The Past Two Days

Part of last week's post pertained to Missouri and Ozarks history, but some of it did not. What I want to write about this week has nothing at all to do with Ozarks or Missouri history. Instead, I want to relate a personal experience and give some thoughts and reflections on it. Sometimes, everyday life takes precedence over writing about history.  

Friday night, my wife collapsed and fell on our bathroom floor, almost completely unconscious. Fortunately, she had grabbed a towel rack when she started feeling weak and unable to stand, so that she didn't go down really hard. Also, I was nearby and helped break her fall.

I had already called an ambulance as soon as she said she was feeling bad, because it was pretty clear that this was not your normal "feeling bad" because of a headache or something minor like that. However, I called a second time after she collapsed to make sure help was on the way. 

The ambulance got here pretty quickly, although it seemed like a long time to me when I was waiting. The EMTs gave her some sort of shot that brought her around a little bit, but she was still pretty much out of it. They loaded her into a stretcher to get her out of the bathroom and down the hall, put her on a gurney, and wheeled her out to the ambulance. 

I followed the ambulance to the hospital, but I had to wait before I was allowed in to see her. The wait only added to my anxiety. I was finally told after about 15 or 20 minutes that I could go in and see her. When I did, she was beet red but awake and more lucid than she'd been after she collapsed at home. Gradually her complexion started coming back. 

At first, my wife and I thought, and the medical personnel seemed to go along with the idea (maybe just to placate us) that she had had some sort of allergic reaction. After a series of tests, however, the diagnosis was that some blood clots in her legs had gone to her lungs, which I guess is called a pulmonary embolism. 

The docs put my wife on a blood thinner, and she soon started feeling better. The doctors and nurses told us that she would likely need to be admitted for observation, however. This, mind you, was Friday night, and a room did not actually become available until early Saturday afternoon. 

By yesterday (Saturday) evening, though, she was ready to go home with a prescription for Eloquis, a blood thinner that not only prevents blood clots but also breaks up already-existing ones. 

Although it's almost needless to say, I'll say it anyway. I was very relieved when my wife of almost 52 years started feeling better and it looked like she was going to survive this medical crisis with apparently a decent outlook for no further complications. Although I've always loved Gigi, sometimes I guess it takes a crisis like this to bring that love into sharp focus and make one realize how much another person means to them.