Thursday, April 10, 2008

My guardian angel has blue eyes

So I have a little tale to tell y'all...
Last Saturday night, I was hanging out with my friends Mark, Lauren, Nicole, Clarissa, Kyle, and Alex at Mark's apartment. Around midnight, I started feeling a little weird so Kyle decided to round up the troops and take me home. Once he had Alex (his twin brother), Clarissa, Nicole, and I settled in his mom's van, he starting driving. We'd made it about a minute or two from the apartment when my breathing became weird, gasping almost like a scream. It apparently sounded like I was hyperventilating. So, Kyle asked me if I wanted to go home or to the hospital. I very insistently (and stubbornly and stupidly) demanded to go home. So Kyle drove me home. Once home, Clarissa rushed me into the house where my roommates and that good-old-fashioned paper bag trick did us all a few favors. Then I went to bed...
Monday morning, I called my doctor back home who told me to come in as soon as possible. Thusly, I made arrangements for my mom (who is on spring break this week) to come pick me up today and take me home to see the doctor. The nurse also told me that if anything funky happened with my breathing between Monday and Friday to immediately get my butt to urgent care.
Then came yesterday. My breathing had been a little painful all week but yesterday afternoon, inhaling and exhaling had become a painful, burning process. So, after my 3:00 to 4:15 class, I made my way across campus to my 4:30-5:45 class. But while sitting there before class, I shot Kyle a text message telling him about the burning breaths thing. He responded that he could take me to the hospital if I wanted; just let him now. And he was leaving campus at 5:00. It was 4:34 then.
I considered my options and said a quick prayer before gathering my things up and running out of class while frantically dialing Kyle's number. We agreed to meet at Kirkhoff ASAP and I started walking while he started driving. He and Mark were waiting for me when I got there and they drove me to the hospital. As we drove, he called his wonderful mother who told us which hospital to go to and even offered to make the half hour drive down from her house to the hospital to help out.
As it happened, someone had alerted Noelle, my roommate, to the situation and she alerted my brother, Greg. They came to the hospital but then we decided just to have Greg stay with me and Kyle would take Mark and Noelle back to my house where they were all expected for dinner. Greg stayed with me through hours of questions and waiting and watching other people get checked. He waited while I had a chest x-ray taken and then while we waited for two hours for it to be read. Then came the verdict.....BRONCHITIS. So they gave me a prescription for an antibiotic or two and an inhaler. But of course, they discharged me at 9pm so we'll have to wait a bit on filling them. I'm still going home today to see the doc tomorrow, by the way.
But afterwards, Greg took me to the end of the UCO meeting. And that was great, seeing all these people who had been praying for me. Afterwards, we went to Applebee's to get me some dinner; it was 10pm and I hadn't eaten yet. Before we left, Kyle (who has blue eyes, by the by) gave me a hug and told me not to do anything stupid...
It was an amazing experience, realizing that while being sick sucks there are people around me who love me and care about me. They were such a sign of God's presence in my life yesterday. And it was one of those days where I felt like my guardian angel was inhabiting the body of someone near me. And yesterday, that person had blue eyes.

1 comment:

DaWheeze said...

Wow, I'm glad you're okay! That sounds like a scary experience. Thank God for good friends and brothers!