It all started on a seemingly normal enough September day. I had been working and feeling fine just a week earlier. Next thing I knew, I could hardly muster up enough energy to even get out of bed and walk to the bathroom.
I felt like I had been dropped into a 5 billion gallon fish tank without an oxygen tank.
After my daughter finally managed to convince me that this was not exactly normal, I wanted to go to Urgent Care, figuring it must be some horrid strain of flu that would be fixed with a few doses of antibiotics.
Well, Urgent Care wasn’t to be, and I ended up in the local Emergency Room. My oxygen level was very low, while my blood pressure was over 200.
I’m not sure how I was even still alive.
At any rate, it was determined that I’d be spending at least a night in the ICU.
But this hospital was under construction and just wasn’t equipped with what I would need, so I got to experience my very first ambulance ride.
Let me tell you, when you’re the one laying in the back of that ambulance, it’s not nearly as exciting as you might think. And it’s a bumpy ride, like bumping along on a gravel road.
On a horse.
All while being hooked up to an IV.
The next hospital would be my home for a solid 10 days.
The only redeeming thing about any of this was the in-room dining service. When you’re bored, pumped with pain meds, and tired of alternately watching the clock and the TV, eating is pretty appealing.
I soon learned all the hospital code jargon. As a matter of fact, I became an expert on recognizing the color code.
Did you know that a Code Purple could mean in-house fighting?
I discovered this in the lobby, where a half-dressed, and half-baked, woman was getting handcuffed by police officers as she was refusing to be admitted.
Or sometimes it meant fighting among family members not in agreement of a particular treatment for a loved one.
I tell you, always something to pass time.
There was a silver lining, though.
Whenever a baby in the hospital would arrive into this chaotic world, Brahm’s Lullaby would play throughout the entire hospital.
Oh yes, my favorite.
Life is precious.
What a beautiful reminder.
Playing by My Own Rules 