Paper Bracelets

Last Friday morning I was driving to West Hills {San Fernando Valley} to deliver shoes that some local friends and I lovingly gathered and passed along to Tracy and her family in order to help bring sweet Sofi home from Eastern Europe and into the Jensen’s loving arms.

As I was driving down the 118 to exit Topanga Canyon, I all of a sudden, experienced some warmth in my chest and a quick shortness of breath. This has happened once before in early summer ’12 along with a couple different symptoms and I had Jay take me to our local ER where everything checked out normal and I was sent home with a diagnosis of general anxiety. Needless to say I was thrilled that was all it was. In the meantime I have tried to simplify our life and try not to be so stressed.

{I need to add that I was NOT feeling stressed, overwhelmed or “put out” by any means while I was delivering Shoes for Sofi! I am not implying that by ANY means. I obviously do not know what triggered this, but it just so happened as I was en route to make the shoe delivery.}

Well, when this happened again on Friday morning while I was driving, alone, thirty miles from home, I got a little nervous. I took deep breaths and continued on my way to deliver the shoes and planned on knocking on the door of the person who I was delivering them to and ask them to maybe take me to a nearby urgent care. When I arrived at the house and rang the bell, nobody answered so I unloaded the shoes and a note that I had written for Tracy and left them on the porch. It had begun to rain and I didn’t think it was safe for me to get back on the freeway and drive home so I drove to a medical building and walked into the pharmacy and asked if there was an urgent care nearby. The girl behind the counter told me there was a hospital “right down the street, turn right on Sherman Way, pass Fallbrook and you will see it”.

Fast forward about 15 minutes……

{not the kind of bracelets I enjoy accessorizing with}

I parked the car and walked into the ER/Chest Pain Center entrance and was immediately escorted by a security guard into a triage room where the nurse began firing off questions and ordered an EKG while i was sitting there answering said questions. Shortly there after, a young Asian woman {probably younger than me ~ wah!} came in and introduced herself as Dr. Shum. She was sweet and gentle and kind. She had a PA with a digital notebook taking down all the information she was getting from me and then read the EKG. She said it was completely normal and that my blood pressure and pulse were slightly elevated which is completely normal when you are sitting in a triage room ~ imagine that!

She said she wanted to also get a chest x-ray, but before that I needed to give a urine sample so they could do a quick pregnancy test. My mind immediately flashed forward to an episode of “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant”. As much as another baby would be lovely, the test was negative and I soon found my way following the request of a sweet little older gentleman who introduced himself as Alex and led me down the hall to radiology. He asked me about myself as we strolled and was so kind. He quickly took the x-ray and we were back on our way through the automatic double doors to the BUSY emergency room.

By this time I was getting a little nervous about being able to get home in time to pick up the kids at 2:09 when they got out of school. I had already called Jay at work and reassured him that I was OK, but I was at West Hills Hospital waiting on the chest x-ray results since I had the same symptoms from earlier last year. He had a co-worker bring him to the hospital {he works close by the hospital, but takes the bus into work so he didn’t have a car}.

I didn’t really want him to come into the waiting area since many people were sitting around with masks on and a few of them were holding barf bags. Not quite the place you want to be during flu season. Or ever for that matter. I took the car key to him in the lobby and he headed home to pick up the kids which was such a relief to me. Yes, we have people that we can call on in an emergency to get them from school, but just knowing that daddy was on his way to get them made me so much more at ease!

Right after Jay left, Dr. Shum came by and informed me that the chest x-ray was completely clear and there was no sign of anything. She mentioned that since I had sat there for almost 3 hours for them to observe me she said she thought I was good to go. I told her that I was there for a good 2 plus more hours since my husband had just left to go get the kids and she agreed that since we had time that she would do a blood draw just to rule out anything else.

Next comes the kind and gentle phlebotomist who took 5 or 6 vials of blood from me almost without me even knowing. How did I get so lucky with such caring healthcare professionals on such a busy Friday in the ER?

After my blood draw, Dr. S came by and cleared me to go to the cafeteria while we waited for the results. I must’ve looked trustworthy because I’m not sure that is standard practice that they let patients leave the ER. I promised her that I would run down, grab a soda and come right back….although the thought of sitting in the cafeteria was much more appealing that sitting out in the halls with masked folks and watching all the sweet senior citizen patients being wheeled in from ambulances. {sad face!}

Long story short, the blood work came back negative {praise God!} and I was discharged. I waited out in the main lobby for Jay and the kids to drive up. I watched a woman {and her daughter} demand a cast for the mother’s broken wrist and then storm out of the ER when it was explained to them that there were other people that needed attention first. Why do I mention this? Because I know that our healthcare system is broken. I know that there are people that take advantage. I don’t know this woman’s story, of course, but all I could do was pray that she receive the care she truly needed. It stood out to me because she and her daughter treated these healthcare workers with such disrespect and threw out obscenities at these people who were there to help them. I viewed my time {over 5 hours} and situation there so much differently. I was there for them to help me. I was patient. I was compliant. I was kind.

James 1:19-20

This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

Yes, I was there by myself. I wanted to save the battery on my phone for Jay to be able to get a hold of me, so I mostly just sat and observed and prayed. I was calm and comforted by Jay’s warm and gentle soul even though he was going back and forth on the freeway {in the rain} to get our babies and bring them to me ~ the time when I needed my little family the most.

*****

I share this experience not because I want anyone to worry about me {I promise I am fine}, but because I have learned so much. Don’t ever take your health for granted. I am guilty of that and I am trying so hard to change.

And I share this because I’m curious to know if anyone suffers from or has experienced these in the past. They are scary and this link describes mine to a t.

I am fortunate that I feel comfortable with my/our healthcare providers and I feel comfortable opening up to them. I am {anxious} to work with my PCP and find out why these are happening and trying to prevent myself from having another one.

Sometimes it’s scary to realize that maybe you’re not as healthy as you think you are. Maybe you won’t live into your late 90s like your maternal grandparents did.

All I can do is take it from here and know that I have the best doctor there is….

And with my doctor, the Lord God, it doesn’t matter if you have a PPO, HMO, Medi-cal, or currently don’t have insurance, his care is FREE.

3 John 1:2

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.