difference, uh, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Especially when you're laying half on a piece of furniture. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

So so the better part of my body is on the bed from like the chest down. But somehow, like my left arm and head and stuff, according to Courtney, I couldn't s I I don't remember, was on the um on the nightstand. And and so I I don't know what how that happened or what happened, but I'm I'm laying in bed and I feel this like my body's just really uh sweating. I I've got to go to the bathroom, I don't feel good.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Clammy.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Clammy. I get up, I go to the restroom, and and I'm sitting there, and I'll I'll spare you all those details, but I'm sitting there and and um just pouring sweat and and my chest is not pain, I'm not in pain, praise God, but it just feels like I like it's not right. And I'm thinking, okay, just be calm. And I'm praying, and I'm just like, just be calm. Anxiety's not gonna help you. You're gonna have to go to the hospital warrantsby. Which is a big deal, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Which goes against everything you believe.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yeah, I you know, and that means you've got to go to the emergency room. And it's bad. I mean, God, you're sweating so much. Oh my god. Um, I don't want to say it. I'm gonna have to take an ambulance. And that and that's like the conversation in my head, and then also in the back of my head, I'm going, okay, just be calm. Remember, to live is Christ, to die is gained. To live is Christ, to die is gain. You know, and I'm just kind of praying that, like, I'm okay, I'm in God's hands either way, whether I'm here, whether I'm not here. Uh, we've made preparation, things are good. I actually told Courtney the day before after my my diagnosis of the uh doctor, I said, Hey, just remember here's some of the passwords and things like that, if something happens, if I go unconscious or whatever. So, you know, we we life is somewhat in order. Mostly.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Somewhat.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Um and and so she's like, uh, I I think you need to go to the hospital. And I said, Yeah, I think you're right. And she said, I think you need to go by an ambulance too. I said, Yeah, I think you're right. Which I were you surprised when I agreed with you?

SPEAKER_01 21:44

I just knew then that it was bad.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Oh, because I agreed with you to go by ambulance.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

And if you don't know it one, he's a a big guy, and so if something had happened to the house. If he had passed out, I I'm not gonna be able to get him off the floor.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

The four of you might be able to move me some, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

So I knew that, but I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know what kind of cardiac event it was. And so I knew time was important. Of course, you always hear, you know, I didn't think it was a heart attack because I think you would have been holding your chest or it would have been painful. But the other part of it is when you were in an ambulance, you were going to get into the ER faster. Yeah, that's right. You know, they're they're already calling ahead, they're already, you know. And cardiac patients get in before. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

But if I'm it's bad for the hospital for people to die in the waiting room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

If I'm driving, I don't know exactly where to go, how to get you in there. Right. Uh they do I'm with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

I'm with you. Yeah. And and I realize that too, because uh as bad as I felt, I'm like, okay, this could get from bad to worse in any second. And so uh shout out to West Maria Fire Department. They were they were there. It seemed quick for me.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah, it was yeah, they were there first. It it took a few minutes in in the emergency part of my brain. Yes, you know, and I'm standing on the street corner at 3 a.m. with my phone in my hand, waiting for them. We live on a corner, and so I I'm always uh in preparation mode, maybe always in like just maybe from what I do for a living, but kind of in crisis and mom, but in crisis mode. So I was immediately like, I need to grab this, I need to have this bag, grab his medicines, put them in a baggie, get the phone charger, I turned the porch light on, was waiting on the corner so that they wouldn't come to the front and waste time. I was flagging them to the corner so they could get the carport. Yeah, get that in.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

And uh so they got there and and uh you said three. In my mind, I remember four, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

There could have been. There could have been, but there were definitely three firemen plus the ambulance.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

In my diminished capacity, they all looked the same because they all had mustaches and they had on their their blue uniform. So I know they're not the same, but I was not in I was not in the best condition. So shout out to Westmorel Fire Department. Super calm, super chill, very professional. Came in, immediately hooked me up to some stuff.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Twelve lead.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

And they're getting me to they're asking me questions and you know, very and they weren't there that long before Acadian Ambulance got there.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

