Hospitals

One year ago today I took my Marsha to The Grand Strand Regional Medical Center emergency room. As usual the process was long before anyone saw her. She was coughing and having trouble breathing. The doctors sent her for X-rays and diagnosed fluid between her left lung and the outer chest wall under her left arm. The solution was to extract the fluid with a needle which would expand the lung and remove the pressure that stopped the lung from taking in air. When asked about the possible causes a list was given. A physical bruise, an infection, and other causes were mentioned and cancer on the end of the list. It is always a shock to hear the unexpected, but that item just leaped out at us. The removal of the fluid was a success. Immediately Marsha could catch her breath, but they admitted her and thus began the efforts to diagnose the cause. I have to admit that I was worried from the beginning. I do very well with things being wrong with me, but I have trouble with anything being wrong with my family. It takes prayer for me to settle again when the difficulty is with a family member. I left for dinner and returned that night to see her and our friends were there as well. I had been away on many retreats and Marsha had been away overnight many times as well, but that night I felt alone going to bed in an unusual way. It was the first of what has been the constant in my life. I must have known in my heart something was really wrong even then. My emotional rollercoaster began that day. Moment by moment, day by day I went up and down with the events as they unfolded. Unlike the rollercoaster it did not start with the biggest hill, but the ride had indeed begun.