My achy breaky heart...

Well this week has been somewhat intense! With what started as some nausea and tummy pain Saturday afternoon, moving into vomiting and what was not diagnosed but I suspected later to be heartburn on Sunday; this cycle (of pain, vomiting, doctor's appointments, and heartburn) continued for 3 more days until it became an excruciating combination of nausea and chest pain Wednesday morning, when Husband (who had the foresight to stay home from work 'just incase') decided to "stuff the local blood tests, I'm taking you to hospital! ... Just let me shower first."

With trouble breathing, walking, and talking, mixed with 3 days of not eating, vomiting, and the on-and-off chest pain (which heartburn medication stopped working on), I reached beyond the point where I didn't know how much I could take... An ECG proved my heart was fine, yet the pain kept getting worse, and my life came to an emotional climax right before I was injected with morphine.

Then, it became a bit of a happy blur... Through blood tests, x-rays, vitals, repetitive questions*, and history checks, there was no explanation of why I had such severe pain in my chest. Whilst waiting to see the doctor in hospital, though, when the morphine was quite clearly working, I was already thankful that I could finally take deep breaths properly, and could enjoy decent, pain-free rest (yes, even on a temporary hospital bed with my jacket as a pillow).

* "No, I'm not pregnant" - "No, there's no tingling in my fingers" - "Yes, I'm allergic to cats" - "I would love a prescription for morphine, please"

Husband observed me in pain for days, and concluded that after a certain point of endurance, I move from cranky petulance to full-blown fragility, thinking I was most certainly dying... Of course, I would never say such a thing out loud, and he must have been hearing things.

Today is the first day this week I have woken up without pain. I have my suspicions of what it was, and despite grey hairs at 28, I do know that it was not a heart attack.

My trip to the hospital yesterday also meant I got to bring home souvenirs... I love souvenirs. They're like mini-presents to yourself. Sadly, I did not bring home an answer to what was happening with my body.

Because everyone loves bandaids and ECG tabs, right?

Today, I'm feeling very thankful for many things.

Things like:

A generally healthy body.

It became blatantly obvious that when there is pain in a body, it becomes almost impossible to do 'life' normally... For me, a pain as common as heartburn became quite crippling.

Husband.

He took over many of my roles this week, as well as keeping all of his own with work and various other commitments. He made school lunches, did housework, washed up, brought laundry in, folded it all up, took care of children, shopped, cooked, cleaned, all while I was in bed either resting or hurling into a bucket.

Friends and Family.

My family was in contact everyday to see how I was going. I had friends take children to and from school for me, and who cared for them each afternoon while I was unwell and on the days Husband was at work.

My children.
They were also pretty great through the whole ordeal. They brought me drinks, buckets, wrote me "get well soon" cards, and generally looked after themselves when they knew I couldn't get out of bed.

Access to medical care.

We have good doctors very close by, and a hospital only 15-20 minutes away. The hospital staff were great, I was seen to promptly (could have been because I stumbled in thinking I was dying), and through excruciating pain, they helped and supported me as they attempted to work out what was wrong. And, did I mention that they gave me morphine?

Life.

I am thankful that I am still alive (yes, I know it wasn't a heart attack!). I am thankful for my faith in God, who is sovereign, gracious and loving, and for the opportunity to really appreciate all of these things that I frequently take for granted.

I am calling today "Thankful Thursday."