We're Blessed . . .

Anna came home from NYC with a terrible cough and has been coughing ever since. We've tried several kinds of medication, but nothing has helped. Finally I decided that we needed to see a doctor and "nip it in the bud," as Barney Phife would say.

We went down to a local "Urgent Care" center that takes walk-in patients and signed in. When I was called to the window, they had MY information and not Anna's (Mary E. vs. Mary A.) so I had to fill out more papers which meant calling Eddie for his Social Security Number.

With that taken care of, we were asked to have a seat in the waiting room. Thirty minutes later we were called to another window so that we could pay for their wonderful services. There was more confusion there over the name issue but it was worked out. They ran my check through the wonderful debit machine which immediately takes the money out of your account. I was committed at that point! We were asked to go back and sit in the waiting room.

Some time later they called us back for vitals. The nursed called Anna by her first name, Mary. I told the nurse that she went by "Anna" instead of Mary and the nurse curtly stated that they HAD to call patients by their first name. I didn't push it. The nurse stated that since Anna's cough had gone on for so long, they'd have to take an x-ray of her lungs.

From there, we were taken to another waiting room where we waited around 30 minutes for an x-ray that took 3 minutes from start to finish to complete. We then went back to the waiting room and waited until a nurse came and took us to an examination room.

I should have been alarmed when we found out that this was not a regular examination room but one that was labeled as the minor proceedures room. The other concern was that it was located at the end of the hall.

We were in there for 45 minutes when I told Anna that I'd give them 15 minutes to come into our room before I went out to remind them that we were still waiting. The doctor and his nurse came in 5 minutes before my "deadline" time.

The doctor had Anna do a lot of deep breathing and determined that she had Pneumonia in the lower right lobe of her right lung. Because of all the deep breathing, Anna told me that she was going to pass out, which she did. The doctor elevated the table so her head would be lower and I started fanning her and washing her face with cold water. He then told us that if her white blood count was elevated that he would put her in the hospital. Thank the Lord is wasn't and she was given 2 shots and sent home.

Three hours after we walked into the clinic until we walked out, three hours had elapsed. Anna was starving and very grumpy.

My first temptation was to get a little aggravated because of all the waiting we had to do, but the Lord gave me an attitude check.

Even though we had to wait, we DID have a pleasant place to wait. Most of the world's population does not have a clinic to go to. If they do, most cannot afford it. I was reminded of how blessed we are in the United States to have doctors, hospitals, and medication that will help. I know that there are flaws in the system, but we're STILL BLESSED.

(Pray for Anna as she fights this pneumonia.)