• Mood: thankful

The Phone Rings at 3:00 a.m. (Part I of II)

While I suspect that many of the approximately 43,000 days in my lifespan (hopefully) will be pleasant, if ordinary days, today is one that will always stand out.

The day began at 2:49 a.m., when my phone rang. drarwenchicken. "I need your help." I'm pleased to say that my brain kicked right into "Emergency Response" Mode. She explained that she'd been having abdominal pain and woke with a fever, and the Advice Nurse said to go to the Emergency Room. Could I take her there? Of course.

It was heartening to see an empty waiting room, and we promptly started through the ritual of the ER; triage, paperwork, repeating the description of symptoms about four times, exams, blood drawing and waiting. I Twittered for most steps, to keep a record. With only one bizarre exception (which we'll just not talk about), everyone we dealt with was professional and confidence-inspiring. A CAT scan indicated no serious issues, and the doctor sent drarwenchicken home with instructions to follow-up with her regular doctor. We got home about 6:00 a.m. BILJ had stayed with Hz, and both were happy to see us. Both BILJ and drarwenchicken understand that this is the sort of thing we do for family, but still, they each thanked me profusely.