My husband, Jim, has been telling people that we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last week by “getting a room” in Orange City, Iowa. Then he slyly adds, “a hospital room.”
(Long story. Sanford and Avera are “out of network” for our insurance.)
It all started two weeks ago with what I thought was heartburn.
A week later, the “heartburn” returned with a vengeance. I was hot. I was cold. I was nauseous. I couldn’t stand up. I couldn’t lie down.
I was also at a cabin on Lake Minnewaska with my dear friend, Sherri the Nurse, who asked, “Shall we go to the emergency room now, or would you like to wait until the middle of the night?”
Nurses are good at making options clear.
The nice people in the ER gave me massive pain killers and diagnosed “heartburn” as a gallstone.
I would need surgery.
The plan was to meet with a surgeon the following Thursday to schedule the surgery. But gallbladders do not care about plans. It attacked again Wednesday morning and even the painkillers didn’t help this time.
And so, it was Jim’s turn to drive to the ER in Orange City as I clung to the dashboard with white knuckles and gritted teeth.
They got me right in.
Because of my complex history of abdominal surgeries and because the gallbladder was already dying, the 45-minute surgery took 2 1/2 hours.
Jim began planning my funeral at the 90-minute mark just as he received word that “Brenda is OK, but it’s complicated.”
After the delay we were back together in “the room.”
I had a hospital bed with all the bells and whistles. Buttons to call nurses. Buttons to lower my head or raise my feet. I had heated blankets. I had a staff tending to my needs and all the pain meds required to keep me comfortable.
Jim had a little window ledge with a foam mattress.
During the night I gazed past my IV pole to see his lanky frame clinging to the narrow ledge on which he slept. A bright light on the building’s exterior shined in his eyes. His blanket was the size of a beach towel.
I adjusted my covers and thought, “In sickness and in health, Sweetie. Love you lots.”