Thursday, October 25, 2018

Part Three: Blessing upon blessing

As I approach the emergency department (ED) check-in counter, the cold hospital air causes me to be seized with a non-stop coughing spell. Immediately, the triage nurse hears my coughs and gasps. Her face instantly shows great concern and panic for my situation. The nurse hurries the current patient through triage. She then quickly summons me back to her station, which is located behind the check-in desk.

As my mom wheels me to the triage area, my dear friend, Bonnie, an ED respiratory therapist who has taken care of me several times, happens to be walking to the triage area. In an instant, she recognizes me. She tells the triage nurse she is taking me back to room number 4 in the trauma center. (For what it is worth, this emergency department is HUGE! There are numerous areas for different levels of care. The trauma center is the highest level of care and has the fastest treatment times.) When I hear Bonnie wants to take me to the trauma center, I nearly start crying. I know I will get medical care extremely fast. ("Thank You Lord, for all these blessings!”)

When we arrive in the trauma center, I again almost cry. I am given an actual room with walls and a door, which is located at the end of the hall. Despite the roaring noise of the trauma center, the room is quiet. As soon as I am rolled into the room, several nurses appear. They assist me into the bed. Then, I have a nurse on each arm inserting an IV. They quickly draw blood for blood cultures and blood tests. As soon as they are finished, a physician walks into the room. She reads the list of symptoms I have typed up on my iPad. She orders IV fluids, IV antibiotics and an X-ray. Shortly after the doctor leaves, a nurse returns to my room. She pushes 2 grams of Cefepime through my IV and hooks up two bags of IV fluids--one bag for each arm. The radiology technician appears only a few minutes later. He quickly takes a picture of my lungs and disappears.

I have a roommate who needs to leave the room to be taken to CT. When she leaves, I hear my physician tell the nurse wheeling my roommate out the door, "When you come back, go to room 6. This is going to be an isolation room." I think to myself, "Hooray! Something must be wrong with me. But surely, an isolation room!? That cannot be correct. I must have misheard the doctor."

A few minutes after my roommate leaves, a nurse posts a sign on my door and closes the doors to my room. My ventilator makes its usual racket, but the noise from the trauma center vanishes. Calm fills the room. My body instantly falls into a relaxed state. I curl up beneath a pile of blankets and rest my head on the bed railing. I soon fall asleep.

Three and a half hours after arriving at the ED, I am given a bed in the medical intensive care unit (MICU). (This truly is a miracle! I usually have to wait 8-24 hours for a bed at this medical facility.) I am overjoyed when I find out I am going to this unit as it has the best nurses and doctors in the entire hospital. If I have to be hospitalized, there is no place I would rather be than at this medical center and in the MICU. I again send up praises and thanks to God for His continued blessings.

When I arrive in the MICU, I am thrilled to see my room is located at the end of the hallway away from the busy and noisy nurses' stations. Additionally, my room is almost twice the size of the regular MICU rooms. (Most of the MICU rooms are just large enough to squeeze in a bed, a chair and a tiny sink. My room, however, has room for two beds! Yes, I got the deluxe suite on this visit!) Moreover, because my room is an isolation room, the sliding door has to be kept closed at all times. This means that the nurses, doctors and medical staff are religious in making sure they close the door when exiting my room. Furthermore, my room is equipped with an air scrubber. The machine cleanses the air to prevent any air-borne bacteria from spreading to other parts of the hospital. Although the contraption is loud, it blocks out all the hallway noise. Oh, how I love peace and quiet! (Thank You Lord!!!)

Before I drift off to sleep for the night, a physician visits me. He informs me that my pulmonologist has filled him in on my medical case. (I am overwhelmed with this news. How wonderful it is to have a doctor know some of my medical background! This information helps tremendously in guiding my treatment plan.)

As my eyelids grow heavy, I cannot help but think about the day. Despite being gravely ill, every place I turned, God showered upon me blessing upon blessing. When I was in such dire straights, God moved mountain after mountain to ensure I got the urgent medical care I so desperately needed. Praises and words of thanksgiving continually spill forth from my lips as my body tugs me into dream world. God's comfort and love surround me as I slip into sleep. How awesome is the God we serve!

“They that trust in the LORD shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about His people, from this time forth forever more.” (Psalm 125:1-2)


(Link to Part One click here)



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