Our night in the ER

We were figuring out wether or not to let our son go on a camping/fishing trip this weekend, on our way to get food for dinner, sorting out a fist fight at a homeschooling co-op, pondering running noses.....and then we realized that my husband's back ache wasn't a backache. The pain got progressively worse all day, was tender to the touch and was in the kidney area. Hmm....Could NOT wrap my mind around all that needed to happen in the next few hours. Called to say that our son wouldn't be at his Boy Socut meeting. Started dinner (son finished.) My dear friend came by and assessed. She then went to the store and bought unsweetened cranberry juice, saline for our babies' noses, and magnesium. My husband's pain got worse and worse and he writhed. We both will do anything, just about, to stay out of the hospital. Especially our local hospital. (Remember that when my baby's heartbeat got odd, we drove with me on oxygen, to a hospital an hour away :)

We spent 6 hours in the ER. They were kind. They were efficient. They found nothing and gave him pain meds.

We had our 6 month old who if at home would have slept soundly through anything but cried and cried. I had a BAD attitude after a few hours. My back ached with no where to sit and waiting and waiting tested my patience. I went outside to get a diaper and saw a sweet women crying on her cell phone. Her husband starting having chest pain out of nowhere. I wanted so badly to help her somehow. Later we saw him transported by ambulance to a hospital an hour away (this hospital can't treat heart issues :) As he wheeled by each of us in the ER, he made eye contact and smiled. What an example of the good attitude that I needed. There were people crying in the hall. There came to be so many people that they were pulling up chairs and waiting by an ICU room. The hospital security threatened to cal the police. Their heartfelt sobbing touched my heart. THEN I found out why they were crying. The night before, a 14 year old boy was shot. He died while we were waiting in the ER. The faces of the young men waiting. Large, grown men. Strong men. Crying their hearts out.

A lot of things came in to perspective, including a renewed respect for the work that my husband does. He works in a hospital. He sees these situations every day. He respects the privacy policies of his employer and isn't able to share them when he comes home. I could NOT do what he does. Speaking of, what he does. He had to call in sick for a few days. We cant really do that. Our prayers are that his pain will stop and its cause found.