Lazy days and ER nights

Weekends in August can be very lazy. Dogs don’t want to go for walks outdoors when the air conditioning has kicked on indoors. The little touch of humidity in the air, had me thinking about summer humidity and heat in North Carolina next weekend while Gramma goes out to see our first grand-baby.

Sunday morning, was as always, a quick dog walk, a cup of coffee, and early meet-up for church service volunteers. Then a working lunch with our leader group afterward, and home for a nap perhaps. The remaining afternoon was going to be lazy. Or so we thought. A call from our youngest adult son changed our Sunday afternoon.

An Emergency Room visit is not something that offers family discounts. And certainly not on any busy summertime Sunday. This year I was hospitalized on a Sunday and in surgery that evening. Two other extended family members had heart issues requiring hospitalization on a weekend. And last night another member was suddenly ill and hospitalized.

I may have extensive in-patient experience with hospitals, ER procedures, and pain-management. Of our three kids growing up (now in their late twenties and thirty) I think out of three, there were two visits to the ER. Until my intestinal surgery this March, I was making a pilgrimage to the ER about once a year for two decades. I can work through my own health issues, but seeing the suffering while waiting for my son’s admission last night, was rough to endure from the other side of the hospital gurney.