National Pickle Day

Well, today is National Pickle Day.  And as you can see here, there was much rejoicing when I got home with this package of "Oh Snap" pickles for Maddie, as she is a big fan of pickles.  And I myself celebrated mightily at the cafeteria, enjoying a bag of potato chips with dill pickle flavoring.  Honestly, I've been enjoying the dill flavor lately.  So National Pickle Day was a good time to sample some of that.  However, this wasn't necessarily the biggest reason for Maddie being happy when I got home.  The thing is, we were getting home from the hospital.  Mom spent all day at the hospital, largely waiting with blood being drawn frequently, and small naps here and there.  We were in room C26 of the emergency section of Northeast Georgia for most of the day, and Mom was doing fine there, just resting mostly.  Or as much as you can with the vampires coming in for plenty of blood tests.  Or are they blood tests?  I mean, it could be that this entire place is a front for that sort of vampiric activity.  Sure, there are legitimate tests and medical procedures there, but there are certain patients where a little blood could just so happen to go missing, and perhaps doctors target these patients early on, and sure enough, there are real vampires coming in, ready to draw samples and give vague answers about what kind of testing needs to be done.  We're on to you, vampires!

Anyway, it was that sort day.  We were there at the hospital all night.  Mom was in her gurney and I was on the floor with a wadded up blanket as a pillow.  Mom was giving blood left and right and the doctors were trying to figure out what had caused the trouble that brought her here in the first pace.  Eventually they came to the conclusion that they didn't know, but along the way did all kinds of tests to determine what wasn't wrong, and believe it or not, every single one of those tests that came out okay were super encouraging to us, because we were finding out that there is a lot with Mom that is perfectly healthy.  So that left the heart stress test, which is done chemically now, rather than the old treadmill and wires stuff of the past.  Mom was in another tube with her arms raised and her heart rate going up - that's the test.  It took a long wait to get to that test, with us sitting in this room in the ER.  Again, gurneys with people all lining up the hallways, just waiting for a room.  Each person in a gurney a story, and alongside that person an ambulance driver waiting to get out of there to go get the next person.  We were anxious to move on to the next test and hopefully home.  Once Mom had the test, I took the LONG walk to the cafeteria at the North Tower, and then made my way back to the South Tower and up the elevator to the third floor - it's an epic journey.  I timed it and it took five minutes!  Anyway, I was able to eat and then attend a virtual KidPak Meeting from the waiting area, where everyone was praying for Mom as she underwent her tests.

God is good.  The tests showed more good signs:  she's all clear.  We were waiting for that result a while though, and this time in a much nicer room.  The heart observation rooms are pretty big and nice.  We sat there watching "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas" as we waited for the doctor to come in, and sure enough, she said everything was good.  Might as well go home, right?

We got home tonight, and I was so happy for Mom.  Maddie was too.  Mom sat on the couch as we watched another Christmas movie, and meanwhile I was finishing up the fourth and final Christmas tree.  

I got it all done tonight! Hard to believe we started the day out in the hospital.  Anyway, it was a long, long day.  We were ready for some sleep, as neither Mom or I slept much at all at the hospital.  You don't sleep too much in hospitals.  But we were glad to get home.  We read tonight, and we prayed too.  And then it was time for some wonderful sleep.