Emergency Help

Due to chronic heart failure, I have been to the emergency room more times than I care to count over the past few years.  When I was first diagnosed I was given ridiculous amounts of information, including when I should visit the emergency room.  I was told to go to the emergency room if I had one or more of the following symptoms:

1. Weight gain of 3lbs in 1 day or 5lbs or more in a week;
2. More swelling of feet, ankles, legs or stomach;
3. More shortness of breath;
4. Feeling more tired - no energy;
5. Dry, hacking cough
6. Harder to breathe when lying down;
7. Chest pain

The routine at the ER was always the same; they rush me to a room, do an EKG, a chest x-ray, lab work, put an IV in (just in case I was admitted), give me oxygen and turn the lights down so I can rest while they figured out what's going on.  All this before the doctor sees me.  When the doctor comes in the question is always the same, "Why are you here?"  I describe my chest pain, explain I'm having more shortness of breath, have no energy, and more swelling.  The doctor listens, tells me the EKG is fine, the chest x-ray is fine, the labs are fine.  Usually by this time the shortness of breath has subsided, as well as the chest pain. The couple hours of rest usually means I'm not as tired either.  The doctor explains that these symptoms are normal for people with my condition.  Despite that, they typically insist on admitting me, which I will only agree to if my personal doctor thinks I should be admitted.  He  never does....what's the point when all the tests or "fine"? 

At this point, there is an awkward silence until the doctor asks what I would like them to do for me.  My typical resonse is, if everything is "fine" I'll just go home.  Many friends have accompanied me to the ER and they have different opinions on this "discharge" thing.  Some think I should be admitted, at least overnight, for observation.  Others fear something will happen if I go home.  Some have the same opinion I do.

So, the discharge papers are prepared, I'm discharged and someone takes me home.  It still makes me chuckle everytime I read the discharge papers because they are always the same.  They tell me that if I have any signs of worsening heart failure (see list above), I should go to the ER immediately.

These useless trips to the ER annoy me to no end.  They are time consuming, irritating, expensive and ultimately, a waste of time.  After one visit to the ER I went home and checked my e-mail and was suprised to see e-mails from 5 or 6 friends who said they'd been praying for me and hoped I was doing better.  It took me a few minutes to realize how they even knew I'd been to the ER (I certainly don't twitter).  I'd been at Mass that evening and was not feeling well during most of it and the chest pain became almost unbearable.  A friend drove me over to the ER but other friends who had been at Mass decided they would call upon our Lord. 

They sent e-mails out and thus started a chain of prayers. This would happen frequently because I tended, for some reason, to end up at the ER after Mass.  My priest would often pray over me before I left or he would come to the ER.

Our human eyes make it very difficult for us to see the power of prayer at work in our lives but I firmly believe the reason why they rarely find anything out of the ordinary at the ER is because prayer was started before I arrived and continued for some time after.  All those people (and I didn't know everyone those e-mails were forwarded to) praying for me touched the heart of our Lord and He was moved to answer them.

I still have chest pain and shortness of breath frequently, but I avoid the ER like the plague.  The doctors and nurses, lab technicians, x-ray technicians, respiratory technicians are all great, but ultimately, they do very little to help me feel better (kudos to all those who remember to bring a heated blanket though....those always make ya feel better!).

Our Divine Physician, who is on call 24/7 and always answers, has never failed me.  I truly believe He heals me before I even get to the ER and that's why there is hardly ever anything "wrong". 

We must certainly use human prudence in every situation, especially in an emergency, but remember to call on our Lord and Savior immediately.  He heals, sometimes directly and other times, indirectly through the doctors and nurses.