ER Day

Monday morning, chest pain woke Carrie up. It was localized and it persisted. She said she woke up around 6 AM. It still hurt when I woke up after 7 AM (It was a 2-hour delay from school).

Chest pain was a possible side effect listed after surgery, so Carrie called the surgeon's office when it opened at 8 AM. They said, "Go to the ER." 

So we did.

A wintry mix had been predicted, but thankfully it was mainly rain and the roads weren't busy. Carrie was admitted quickly, but they wouldn't let Shane in the hospital. The security guard looked at me like I was crazy and shook her head for leaving him in the car for less than 5 minutes to make sure Carrie got checked in! 

2-hour delay or not, I thought to bring my work computer. Unfortunately, it was dead.

Thankfully, I had done most of the prep work for class the night before. I used my phone to make sure everything was live. I'd thought about staying up later Sunday night, but I felt moved that I might need a full night's sleep and went to bed instead (Thank you, God!). 

Shane didn't bring anything. We talked and such for the first hour, but then he started to get restless. There were some Calvin and Hobbes in the back of the car, but he refused to read any of them. Drawing was out, because I suggested it. So what do you do with a bored 10-year old in a hospital parking lot on a nasty day when you're not allowed in any buildings?

I drove to Wegmans. 

We had no idea how long Carrie would be in the ER, but I hoped it wouldn't be too long. We went to the hospital not in the city and it seemed empty. She was admitted right away (which doesn't usually happen in my experience).

Carrie had some pain prescriptions at the pharmacy we never picked up, so it seemed a logical time to pick them up and burn some time. I didn't buy many, but I picked up some of the frozen dinners Carrie liked to show we were thinking about her.

I really shouldn't have bought anything frozen. They ended up under the car.  

It was 33 degrees outside, so that was almost like a freezer.....(but not really).

Shane attended music class on my phone. He immediately told the teacher the whole situation (in elaborate detail with no pauses for her to ask questions and sounding more excited he had a story than worried about his mom!). 

My 1st block started at 11:30 AM. It really helped that it was a co-taught class with Marcel and only an hour long. 

 

Did you notice the mask over my shoulder? Shane found it in the back somewhere and decided to photobomb! 

It would've been much funnier if it was the only thing he did over the hour. I asked him to let me teach beforehand. I introduced him to the class for a few minutes and let him meet everyone so he wouldn't feel left out and asked him to lay low for half an hour. Instead, he got louder. After all the moans, complaints, comments, seat kicks, and warnings I cut him off from electronics for the day. 

It probably didn't help his case that I didn't have my normal morning caffeine and a withdrawal headache had started to bloom. 

The whole time this has been going on, I've been calling the hospital once an hour to check on Carrie. First, I heard she was doing well. Then I started to hear about blood tests and was told she should be released between 12 and 12:30 PM.

It didn't happen. I finished class and 'lunch' started. I passed Shane the phone so he could go to his class and took it back to start my 2nd block at 1 PM. Marcel texted me to see if I needed help, but I wrote back saying "Nah, I haven't heard anything and it's already underway."

Of course, 2 minutes after I did that the hospital called and said, "Your wife is waiting for you at the entrance."

I took a minute to tell the students what was up and excused myself, "Because priorities." Shane got the phone back to rejoin his class and we got moving.

I would've gone straight home from the ER, but Carrie demanded a diet lemonade from CFA. Shane was excited, because he'd hoped out loud several times that we'd get fast food for lunch. 

Didn't read all that? Let me sum it up: Carrie woke up with chest pains and we spent over 5 hours in the ER and car. Shane and I shared my phone to do our classes as best we could. Praise God, she was okay, but the ER wanted her to make an appointment with a cardiologist.