A Day in the ER

As far as I'm concerned, any day where you spend five hours in an emergency room definitely qualifies you for a good relaxing bath.

Unfortunately, my tub isn't exactly surrounded by candles and rose petals.....but hey, naked Barbies and tools will work.....sometimes you have to take what you can get.

I don't exactly like days that turn out other than how I planned for them to. I know I said I was going to attempt to go with the flow, but it's hard.

Today I did go with the flow.......we flowed right into the ER.

A couple of days ago Brian started having chest pains. His chest was tight and he was having a hard time eating or drinking.

He went to an outpatient clinic yesterday to discover that he his large intestines were swollen to double their normal size, and were actually getting in the way of his lungs.

He was instructed to buy a bottle of some yummy concoction with the warning to be at home when he took it.

Well, that bottle of secret juice did its job and faithfully cleared him out.

He was expecting to be hungry and relieved, but he felt neither.

So, he called his nurse sisters (both full time Scentsy SuperStar Directors and ex-nurses). They thought it would be best for him to go to the ER and have them run all the tests they needed to and figure out what the problem was.

So, to the ER we headed.

I hate the ER.....just for the record.

I am regretting that I carried my purse in there. We sat in the waiting room with bunches and bunches of sick people for almost three hours before they called us back to see a doctor. I tried really hard not to touch a thing.

A lady with a bleeding finger wrapped in gauze came in after us and was seen before us, but that's understandable, I guess. : )

Once we were placed in a room, our doctor, Dr. Payne (pause for the irony of his name please) came to see us.

Brian described his symptoms and the occurrings of the day before.

Dr. Payne ordered a GI cocktail, an EKG, and a chest x-ray. He also ordered blood work and checked his blood pressure. Our nurse, Joy, was great to chat with and very nice. I think it's funny that her name was Joy and his was Dr. Payne, but maybe that's because I'm delirious and there isn't much else funny about the ER.

The first few tests were run relatively quickly and then we waited in the room for about an hour. Brian took a nice little nap and I pulled out my Kindle to catch up with the happenings in Water for Elephants (which I love, by the way!).

When all was said and done, Dr. Payne returned to the room to tell us that he basically didn't know what's wrong with Brian.

He did refer us to a GI specialist and thinks it could be either severe acid reflux, ulcers, or some kind of stomach acid disease, all of which are treatable. We walked out with a prescription for Prilosec OTC (which you can buy over the counter), some Tylenol based pain meds so Brian could actually eat and drink again, and as a bonus, some Zofran for nausea (which I am excited to have on hand, just in case) even though we didn't exactly need it.

So for now, Brian is snuggled up in bed. He's had his Prilosec and Zantec (dual therapy as Dr. Payne called it) and his pain meds, which did help him eat and drink for the first time in a couple of days without the pain in his chest.

Tomorrow morning we'll call the GI specialist and pray that he can do a scope tomorrow, since we are supposed to leave for Mexico on Sunday.

It all makes me a little nervous, but I've learned that God has a hand in all of it. I know that if He wants us in Mexico, He'll make it happen, and if He doesn't want us there, then I'll rest easy knowing that He knows a little more than I do.

Your prayers for healing for Brian would be so greatly appreciated. I trust in God's plan. Thank you for being such great friends. A place to vent, dream, discover. I just adore you all because you let me be me every single day.

I guess this is going with the flow. I'm cool with it.

By the way, I'm memorizing a scripture a week this year, and this week's scripture is Psalm 84:10

Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

If you want to receive text message updates through the month of January with a new scripture each week, text the word BETTER to 44622.

.....day 146 of a year of writing.....