PLANS

I had plans for today.  Nice plans.  Big plans.  I was going to get a couple loads of wash done, get all the dishes done and put away, clean the bedroom, vacuum, get the grocery shopping done...

Instead I spent most of the day in the Emergency Room of the Veterans Hospital with Joe.  Last week he had hurt his back.  It got better, then got worse.  He called our doctor and was told that no one could see him for two weeks.  He called the VA doctor and was told he could have an appointment in November.  He tried to live with it, popped pain killers, laid down a lot to rest it, but nothing helped.  Finally today he asked me to take him to the hospital.

He was there for 6 1/2 hours.  Most of the time waiting for a doctor to examine him and then waiting for an MRI to be done.  But the doctor was very nice and gave him a very thorough exam.  It turned out that he was running a high fever besides having all the pain.  We still don't know what the fever was from.  The doctor thinks he may have a viral sinus infection since he had been on anti-biotics three weeks ago for a sinus infection and they didn't seem to work.

I was not dressed warmly enough for the coolness of the hospital.  So when they wheeled him down for his MRI and the nurse told me Joe would be gone for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, I ran home and changed my clothes.  I was freezing!  I was hungry too and got myself something to eat.

While we were gone Frank had come over to cut the grass and cut one of the bushes back for me.  I had paid him ahead of time so he didn't have to wait for us.  It looks really nice.

When I got back to the hospital, I ran into the doctor who told me that Joe could go home.  She was worried that there might be an abscess on his spinal cord, but nothing at all showed up.  She thinks he pulled, and perhaps tore, a muscle.  He had been given morphine and another pain killer and was feeling pretty good.  She gave him two prescriptions to have filled and we were free to go.

Joe kept saying how hungry he was.  I had a gift certificate for Chick-Fil-A in my purse, so we went there and had dinner.  It was good not to have to cook after the day I had.



So anyway, Joe has to take it easy for the next couple of weeks, take his pain killers and anti-inflamatory pills, and not lift anything heavy.  He should be fine.

There were a lot of people praying for him and I thank each and every one of you.  You know who you are and so does God.  Prayer is a wonderful thing!

Can you believe tomorrow is the end of August?  This month is flying by.  I had lots of plans for this month, but life intruded and almost none of them got accomplished.  Hopefully September is better.

Kathy