HEART SCARE BRINGS CAUSE FOR THANKS
Let other countries laugh at our fastidiousness in tallying a
presidential election. That same attention to detail is what saves lives and
heals hearts in America..
About the time my newspaper carrier was pitching news of the NSDAQ onto
my driveway recently, I was creating my own plummeting index on an EKG. I
had awakened with chest pains, sweats, tingling fingers, and light
headedness. I couldn't make it down the steps so I called for my
11-year-old, crawled back to bed and phoned 911.
I explained my symptoms and then as any healthy 40-year-old would do,
immediately went into denial. "It's not that bad. I'm young. Don't you
think I'll be ok?"
"We don't know that, ma'am," said the dispatcher. "Have someone turn on
your porch light. We'll be right there."
Just what you want to hear when you are having a tug of war with middle
age -- "ma'am."
I wanted to tell him, "I'm not my mother" but couldn't remember if my
underwear was new or old and thought I'd better not argue..
When the Emergency Medical Service arrived, I was relieved to see that
two of them were people I know. Relieved until I thought again about my
underwear.
Standing around my bed were my children whose faces had dropped two
stories. Tears were swelling in their eyes. I did my best to comfort them
but the most calming effect came from the EMS team. In between starting an
IV and doing an EKG, their gentle words to the children had a reassuring
effect on me too. Then they let me think I had a choice about going to the
hospital..
Once there, I expected to be greeted by someone asking me for my
insurance card. It never happened. Instead I was met with concerned doctors
and nurses who were treating me with an immediacy that was making me
uncomfortable..
It was not until they told me that I needed to be taken to another
hospital for a heart catheterization that I began to get concerned. It was
when they told me I had to go by life flight that I lost it..
"Am I going to die?" I asked the cardiologist..
"If you weren't here it could be a possibility," he said. "But you are
in the best care."
I looked at a nurse who had been sweet enough to stay with me. My face
must have told the story because she said, "Please don't cry or I'm going to
cry too."
The sights and sounds of and emergency room during a crisis remind you
of what life really amounts to. There is no sense of day or night. The
words of nearby conversations pale to the beeping of monitors. Intravenous
tubes feed what you hope is tomorrow into pricked veins in your arms.
There are no windows from which to seek fresh air. There is no horizon
from which you can anticipate the next sunrise. There is only today. This
minute. Now..
I thought about my children and how proud I am of their choices. I
thought about my friends whom I am so blessed to have. I called my family,
friends and children's principals to make sure they knew to take care of the
children. And then I let God have the rest..
I knew that in spite of the difficult hand I had been dealt, I had so
many things for which to give thanks. I had the best of care. I had the
best technology. I had the best transportation. I had the best in medicine.
And I had a God that would not abandon me. Everything else was out of my
hands.
God continued to remind me of his presence through his children. The
helicopter paramedic eased my fears by telling me about his father having the
same procedure.
The heart catheterization room was like the United Nations. I was never
happier to be an American. What a blessed place it was to have the top
people in the whole world summoned in one room waiting to take care of me.
As I was coming out of sedation I watched the monitors display the
movement of blood through my heart and sighed with relief when I heard the
cardiologist say in an Irish accent, "Mary, you are not having a heart attack
nor do I think you will ever have a heart attack."
I remember him asking me how I felt to which I answered a very Tony the
Tigerlike, "Greaaaaaaat!"
He smiled and said, "We only give the best cocktails here."
I was sure they only gave the best of everything there..
By two thirty that afternoon I was getting dressed to go home. I found
that my underwear had been sealed in a bag. I was assured they did that for
everyone. Whew! I left the hospital and nobody had even asked for my
insurance card. My social security number and my word were enough to insure
me the best care insurance or no insurance could buy..
The EMS paramedic that treated me called my house to see how I was. He
told me that two of the other paramedics had called him twice asking about
me. I knew at that moment that I was thankful for one more thing..
I was thankful that America is not only a place where the doors are open
to all, but that in spite of its cutting edge technology and capitalistic
drive, there are still many here who have not compromised the virtue of
compassion. God Bless America..
I am a freelance columnist for the Pittsburgh Catholic.
Mary Lee Gannon
135 Springohuse Lane
Pgh., PA 15238
412-963-1436