And uh they come they kind of come in and they take over, and uh fire department didn't leave. They're there to, you know, support. And uh Gurney comes in, you know, I'm like, oh, here it is, golly, you know. And uh I just have shorts and underwear on and Crocs. I don't have a t-shirt on because I know that um You said I don't want him to cut my shirt. I know. Well, I you know, I've watched I've watched too many episodes of ER, I guess. I know that's whatever you need, yeah. Watch too much television. Uh I'm like, I I realize if if something does go wrong, they're they don't care about my clothes. And so um I like I I even told you, I said, you know, get don't get the good underwear.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Not the expensive ones. Not the expensive ones. The really comfy ones, you know. You just don't know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Get those uh uh hanes or whatever they are from, you know. Uh anyways, uh so Acadian comes in, they they uh they can't get the gurney in the room. I'm like, guys, I can walk. And and I I I can only imagine the faces of everybody around there because I look like crap. I mean, I'm soaked. I'm white, you know.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

I would have liked to have seen them pick you up and put you on the gurney.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Yeah, and and so I stand up and you said the firemen kind of positioned themselves around behind me.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

There's one in front of you with his hand up and kind of one behind you, because they're they're ready for this.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Yeah, they're ready for me to fall. Well, because if we didn't exactly they probably knew it, but I didn't know it. My blood pressure just plummeted. And so any kind of change in height and standing and that kind of thing is gonna affect it even worse. But I stood up, thank you, Lord. I had some dignity about me, some strength, and I got to the gurney and and got on it, and they buckled me in and you know, took me out to the ambulance. And uh Tim, shout out to Tim uh with a Cadian, he was great, very calm, very professional. Uh he wrote he rode in the back, you were in the front. I don't know that guy's name, I can't remember. And uh it was a smooth ride over uh sometime in the ride. It was a slow ride for it was a slow ride for you, but sometime in the during the ride, and I was trying to think of okay, we made this turn, this turn. I was trying to figure out where we're going. You said we were on the interstate. I didn't think we went on the interstate.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

We did, we got on Thomas Riddle.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

My perspective. I couldn't see anything.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

There was nobody on the interstate at 3 30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Of course, yeah. Anyways, uh Tim Tim at some point said was very chill and I was like, dude, that's smooth. He said, Um, hey, look, I'm I'm gonna be pretty calm about this because I don't want to alert your wife. Uh she seems very put together, but she might like she could also worry. I was like, Yeah, you you nailed it. Um she's she's very capable. He said, but um your numbers just dropped again. So I'm gonna tell him to crank it up. And and he I don't know what he said. He clapped or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

He like hit the wall, hit the seat, and he was like, Hey, we gotta go.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, and then and then your guy, he punched it a little bit, huh?

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Yeah, turn on the lights.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

He turned the lights on too.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Not the sirens, but he had the lights on and started hitting it, which I I was ready to do it from date from like the moment we left Cedar Street.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

But I was very I I appeared very stable at that moment.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Well, and the backstory is I had said to the guy in the front, because you know, I do ask a lot of questions and I know that, but I didn't want to I didn't want to ask a lot of questions. I just said I was like, hey, I'm just wondering, y'all don't always like put the lights on and go fast. He's like, No, if you're stable, you know, we don't do that. And then minutes later we get on the interstate and you hear the hey, crank it up, we gotta go. And I I just hung my wringing my hands and hung my head. It was like the pit in your stomach.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Cause you couldn't could you could you see me? No. Yeah. So you just you just knew something was going to happen. I didn't want to ask.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

You know, I didn't want to I just like they need to do what they're doing. That's right. But it was just like uh it was the longest little ride, you're right. And and it's not far, really, it isn't, and there's no traffic. But it was just Yeah, because we told them we told them St.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Francis Medical Center, and so they took us across the river uh to Monroe, and and sh wow. The reception at the ER was great, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

They were they they won't let me go. They send me to a room.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Yeah, at first. Did you want you to paperwork or something or what?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

No, I think they sent me to a room because they didn't know what you were.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Oh, they didn't know my condition, yeah. They got you. So I I I they rolled me in. I I was making jokes. I was like, dude, you're letting that guy get ahead of us. Like there was somebody else coming in at the exact same time, and uh their ambulance uh folks got him in through the threshold right before me, and there's people waiting, and I'm like, great, now we gotta wait. No, those people are waiting on me. You know, and so there was like a team of six or so in the room in in bay four there in the ER, and man, they immediately start to um ask me questions and put leads on more, you know, changing the leads over to their machines. I got I got poked several times, blood's being drawn, uh, fluids are going in. You know, they put the the pads on for the um the AD or whatever you call it in the hospital, uh, you know, that so they could bring back us like that's ominous. And and uh what was my ER's nurse there in the beginning?

