Weird stuff happens.
Monday is usually a "home day" for me since I teach Tuesday through Thursday at a private Christian school. I had just spent the early afternoon getting up to speed with how to use some on-line curriculum when I decided to take a break and go to the bank, a mile away. As I was driving, I began to notice that everything any distance away from me looked blurry and double. I couldn't even read street signs that weren't right up near me! That was not only weird, but extremely unsettling! I checked my glasses for smudges and didn't see any. Something was wrong. The bank teller told me to get my blood pressure checked. Then I remembered that my feet were swollen that day, too, and I had already taken my "as needed" diuretic medicine for that. Hmm. And I felt anxious, tight in the chest. So I stopped in at Walgreen's and had the pharmacist check my blood pressure. It was much higher than usual but not in the emergency range. He told me to go home, rest, drink water and call my doctor.
By 8:30 that evening, I was in the emergency room. Doctor's orders. (Daughter's orders, too. She's a nurse at the same hospital, and she's the one who brought me in, less than an hour after arriving home from the airport after a trip to Maryland.)
I spent most of the night shuttled from one area to another of the ER, getting checked for this and that: blood drawn, EKG, and CT scan to rule out a stroke. Later they moved me to a curtained off cubicle in the CTU (Clinical Transition Unit), and after a couple hours of sleep, I had a venous Doppler scan (to check for leg clots) and an echocardiogram. I never did get officially admitted and was released in the late afternoon, very tired, and still without a clear diagnosis for my cluster of symptoms. They did prescribe medicine for low thyroid -- which is not surprising since I had half of my thyroid removed years ago. That (and a bit of anxiety and stress) could account for a lot of it right there, except for the vision glitch, which they said was pretty unusual in its context.
 |
| My mom and grandma |
Not only did I come home tired, I came home sad. Yesterday was my mother's 75th birthday, but she passed away in July. I was wearing some of her clothes in the hospital, like a warm hug. Then my sister called to say that my dear grandmother, whose 99th birthday is next month, is dying of congestive heart failure. She doesn't even know it. She seems happy and comfortable enough now, and my family doesn't want to worry her in her few remaining days. I fully agree. My sister will be with her at night, watching over her and tending to her needs, as she did with my mother all those long summer weeks. As I think again about grieving, I am reminded of my recent blog post Love, Loss, and Lake Lily and my new haiku called Autumn Breeze.
So here I am. It's Wednesday, and I've been sitting quietly. I'm missing my second day of work, since my boss kindly encouraged me to stay home and rest for one more day. My blood pressure and legs are back to normal. My distance vision is still a bit blurry and I'm not sure I'm ready to drive. This too shall pass, I hope. I'll see my doctor soon, and also get a full vision check up. (P.S. Writing on Sunday: My vision is back to normal. My optometrist ran every test imaginable and said most everything looks pretty usual for my age and that I don't need new glasses. He thinks I was having blood sugar issues on Monday, which is quite probable, even though they said my level was normal. My A1C, which measures average blood sugar of longer period of time, is up, so I really have to watch what I eat and lose some weight. I see my regular doctor this week for a follow-up.)
As I reflect, I am thankful:
- for my daughter Rachel, who took me to the hospital and stayed with me a few hours, even though she had to work the next morning
- for my husband visiting me, shuttling kids to school and back, and dealing with hospital paperwork
- for the doctors and nurses and techs, who, even though they didn't fully figure me out, at least gave it a good try (I think I had an entourage of at least five doctors working on my case since it is a teaching hospital) and were good with their needles
- for the fact that all of my tests came back fairly normal and nothing seems to be seriously wrong with me (no stroke, no heart attack, no clots) though I do need to lose a lot of weight!
- for alternative non-insurance health cost sharing through Samaritan Ministries, which even though it will take a few months, will cover most of the medical bills
- for Florida Hospital's hefty discount for the uninsured -- which is important to me since this is the third time I've been there overnight in the past year and half (once for heart symptoms - see Weekend Gratitude: A Healthy Heart - and once to diagnose my severe sleep apnea)
- for the family and friends who have cared enough to pray and offer comfort and post sweet comments on Facebook
- for my iPod, which gave me a way to connect with those family and friends, as well as to read my favorite blogs and take a few pictures
- for Bart and Judy, who came to visit and pray, not just because he is a church elder, but because they are my friends. They are bringing dinner tonight, too. The funny thing is, on Monday morning, I wrote a little tribute to my friend Judy to go with her favorite hymn. You can see it here: When We All Get to Heaven.
- for Fritz and Barbie, who sent pizza over for dinner, and who are awesome with the youth at our church
- for the hospital chaplain who came in for a brief visit, and for all the lovely Scriptures and inspirational artwork on the walls -- gotta love Florida Hospital for that!
- for my own bed to come home to (the guy in the cubicle next to me has been homeless, I think -- hard not to overhear his visit with the chaplain through the thin curtain -- and also thankful that the folks at the Orlando Rescue Mission have helped him, even though I never met him)
- for my children being considerate of my need to sleep in that bed for the rest of the day and for my husband not being too upset that I stole his blanket last night. Mine had apparently fallen on the floor, and I guess I swiped his in my sleep, right off his back. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
- for the other staff at school subbing my classes and telling me not to worry about a thing!
- for the eyesight I do have, thanks to a good pair of progressive lenses that I've had for two years and that I wear from the moment I open my eyes in the morning until the moment I close them at night. Whoever invented them was a genius.
- for God being gracious to me and keeping me going step by step, even though I don't always understand what he is doing in my life. It's been a tough year, and a rough past few years, but I'm still here in both shimmer and shadow.
 |
| Judy and Virginia |
My kids will be home soon, and I need to go back to bed for a bit before then, but I just wanted to keep you updated. When big things happen to me in life, I write. Little things, too, but especially big ones.
You can keep praying for me, especially for the full restoration of my distance vision!
Much love,
Virginia
