"I remember the old Winfield hospital being on a hill," Howard told a relative of the patient we had come to visit today. "My older brother, Marvin, used to deliver papers when he lived here as a boy," he continued with his finger propped thoughtfully against his chin. "Once, when he was delivering papers to the hospital he came down the hill so fast on his bicycle that he ran over a nurse's white shoe!"
My husband has a story for every occasion. Today he may have been trying to deflect attention from the fact that we were a little late in arriving. He had promised to be in the patient's room in ministerial support by 7:00 a.m., but we hadn't awakened until almost six, and it was 6:30 when we managed to get out of the house for the trip to Winfield that took nearly an hour.
The cell phone had rung when we were almost there, and sure enough, it was the impatient patient, but by the time I got the phone out of my purse, she had hung up. My return calls disconnected, then I tried to place a call on Howard's phone. Same story. Then that phone rang, and my minister husband was able to pray for the patient in case we missed her. At last we were nearing the hospital. We hurried toward her room, but a nurse told us they were just going to get her to bring her to surgery. Then, seeing the uncertain looks on our faces, she said hopefully, "If you hustle, maybe you can catch her before she leaves the room."
The retreating backs of the escort team told us they would be there before we would. "She will be coming down any minute," we were assured, "just wait here by the elevator door and you will see her."
This was getting to be a comedy of errors! I had told Howard not to worry about finding the hospital, because we have a GPS. He held me to that, and I tried to program the hospital in, not knowing the name of it, only the city. The only thing that came up was a veterinary hospital. Then he instructed me to call information to get the right address.
By this time, we were near Arkansas City, which is only 10-15 miles from Winfield. "I think we should take the by-pass!" I suggested to my husband, because, although Ark City is a small town, it has a traffic light at almost every block along its entire length, and getting through town can take a while.
It was the first time we had taken the by-pass, and I could see right away it was good idea: Peaceful, swift and scenic. The snow, which was neglible at home, covered everything in Christmas-card beauty, turning evergreens into Christmas trees, and the bare branches of other trees into works of art.
It did seem to be long, however, but finally a sign proclaiming, "Round-About Ahead", came into view. "What is a Round-About?" I wondered aloud. I figured it was the exit of the by-pass, but I had never heard it called that. Turns out it was a small round circle in the road with an exit opening to the right, the middle, and the left. We edged past the first slot, then quickly maneuvered into the proper hole that hopefully led to our highway.
"Does this look familiar to you?" I asked my husband after we had exited the by-pass. "No!" he exclaimed, but before long, familiar sights made us realize we were on the right road. The phone rang again, with the update that they would be taking the patient to surgery in 10 minutes. We were 5 minutes away.
"She should be here by now!" I told Howard, after we had waited by the elevator for a few minutes. "Maybe we should still just go to the room! You know it always takes them awhile to get a patient ready to move!" We were about to do that, but just then the elevator door opened with the gurney holding our friend. They waited while we had prayer for her there in the hall.
There was time for many stories to be swapped between Howard and the patient's husband while we waited. Soon we were back in the room with her; a scope had revealed none of the problems she had feared, so surgery wasn't necessary. After she had eaten, she could go home. And we would be home in time for Howard to go to work at his afternoon job, thanking the Lord for our safe trip and the outcome that was an answer to prayer!
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