Bad Luck in Birmingham

This post is called 'Bad luck in Birmingham' because between Steve and I, we've been to the ER 3 times in less than 2 months.

It started with Steve having a rather serious appendectomy at the end of June. So, I made him this sandwich on Thursday, and then he ate it on Saturday, and right after he began to complain he didn't feel good. I was feeling guilty that apparently my sandwich making skills are so bad that it basically tasted like a poison sandwich, especially when that feeling just didn't seem to go away for him! But then, when he woke up the following Tuesday morning with that sick feeling and a fever of 103, I said excuse me, but that is NOT still my sandwich's fault!

So Steve called in to a clinic and they said they'd get us in at 1:20pm (he called in around 7-8 am) but Steve said he'd be there sooner, and please get us in as soon as they could. We got there at 12:40, the only people in the office. Then patients began to show up, and we watched them call in one after another, leaving poor sick Steve to wait! Over an hour later, we were finally in a room and the doctor finally came in. When she realized how sick Steve was, she said "Why didn't you go to the ER?" Well, we would have if we would've known it would take so long!
He was so sick by that time, they called an ambulance to take him to the nearest hospital! The next 12 hours were a whirlwind. At the hospital, they did a CT scan, determined he had appendicitis, and performed surgery on him. I had a lady from church watch Austin while I tried to be calm and wait. I was told at about 9:30 pm that his surgery went well, but at 10:00 pm, they came back out to tell me that Steve had a bad reaction and his lungs filled up with fluid when they tried to take out his breathing tube. It was all very stressful, but the next morning they got the tube out safely, and after a brief stay at the hospital and some much-appreciated help from Steve's brother Rick who flew in, Steve was on the mend.

Fast forward to last Tuesday: we were eating at a local barbecue place, and I got a chunk of spare rib stuck in my throat. Despite how it sounds, this actually happens to me all the time. Truly. So I calmly went into the bathroom to do some of my usual tricks to get it down. While I was gone, the restaurant people seemed to notice something was up (there were very few customers that night) and they kept going over to Steve to inquire "if the meal was alright?" "how he was doing this evening?" etc. They were very chatty, but I was not in the mood to stick around, so we boxed up the food and made a hasty exit. Fast forward 12 HOURS. The meat would not budge, and I had been up ALL NIGHT. I told Steve at 6 am that we needed to go to the ER. Again, a whirlwind of ER tests, IVs and blood-drawing, and I was told I would need an endoscopy. I woke up from the process with my throat sore but un-blocked, a huge relief! And after a brief recovery and picking up Austin from Steve's work, where they had so kindly offered to watch him, I was able to go home. They told me that all this time that I've had trouble swallowing, I may actually be allergic to a variety of foods that cause my throat to swell. I had no idea...so we'll see after more testing.

The next Saturday, Steve woke up with terrible chest pain. Chest pain???! Haven't we gone through enough? So off he went to the ER for more tests, X Rays, CT scan, blood draws, it's all so familiar to us now. Turns out he has a lung infection, probably from the effects of the fluid that had gotten down into his lungs after his surgery.

But we made it through all of that, and would prefer NOT to see the ER for a loooong time now. Just as long as Austin doesn't have to see the ER, I'll be okay! He was so good for us during those tough times, too. Well, here's hoping for a more healthy 2 months in August and September!