I wanted to share this once again............My name is Kenneth R. Berrian. I was born July 20, 1948 My wife Sherrie and I were married June 28, 1979. We have one daughter Sondra, she is married to John McGinley and they have one child, a daughter, our first and only grandchild, Meagan Grace. In December of 1983, just before our daughter had her first birthday and Christmas, I had my first heart attack. I had my first bypass surgery in June of 1984. In Feb. 1991 I had my second heart attack and my second bypass surgery. In 1996 I had my third heart attack and my first of many stents. In Feb. 2001 just after our daughter was married, I had my third bypass surgery, not caused by our daughter’s marriage. Ha Ha In Jan. 2002 I had my fourth heart attack. While in the hospital the Dr. discovered an aneurysm on my heart. He had the Surgeon come in to speak with my wife and I to discuss what was to be my fourth bypass surgery. My Cardiologist, Dr. Wm. Daniel Doty decided to take a look at some of my old films from past heart caths. So, he went back into the archives and looked over my old films only to discover that the aneurysm had been there since my first heart cath in 1984. He couldn’t explain why it was never discovered in the 20 + years I had, had tests and surgeries. My wife and I felt it wasn’t meant for it to be discovered until that time. My wife was headed home from the hospital one afternoon, as she sat at a traffic light she broke down in tears and said “Lord, I know you won’t put on me more than I can bare, so if I have to bare this you’re going to have to help me”. Well, the next morning Dr. Doty came in to tell us the good news. Since the aneurysm had been there for 20 + years and hadn’t changed much in size over time, they were not going to do surgery. So, you see we kept our faith and God rewarded us. It also gave us more to witness about. God is good and He’s always on time. I went on to have more stents in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. In Oct of 2004 I got up one night to go to the bathroom. When I did I became dizzy and my wife had me to sit at the foot of the bed for a moment. When I stood again, I passed out and fell to the floor. My wife called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital. Again they placed a stent in one of my arteries and talked with me about have a Pacemaker/Defibrillator put in my chest to prevent what they said had happened, from happening again; Sudden Cardiac Death. They said when I fell to the floor the jolt must have corrected my heart rhythm or I would have died. So in Oct. of 2004 I had my first ICD put in. In Dec. of 2004 I had what is called an ablation to correct some arrhythmias. In 2005 I had my fifth heart attack and they did a stent placement. In July of 2006 I had another stent placed in an artery. In Oct. of 2006 I had my sixth heart attack and I got upgraded to a Biventricular Pacemaker/Defibrillator. In Jan. of 2007 I was referred to Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. for a Heart Transplant Evaluation. In Feb. of 2007 we traveled to Atlanta for me to have a series of tests done. We would travel back many more times that year. I was placed on the list on July 31, 2007 as an Exceptional Status 1B. Generally a person is not placed as a 1B unless they are in and out of the hospital with Congestive Heart Failure and/or on IV meds., but because of my history and the condition of my heart, I was placed as an Exceptional 1B. On November 30, 2007 I was rushed to the hospital once again. My heart rate was high and I was in Congestive Heart Failure. I knew I had been feeling worse than I normally did. I was trying to hold out until our Granddaughter was to be born on the following Mon., Dec. 3, 2007. I should have listened to my body. God gives us wisdom and sometimes we choose to not to use it. Lesson learned!! I don’t remember much after being taken to the hospital. My wife has clued me in on everything since then. On the Monday our granddaughter was born my wife was rejoicing at her birth in Daphne, Alabama. It was made possible for her to go be with our daughter and son in law that day because of two very dear friends(Kenneth Flowers, who took the first shift & Barbara Giddeon, who took the second shift). My wife spoke by phone with one of my Drs. and then another, they told her I was in complete Heart Failure and I was being given a unit of blood due to me being severely anemic. My blood was so thin and they were doing all they could to bring it under control. So, while she was crying tears of joy at the birth of our new little granddaughter, Meagan Grace McGinley, she was crying tears of sorrow for the news about me. What an emotional roller coaster! On Fri., Dec. 7, 2007 I was air transported to Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. via LifeGuard Air Ambulance. The Drs. at Emory converged on me which made me know even more so, how serious I was. I was told not to count on going home to Pensacola for a while. Possibly not until after I was transplanted. Before we had left Pensacola, my wife had asked a dear friend to please ask everyone at church to stop praying for me a new heart but to just pray for Gods Will. She couldn’t stand to see me suffer any longer and if it meant letting me go, she was willing to stop being selfish and asking God to keep me here until a new heart was available. She also asked everyone else that was praying for me to pray the same way. On Sat., Dec. 8, 2007 in the late evening I began to have what we thought were tremors on my left side. The nurse paged the Dr. on call and he came to see me. He asked my wife and I if we noticed any weakness or any kind of difference since the tremors. We had to say no, we hadn’t noticed any change except for what we thought was because I had been flat of my back for a week. Again on Sunday I had the tremors. They were short and again we contributed it to maybe a pinched nerve from being on my back for so long. Then Mon. Dec. 10, 2007 came and the Physical Therapist came in. My wife went to get something to eat and when she came back the Therapist stopped her in the hall and told her there was definitely something going on, on my left side. So, she called the Dr. and the Dr. ordered a CT Scan. It came