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Lauren.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Lauren, gosh, she was funny. Uh she had a little bit of a dark sense of humor, which is fine. I was good with that. A lot of sarcasm, but but it was done in fun. And you could tell it was done in fun. And uh she was great. She's like, Oh, that's just in case, honey, it's fine. And she said something like that. And and so they put those pads on me in in case I crashed, I guess. And um, yeah, they were all business, but still, still fun while doing it and very professional. So couldn't couldn't be more grateful for all the nurses and aides I met. They were they were just fantastic the whole stay. Uh so I'm in the ER, they're pushing fluids, they're they're asking questions, getting history. Um at some point you show them the medicine. You know, uh basically, I don't remember the sequence of events for the next few hours exactly. Um they don't do anything to me.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

They're just testing.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Yeah, testing, observing, fluid fluid. Fluid. Fluid's a big thing.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

Monitoring your blood pressure.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

And I and I and and I told I told my primary care physician that I felt like I was dehydrated. Uh I thought that was part of it. Uh I was trying to catch up myself and it wasn't wasn't working. And so uh I think that had a lot to do with my my AFib. And um anyways, uh we're we're in the ER and not sure what's gonna happen or or why this happened. And um we just crapped the medicine to them and and and like eyebrows went up every time we said the name of the medicine and the uh dosage. They're like, that's a lot. Why would they do that? You know. So um basically the the prevailing thought or theory is that that the medicine I took uh bottomed my my blood pressure out, and at one point when I came in, I was 60 over 23.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Which, you know, is very, very, very low.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

That's it, it's pretty low.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Kind of ended up getting talked about in the hospital.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah, yeah. I went somewhere else for um uh when I when I transferred up to an actual room and and getting ready for a procedure, which came, you know, later uh on Thursday. Um they s you know, I mentioned 60 over 23, they're like, oh, you're that guy, you know, and so uh apparently, you know, there was that that's um I and Courtney and I both are are happy to say we're not we don't have we have BAs, not BSs. Okay, we did not do the science route, we did the arts route, liberal arts. So we know that 60 over 23 is not where you want to be, but we don't know how bad it is. Apparently it's bad. Apparently it's pretty bad.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Yeah, your organs start shutting down and things like that. So yeah, you stayed in the ER for over, I don't know, uh 14, 15 hours, yeah, and then finally got moved to a room. The whole time it's just monitoring you, giving you fluids, then they ended up giving you some medication, some blood thinners, you know, just kind of speeding up all that process. And then eventually a cardiologist came and uh looked at you and uh got you to a full room, got you into a room that night, and your blood pressure was stable. Uh, when I finally left that night, I think you were like at 120 over something. So your blood pressure was in a normal level.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

The the arrhythmia or whatever you want to call it from the AFib, the um the irregular rhythm of the heart was still there. I was all over the place. Yeah, all over the phone.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

You look at the heart monitor and every second, it was a different number. And not by one point or two points. It was 82, 96, 112, 83, 91. It was just I mean, this was all like as fast as I could count it, it was just changing. So they were monitoring that closely, giving you uh some medicine for that. So and then you stayed overnight, and the next day uh had a procedure to get you out of AFib.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, so they they brought me down to the endo procedure area, endoscopic procedure area, and they um another cardiologist came in. They did the um is it a sonogram?

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Anyways, they did a scope for blood clots.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Yeah, so but but they don't look with a camera like like a traditional uh you know video camera. It was um one where they use sound, I guess, to to look into the heart. They basically went down, you know, through the mouth and into the throat and and uh esophagus and looked over into the heart and saw that there are no clots. And uh so then they they shocked me with uh 200 joules, I found out, and uh put my heart back into regular rhythm, sinus rhythm. So and and I immediately woke up feeling great, feeling feeling much better. Yeah. The the queasiness was gone, uh, the the energy level was back. I'm still experiencing I think because I had like five bags of fluid while I was there, I think I'm still experiencing uh some heaviness in breath, you know, when I lay down and stuff like that. I think I still have a lot of fluid on my body. So, you know, some things like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

