You always want to be that patient at the Emergency Room.
You know the one.
The one you watch come in the door after you and gets whisked away immediately into a room and sees the doctor without waiting one second and has the staff bustling in and out.
That patient.
All the while you are still sitting in the waiting room, hoping your name is called next. Not understanding at all why you have to wait. Frustrated at the seconds and minutes ticking away.
Well, I understand so much more tonight what the truth reveals.
You never truly want to be that patient.
Sure you want to get taken care of with minimal wait. But honestly, that patient has their very life hanging in the balance.
It is the entire reason we have Emergency Rooms. It is why we pull over for the ambulance and let them go ahead of us on the road.
That patient has precious time remaining where intervention is needed. Sometimes mere minutes or even mere seconds. The countdown has begun for them and what happens next determines their future.
When you are that patient you need the doctors and staff to take care of you when you no longer can.
When you are the family member, that patient is all that matters in your world. Everything else stops. Nothing else really and truly matters.
Monday night, that patient was my husband.
Every symptom he presented caused a rapid fire string of events that led him to be the number one patient in the Emergency Room, just behind trauma and code blue. The precious seconds and minutes determined his future.
Trust me. You never really truly want to be that patient. Or be the the wife of the loved one who has their two children with them through it all.
By the grace of God, my husband is home now. It could have been so different.
~
Thank you for your prayers through Facebook, Twitter, email, and phone calls and for also the silent ones we never knew. We felt them all and are so very grateful. Thank you for your moments of lifting us up in prayer on our behalf before the Lord.
4 comments
2 pings
Sarah
February 29, 2012 at 1:27 pm (UTC -7)
I am so glad to hearhe is home. You are right, I never want to be “that patient” or have a family member be it. I sat in a waiting room with my cut hand (from a kitchen knife) one weekend for 7 hours, while a few of “those patients” were admitted. One had SEVERELY severed his leg or arm somehow, drove to emergency himself(alone), and walked in (crazy man), and another had a heart attack. I would gladly sit in a waiting room with my small cut that only needed 7 stitches. Great post, and hope you never have to be that patient or have someone be it again!
Sarah recently posted..The Nightmare
Wendy
March 1, 2012 at 3:17 pm (UTC -7)
Definitely true Sarah! My goodness, 7 hours is such a long time to wait. The bright side is that you could wait. I understand so much better now about the ones who go ahead and are placed first. Hopefully this is the last time!
Barbie
March 1, 2012 at 8:21 am (UTC -7)
I am thankful to hear your husband is home. I picked this up through Facebook and was praying. Someone I lost your blog from my Reeder, so I have some catching up to do. I am back now!
Barbie recently posted..March Photo Challenge – Join Me!
Wendy
March 1, 2012 at 3:19 pm (UTC -7)
Thank you Barbie! It means so much! Love your new challenge of a photo a day for March!
Foto Friday | Week 9/52 | Hoarding by an 8 year old » Choosing Love
March 2, 2012 at 2:32 am (UTC -7)
[...] « That patient [...]
Our big secret revealed: Building a new home | Choosing Love
April 16, 2012 at 6:16 am (UTC -7)
[...] it was my husband’s medical emergency earlier in the year that is still not resolved completely that is still in the back of my [...]