Anxiety Relief

Shortly after my other post of the day (stating Greg was having lower back pain), Greg called to me and said it was time to go to the hospital. He was in so much pain that he could not even stay still. I immediately got my stuff and headed to the local hospital emergency room.

The drive was no easy. Greg was in so much pain that he kept moving in his seat. His face was a mangle of pain, desperation, and fear. I kept looking at him and talking to him - telling him he was going to be okay and they have some wonderful pain medications at the hospital to take it all away. Every time I looked at him, he was in a different position, taking off his seat belt, putting it back on, and a few times he even looked like he was trying to climb out of the window.

As soon as we got to the ER, I left my car, put him in a wheel chair and got him right in. We were met with smiling faces that were connected to bodies that took their sweet time to move or walk towards us. I had to even laugh as one nurse said to me in a hushed voice and not even looking at Greg: "Why is his wearing a mask?" It was as it she either thought he was deaf or that there was no mouth from which to answer her beneath the mask. I explained that he was a double lung transplant recipient and she smiled, nodded, and walked away. Gee - we weren't expecting the "plague" reaction.

Finally we were seen and after a while they asked him for all the necessary "samples" (e.g. blood, urine, etc.). As I walked to the bathroom with him, the pain was getting better. By the time we were heading back the room, the pain was fully gone. As it turns out, he had quite a bit of blood in his urine but no infection. The culprit? A nasty kidney stone, which is normal for post transplant patients. We made a few appointments for urology and headed out of the hospital - together and pain free. Ironically, this is the first time we entered the ER together and left together without him having to be admitted. Life is good.