Heart attack and forgiveness

i was surprised by an early morning text msg from one of my nieces telling that my brother-in-law was admitted to the coronary care unit at 4.00 am. it was in fact a jolt because as far as i know, other than his smoking of rokok daun my brother-in-law does not have any other vices or a medical condition. he has always been hale and hearty, in fact was actively involved in making house repairs and construction around his neighbourhood.

true enough he suffered from an anteroseptal infarct with inferior ischaemia. when admitted his blood pressure was on the low side and the chest pain persisted even with isoket and heparin infusions, which is a bad sign. he was planned for an angiogram cum angioplasty/kiv rescue CABG if they see a bad sign i.e 3-vessel disease.

when i went in to see his much weakened condition, i was astonished to see his pale face and immediately he went into a tirade as he predicted the cause of his almost fatal condition was because of 'somebody' whom he felt he had wronged. he had been trying to ask for this person's forgiveness and he was deeply upset that that person should felt slighted for a small misdeed that my brother-in-law didnt mean to and it has caused a deep wedge between them. he went on and on and i was alarmed at the increasing heart rate evident on the cardiac monitor for fear he would get another infarct!

i tried to console him to forget about this person whom didnot feel a slight remorse over the broken 'silaturrahim' or did not pay a heed to him. i asked him to lie down and not get agitated, but his monologue went on... until the cardiologist assumed he was crying because of the chest pain, and generously gave him a dose of morphine to sedate and alleviate the pain.

apparently my brother-in-law had been trying to see 'this person' to ask for forgiveness for which it proved furtile. he wished that he could see 'him' even for a second to clear the air between them. i saw his sincerity on his lined and wrinkled face, it brought tears to my eyes.

what really saddened me was the fact that this 'person' whom he was talking about was someone closest to me... ! and i still remember what he said to me this morning, "....he's doing the same to me too!"

to my brother-in-law, i hope you'll survive this physical ordeal. i hope you will continue the path to health and i'll always pray for you.