So you got to go home later that day or that night, and uh now it's what does that look like? I mean, we're literally coming this is like two days later, so we're coming off of that. What are next steps? Um because you were in AFib. Is there a chance you can go back into AFib? No one can really tell us that. So kind of long story short, we're going to see a cardiologist Monday out of town. Uh several bands. Several people have mentioned that you know he um is a big snorer and has had sleep apnea for many, many years. So, you know, it would be wise to do a sleep study and and look at that because sleep apnea has a lot to do with uh the two go hand in hand as far as uh making you more susceptible to heart issues and you're not getting all the oxygen that you need to your brain, and and you're not getting a deep sleep, so your body's never healing and resting and doing repairing all the things that happen when you are in deep sleep. So that that's an option. Um, there could be another uh heart-related procedure that he could do. A lot of possibilities, but no definitely at this point. So uh we're like you said, second opinion, trying to figure out what this looks like. You're on medicine, would love to not be on medicine the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Yeah, we're gonna figure that out.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

But certainly trying to manage it and figure out what does that look like? You know, what are the things that you you know, can I drink coffee? If so, how much? You know, can I can I do this? Can I do that? So, you know, just lots of questions and trying to figure out what next steps look like. We're supposed to go on a trip in a couple of weeks. Can I get on a plane? You know, just things that we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

We're gonna go second opinion, try to get somebody who can, you know, speak to human beings and um and also get a treatment plan.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

So that certainly has been a major curveball. Um, I mean, that's why we were saying, you know, a little bit tongue in cheek in sickness and in health. Because um, you know, this is a journey that we have to walk through. And and I I will say, you know, I that was that was not uh the best experience waking up and not being able to get him to wake up. That was something I don't want to have to do again. You know, very scary, the adrenaline rush after he woke up was enough to make me fall down on my knees on the bed, just trying to catch my breath because my heart was beating so fast. You know, there's just it was very, very scary. So, you know, don't want to have to do that again. And and learning things like, golly, I didn't know uh this didn't happen, but didn't didn't learn, didn't didn't realize you can't do CPR on the bed. You have to have somebody on the floor because you need a hard surface. Well, the last time I took CPR was in college. Haven't, you know, haven't had to use it and wouldn't have thought about that. And then how am I gonna get him to the how am I gonna get him to the floor? You know, you just think about those things. And um, I don't know. You know, I mean, it certainly you when you take your vows, you say in sickness and in health, and you mean that, but you know, how many of us have the chance to actually live through that? And what does that look like? And we are laughing about some of it now, and we're joking about some of it now, and you know, but um it's more than just being there. You know, how do you provide support? How do you care for people? How do you prepare for your for your for your life if something happens? You know, those are conversations that we have to have.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Because you you referenced the spreadsheets earlier, but uh this was Tuesday night on Wednesday. We do payroll.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Yes, and so creamery.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

So Wednesday afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Jokingly, I was like, Don't you do don't some don't let something happen to you on payroll day and make me have to take care of this. We're laughing. We're laughing now. But we but what did I do? I went home, I got your laptop.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

I'm doing payroll from the hospital bed.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Yeah, and then he'd hand me the laptop and I'd do a little bit and he'd check it, and of course he's got all these wires and IVs, and his mobility is limited because he can't move his arm, the blood pressure cuff is going off every few minutes and real tight on there. And uh you just, you know, you think about all those things that you really take for granted, and those are just the administrative things.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Yeah, and you know, I was thinking about like we we've done we've done some things with regard to life insurance. We have a will, thank you to an attorney we know, Doug, we appreciate that. We have we have some things in in in like set up. But it doesn't mean you're ready.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Like you're you're prepared to a certain degree for some of the legal and the financial aspects of it, but that doesn't mean you're anywhere near ready. And and it just like if the the the situation was reversed, you know, how I wouldn't yeah. I mean I can get you off the bed easier. I knew the thing about CPR on the bed. I knew that because I've been through CPR more recently than you have, but uh that's one thing. Yeah, spouses, go go get CPR training together. Now look, if you're 20, you know, 23, 25, whatever, and you just got married and you're like, oh I'm great, like and you're so super healthy now, okay, maybe it's not as big of a deal. Having kids hitting middle age, doesn't hurt to be a little more familiar with CPR, you know, and that kind of stuff. That's a simple thing you can do to, you know, to make yourself more ready to help one another. Now, granted, it didn't it you didn't need it, but um I don't know, I was just thinking about that and and and the I knew you felt fear, but kudos to you. You never seemed to break down. You know, you you were in you were in crisis management mode and and you held it together and and I I love that you're a woman who felt the things you felt, but you never gave in to hysteria, and thank you for that. Because I think you were not only strong for me, but you were definitely strong for our children.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Yeah, one of our children had woke up because she heard me yelling.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

