I spoke to Tawnyia and Jeff before talking to an on-call doctor at the cancer center. Because they don't have a cardiac unit and my breathing sounded laborious, I either needed to drive myself or call for an ambulance to be checked out just for sure. By this time, the pain had subsided and I was still trying not to panic. Luckily for me, a hospital was five minutes away.
A nurse checked me in and wheeled me to the cardiac portion of the emergency room. Before long, vials of blood were drawn, I was hooked up to an EKG and an X-ray was taken while I was on the bed. A heart surgeon came, too. There was no rush as I seemed to be weathering things.
I wanted to get to work. Time waiting for results found me texting my boss and various galpals. What else was I gonna do? When I asked how much more time I would have to wait, they said a couple of hours as I had to get a cat scan for my chest just to eliminate the possibility of a blood clot in my lungs. Oh, joy.
A male hospital worker wheeled me to radiology. There were two other women staged waiting to be scanned in the corridor. I teased that there was a sale and that they were giving these scans away. I ended up connecting with an elderly black lady who was a heart patient. She told me about her recent retirement, etc. We had a good laugh. The lady in between us could not see me, but she could hear me. When the black lady was wheeled in for her scan, her bed passed me and we touched each other's hands and wished the other good luck. Now there were only two of us in the corridor and I asked the other lady if she was okay; she had been quiet during the whole exchange.
Something interesting happened. The lady asked a passing female hospital worker to maneuver her bed around so she could see me and talk to me. This lady had fallen at home over the weekend and was just now coming to have herself checked out. She was worried about attending her niece's wedding this weekend. I couldn't tell her age but she looked in her late 50s. I assured her that the bump on her face could be covered in make-up and she could still have a good time. She was wheeled in another room minutes later.
I didn't have to wait long. The radiologist was the same guy I had back in December for my tumor. I reminded him of it though I knew he'd seen hundreds of people since then. He asked about my chemo but did his radiology thing so we could get the scans. The same male hospital worker came to get me and wheel me back to the emergency room. I remarked on how quiet the hospital was because normally it was busy. His reply? "Oh, no -- people are just waking up and falling now." Apparently he was an expert on the traffic flow of the emergency room.
My tummy was rumbling so I asked for a snack. I received a packet of graham crackers and a small container of milk. One thing I know for sure -- hospitals will not deny you snacks. Ha!
The attending heart doctor came to see me and release me. He said everything came out clear and the scan showed something about my thyroid. WHAT?! Apparently, that is something I can get checked out later. Jeezus. You can go in for one thing and then sprout more crap wrong with you. Grrr.
I finally drove myself to work with one call from Serina slightly berating me for not calling her in my time of need. I didn't mention the other few people ready to rescue me. She was concerned and just wanted to make sure what her mother told her about my condition was true and not exaggerated or minimized.
Work resumed without incident. A vendor came by to drop off lunch so within 30 minutes of being at work, I was having an early lunch. The rest of the afternoon was easy and I drove home around 5:30pm. I consciously sang along with an old song playing on the radio, Cool Change by The Little River Band.
Time for
a cool change...
I know that it's time
for a cool change
Now that my life
is so pre-arranged
I know that it's time
for a cool change
I think the universe was trying to tell me something... Thank God my evening was no where near as eventful as my morning.
1 comment:
Crikey there is never a dull moment... Glad you were okay Sprinkies. x
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