Surprise Ending!

What a difference a couple of hours makes!  When we were out earlier, the streets were wet with splatters of rain coming down on the windshield.  It was supposed to snow during the night last night, but instead of the 3" snowfall we were to get, we woke up to a gray, glum day with bare streets and brown grass.  Some of the drops falling today seemed on the verge of mush, though they disappeared with the swish of the windshield wipers.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I looked out an hour ago to a storybook snowfall of exquisite beauty!  The flakes were as big and round as silver dollars, looking like the contents of a featherbed being shaken from a heavenly ticking, or a thickly-dotted sheer curtain billowing  from celestial windows! The ugly bush by my front door has been transformed into piece of modern art, its stark branches an intricate study in black and white as snow outlines the dark bark.

And what a difference a day makes!  I got up this morning with symptoms that had plagued me periodically for a week or two--fluttery, indefinable sensations in my chest that left me weak.  My blood pressure monitor showed a picture of a heart with an outline shadowing it, signifying an irregular heart beat.  Overcoming the reluctance to get it checked out I'd held onto for days, I told my husband I thought I should go to the ER.  I'd already scheduled an appointment with the town cardiologist, but it was for 10 days away.

Explaining such vague symptoms to the ER doctor was difficult, because he wanted to know when they occured, how long they lasted, and what I was doing when they happened.  After questioning me intently and writing on his pad, he scheduled me for bloodwork, EKG, chest Xray and other lab work.  I was already hooked up to a blood pressure machine that showed my heartbeat, pulse, and oxygen saturation level. 

All the updates I kept getting were that the tests were normal!  Thank you, Lord!  We had prayed so hard, and I was so hoping I would not have to stay at the hospital, but when the doctor mentioned a Holter monitor, I wasn't so certain.  But it turns out I can wear it at home, pushing a symptom button on it whenever I have one, and writing it down on a sheet to turn in when I see the cardiologist.  So for two days I have to be definitive about the symptom, duration, time, and activity, although the hospital will automatically receive an electronic record.

I am so thankful to be spending the night in my own bed, instead of the dreaded scenario I had envisioned of staying at the hospital.  And since they allayed most of my fears, I will surely get a good night's sleep, even if I do have to have an electronic box in the pocket of  my pajamas!  What a different outcome  to this day than I had feared.  I will trust God with the rest of the evaluation!