So yeah, I mean, there's definitely that because I and in fact I was trying to go around and shut doors so they wouldn't hear people coming in. Right. 'Cause I didn't want them to have to wake up. Yeah. And I was thinking, who's going to get him to school? Who's going to do this? I had m we had a presentation that morning.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

And and we know we're we're s we're rich people because of how many people love us and and we have the opportunity to love them back. And we know that uh there are tons of people who would have stepped in in all those different areas. So uh but at the same time it's like, wow, okay, this was a this I I told you last night, I was just f I just was looking over at you and I moved my head closer to yours on the couch and I was just saying I feel very grateful. Uh we we know of people who you know didn't didn't have nearly as good of experience as we did.

SPEAKER_01 40:41

Mm-hmm. And sadly, more than more than more than more than one, yeah, yeah. Over the years.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Yeah, over the years. And and just recently a family uh across our community, you know, beautiful young wife got sick and and just recently passed away. And and they're you know, young children and a husband, adering husband, business owners, and um they just celebrated her life. And and you know, that was one of those those moments like okay, uh it's it's a pretty thin line that separates us from them. And and so just gratitude's a big part of this.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Yeah, there's a lot that goes with that.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Yeah, and so in sickness and in health, I I would encourage you, I I don't think it's something that people need to dwell on all the time, but but it it is smart, it is intelligent. Like one of the things I could be at peace was I knew that there was if if if things went really bad, I knew there was some life insurance money there, like you guys were gonna be taken care of. I knew that there were some things in writing that would protect you and allow you to negotiate um uh you know the the probate and all those things a little easier. You know, so I was grateful that that we had some things in place, you know, and we had friends who would you know come alongside you and stuff. So yeah. I think it's worth having a conversation or two.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

Yeah. And those are not always the best conversations to have, but I have always t told Sean I don't want to I don't want to be caught so off guard and be in such ignorance that I don't want I'm not able to take care of myself or take care of our children, and vice versa, you know. Um you know, we just and and and and sadly, you know, some things that we've talked about before and some other episodes of things that have happened in the past have have made us have those conversations. Whereas, you know, maybe when you're younger, uh you just want to live in a little bit of ignorance and not have to talk about that. No one really does. But uh I also don't want to feel so incompetent that I can't make decisions, I can't take care of myself. And and I think because we have known people who have found themselves, you know, in in tragedies like this, um, sadly, and uh our heart, you know I mean, just you you truly get a little glimpse of of what that feels like, you know. And and we are very grateful. I am grateful that uh you listened to your body, you went to the doctor. That's not like you, truly. In fact, when he called that day, hey, I don't want to worry you, but I'm gonna take myself to the doctor. Which is pretty telling because he just doesn't do that. He just doesn't do that.

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Well, but but at the same time, had this kind of come on and then 24 or 36 hours later been gone, I'd be like, Yeah, cool. Okay, why would I need to go to the doctor for that? You know, I just had indigestion or something, right? Dehydration, whatever. And but on day four, uh, and then my garment watch is telling me I didn't get I didn't get two hours of sleep again at night. I'm like, something's wrong. It there's something going on in my system, this thing's not reading it. It's not an exact science again. However, when I have years of consistent data, you know, I like okay, something's up. Yeah. So I uh it doesn't hurt to pay the copay and go sit down.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Yeah. So so that's been the past week. Yeah. That's not uh we kind of joking. This is not how we envisioned 2026. We did not envision it was not on the bingo card. Right. That we both would have a trip to the ER in the first half of the year. Granted, now mine seems like nothing compared to yours. Mine was just a broken elbow.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Yeah, and your work's gonna work's paid for yours because it was on my work.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

We're not even gonna talk about the bill.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Sickness for richer for poor. No, we're not even gonna talk about that bill. That's the next episode when we get the bill in for richer for poor.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

Well, remember they came in for a down payment. I know, yes. 5 30.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

We're in the ER at like 5 30.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Early. It was early.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Yeah, and they come in and she came in with a girl, who are you?

