Faithfully Fighting

I know I haven’t written in a while.  Actually I’ve been very quiet, trying to heal.  I did get to see my beautiful granddaughter on Weds.  She is, of course, perfect in every way!

Last night we had a bit of an incident that I couldn’t resist sharing.  I have, attached to me, 5 drains from my surgery.  I expect them to be taken out next Friday, but until then we have to empty them and measure any drainage on a regular basis.  I know that’s a little gross, but you had to know it to get what happened last night.  As my able assistant was emptying about 7:30 last evening one of the drain balls broke apart at the plunger.  This was one of those moments, you have when you are 30 minutes away from 6 guests arriving and you realize you don’t have potatoes or garlic for the garlic mashed potatoes.  “What do we do now?”.  We tried, valiantly to get the plunger out of the drain to no avail.  I called the doctor’s emergency call number and had to talk to a doctor on call who gave advice that didn’t work and mentioned that if we couldn’t get it fixed we could go to the hospital emergency room to get a new drain ball.

After much consideration we realized that was exactly what we were going to have to do.  Go to the emergency room of the hospital on a Friday night.  Somewhat comical that the ball didn’t break earlier in the day when the doctor’s office was open or when I could have probably gone to the hospital surgery department for a new ball.  I tried to contain the giggles (not).

We packed Katie up to Mom and Dad’s and Pete and I piled into the car and to the hospital.  We discussed the possibility that it was still early in the evening and maybe there weren’t many folks there yet.  As we turned to corner those hopes were sent adrift by the very full parking lot.

As I walked into the emergency department it occurred to me that I had 5 opened wounds in my body and was a few weeks away from chemo therapy and this was probably not the most hygienic environment for me to be stepping into.  One glance around confirmed that suspicion and I uttered a silent prayer of cleansing.  The blank stare I received at the glass window was not encouraging to me as I tried to explain my delima.  Then I pulled forward the other drain balls hanging from me, for visual aid, and watched as the receptionist and triage nurse’s eyes behind the window widened slightly.  The nurse motioned for me to come around the corner to the desk for a better look.  Perhaps they were considering my lack of immune system also.  I had thought far enough ahead to have my release paperwork from the hospital and they quickly pulled up my patient number.  The told me to have a seat in the sick area and they would attempt to get me a replacement and use my patient number from the surgery instead of registering me in the emergency room.

As Pete and I sat (as far away from others as possible), we tried hard to ignore the lady across from us in the wheel chair whose husband was holding the “pink dish” just below her chin.  There was also the woman directly beside me who was weeping uncontrollably and grasping her chin.  One woman at and angle from me had her coat up over her mouth and I thought maybe that was not a bad idea.  It wasn’t that I lacked faith in the Lord’s healing abilities, but it is one thing to believe and another to foolishly put yourself in harms way.

Only 10 minutes later a young nurse comes toward us with a sealed bag in his hand.  “Do you know how to put it on?”  He asks.  We jump up and start for the door, grabbing the bag shaking our head.  “We’ll get it, thank you.”  We said and we exited quickly.  With a deep exhale as we stepped outside.

Fifteen minutes has to be some kind of a record for an emergency department visit, but we did it.  They were really great to not go to the “official” steps of registering me and then making me wait.  They must have just gone right up to surgical supply and pulled one of those bad boys off the shelf.  I am indebted to their resourcefulness!  I silently prayed on the way home for the poor lady with the stomach problem and the woman who was obviously in great pain.  But I was also extremely thankful for the expedited help and extra effort from the staff!   

When we got home Pete and I both scrubbed as if we were going into surgery.  Soap, antibacterial lotion, alcohol swabbing my tubes, just as a precaution. If it happens again I’ve already planned a clandestine “I love Lucy” caper to avoid the emergency department, but hopefully that won’t have to happen.

Thank you Lord for your mercy last night!  For walking us swiftly through an unpredictable situation again!

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