back positive for a bleed on the back of the brain near the cortex, I had, had a mini stroke. They sent me to ICU. On Tuesday Dec. 11, 2007 a CT Scan with Contrast was ordered to see if the bleed was stable. It was, Thank God! That evening the technician came in to do an EEG. While she was getting me hooked up I began to have a tremor, this one lasting longer than the others and being more severe. After they got me hooked up I went on to have several more lasting 6 + minutes and even more severe. The whole left side of my body was jumping uncontrollably. As the first one began my wife was calling the Pastor of our church when a close friend rang in and she told him what was happening and asked him to start the Prayer Chain. The Drs. ordered some anti seizure meds. that I am still taking and has kept the seizures at bay thus far. We had many people from our church fasting and praying before, during and after this time. By Wed., Dec. 12, 2007 they were talking of putting me out on the floor. If you’ve ever been in the hospital you know the first step to going home is to be placed on the floor out of a unit. So, I was one step closer to going home. I know the Drs. and Nurses had to be tired of me, because every time they came in to the room I pointed to our granddaughters newborn picture and told them, “I have to get home to see my granddaughter”. They were always polite, even asking where her picture was when we packed it away while waiting to be moved out on the floor. Finally Fri., Dec. 14, 2007 I was placed out on the floor. It would’ve been Thurs., but there was no bed for me. I began to improve daily but still had a long way to go. They said I might get to go home Sun. or Mon. Well, Sun. was a no go, my wife and I were disappointed but the Drs. had a good argument. They knew they couldn’t get things set up that I needed to have set in motion with it being the weekend. On Mon. morning Dec. 17, 2007 one of the Drs. came in and asked me was I ready to go home. Boy was I!! We got to my sister and brother in laws house around 5:30 that evening. We spent the night with them and started home the next morning, Tues., Dec. 18, 2007. I was sent home on oxygen and walking with a cane. We were so thankful to be going home, to be able to be with our granddaughter for her first Christmas. Just going home was a miracle within itself. Over the next few weeks I became stronger and gained more control and strength in my left side. The Drs. had ordered Physical Therapy for me and when I saw my primary Dr. in Pensacola that Thurs. he said he would get it set up. Well, on Jan. 2, 2008 I saw the neurologist in Pensacola. He said he was impressed with my progress going on what he had been told by Dr. Doty. He said I did not need physical therapy. God is good!! I am no longer using a cane and I’m not on oxygen 24/7, only at night while I’m sleeping. I really don’t think I need it then but I’m trying to wait until the Dr. gives me the go ahead to stop it completely. I believe that God has healed my heart and has brought me through all of this. I may never know why he allowed me to have the mini stroke or any of my heart problems except for it is a witness for him. Look at what I’ve been through and I’m still here to Testify about it. God is good!! I thank God for family and friends. For all of the prayers from people we know, to those we’ve never met. For the fasting and prayer I was told that went up on my behalf. I believe I am here today because of our faith and because of the faithful. I give credit to the Drs. and Nurses who treated me with Gods guiding hand. I thank God for the Drs. and Nurses he has led me to. I believe they share in my faith. They are all Excellent at what they do, but I believe they know it comes with help from the Lord. When I came home from the hospital everyone was amazed. I found out that most everyone thought I would never leave the hospital alive, not that they gave up on God but they thought God was going to end my suffering. He has ended it but has allowed me to live to tell about it. God is good, All the time, All the time, God is good!!!!!!!!! August 6, 2012 Kenneth was in & out of the hospital 6 or 7 times in 2007. In Jan. of 2009 we went to Ga. For a Dr. visit. The drs. Admitted him because his heart had gotten worse & they said he would need to stay in the hospital until he was transplanted. So, Emory became his home & The Mason House was mine. For the next three months anyway. Kenneth got his new heart in March but somehow contracted a lung injury. They said the injury was either from being on a medication prior to transplant that takes 6 wks. to get out of your system or while on the heart bypass machine during surgery. I’ll always believe it was the medication. His dr. here at home took him off of the med., because he said the transplant team did not like patients waiting on heart transplants to be on the med. But because his heart was so bad, the transplant team put him back on the med. themselves. So, on April 5, 2009 he went to be with the Lord. I often wonder why God allowed him to be transplanted only to die a month later with his lungs, but, I know God makes “NO” mistakes. I know that Kenneth was such a witness to so many people @ Emory & maybe he was there for that reason alone. Some would say our prayers for his healing were in vain, but I know better because, when he drew his last breathe here on this earth, he drew a fresh new breathe in the arms of the Lord. He may not have been healed in the way we would have liked him to be healed, but he was healed none the less. Time does heal, but, I will always love & miss my first sweetheart. He was such a good Christian man. I moved on apprehensively, but have once again found happiness. I have a second sweetheart who is a good Christian man as well, & whom I love as well. I am so blessed to have not only had one good husband in my life but a second one as well. Kenneth Berrian & Kenneth Flowers were best friends since high school. I met Kenneth Flowers & his wife Doris in 1990. I have wanted to share this for so long but until now I couldn’t bring myself to do so. God is so good, ALL the time!!!
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 02:38:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015