SPEAKER_01 44:53

What relation are you? I should have said, Oh, I'm just a friend.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Just a neighbor.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

She's like, Well, how would you like to pay for this?

SPEAKER_00 44:59

I'm his girlfriend. His wife doesn't know yet.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

That's horrible jokes.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

I know, it's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

But they're like, How would you like to pay for this? Oh, okay. Well, let me ensure you still have a room here. Let me go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

Thank you, Dara.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Yeah. So, you know, we do laugh a little bit because we have to.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

Uh you have to. And and um again, so many, so many folks to say thank you to. I've named some of the fire, you know, fire department uh Acadian Ambulance. Uh that's two shout-outs. So if you want to take a discount off the ride, I would appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

I don't think that's gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 45:32

It's probably not gonna happen. Um you got little Lauren in the ER, and then the I wish I could remember. I try to remember as many names as I could. Letitia, uh Renee.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Abby was the student nurse.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

Uh yeah, Abby was a student nurse. Hannah was her her nurse that was showing her around. Uh Jonathan, I only had him for about an hour, and then they they booted me upstairs. And then uh you had uh lots of great people on the telemetry for that took good care of me. And so yeah, it was it was really nice. And then uh, you know, buddies that checked in on me and came by, uh, John and Jeremy and and Alan, of course. And so, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Even recorded a podcast episode from the ER.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Alan and I, it the the sound quality won't be as good because we did it on my phone, but uh Alan and I recorded an episode of Fight in the Shade while I'm sitting there after right after he gave me my sponge bath, he uh he he recorded an episode with me.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Better him than me.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

No sponge baths were given, but yeah. Uh so yeah, just just it's good to be loved, not only by all those people, but especially by you. So thanks for you know thanks for saving my life, Courtney. Thank you. How long is that gonna last? How long are you gonna milk that one?

SPEAKER_01 46:43

Maybe when all the lit things are done on my list.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Your list never ends.

SPEAKER_01 46:47

That's true. We'll have to we'll have to negotiate. This is said list, and when said list is done, then I no longer owe you for saving my life. You don't owe me at all.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Oh, it sounds like I do.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

No, your gift is being here with me.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

Uh yeah, it is. I know that's right.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

All right, guys. Uh we're gonna wrap we're gonna wrap that up. That was a that was a link. We gotta go vote. Yes, we're going to early vote. Um, but just you know, a lot a lot to be grateful for, thankful for everyone who has uh been supportive and uh reaching out and uh lots of folks asking if they could, you know, bring food or to my kids. I'm like, well, we own the creamery. I mean, a worst case they can just go eat over there.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Oh you know, so oh yeah, shout out to Miss Kathy and to Sarah for the brownies. Hello.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Yeah, so we do appreciate those, but just people who are praying more than anything.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Uh my doctor did say homemade chocolate chip cookies are good for the heart. So if you want to drop those off, that's cool. He did say that, right? Didn't he?

SPEAKER_01 47:44

I think so. Dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is supposed to be good for the head. That's right. Yeah. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. So uh hopefully, guys, the uh next episode will be just a mundane adventure. What an adventure and not uh this kind of adventure. So, you know, we didn't really, really truly when we started this podcast two years ago, we just didn't even know what kind of adventures. Uh we're going on vacation, we hope. Fingers crossed in May. Um Stone City. We're going we're going to Vegas. Um I hope my heart can take it. Oh gosh. That's that hasn't gotten old yet at all. My heart won't let me cut the grass. My heart won't let me whatever, whatever you're saying. Uh again, just jokes. We're laughing, you know. We're we're trying to make the most of it. Yeah, we're just, you know, because it is heavy, it is it is uh serious. We do take it seriously, but uh at the same time we're trying to to laugh with one another so that we are not, you know, just upset and sad and and all that. But we are very grateful. We are, we're very grateful, grateful and blessed people, and uh we know that. So uh we do appreciate everyone listening and uh join us again for the next adventure and uh well thank you for all your support. Let us know if you have any questions, feedback, comments, next topic, suggestions, all of the above. And uh thank you again for listening.