This Is Going To Be Uncomfortable…
I spent yesterday in the ER of our local hospital, after being taken there by ambulance.
I had called 911 as I thought I was having a heart attack.
Turned out to be “supraventricular tachycardia”…my heart was racing at over 200 beats a minute and had been doing so for over half an hour.
The interesting thing was how they “fixed” it.
The ambulance EMT put in an IV line and started filling a syringe.
“This is going to be really uncomfortable” he repeated at least three times.
I wasn’t caring much at that point because I was already “really uncomfortable”.
The EMT didn’t lie, nor did he exaggerate.
Whatever he injected into me makes your heart “pause” so it can reset.
For about three seconds I thought I’d been put down like a sick pet.
It was really, really, uncomfortable.
Almost immediately, my heart went back to normal.
They ran a number of blood tests at the ER to make sure I was stable and sent me home.
A couple of observations…
It was surreal to be treated as a potentially infected thing rather than a person in need.
The firefighters who arrived first were masked and gloved and took my temperature before even asking my name.
They took it twice more before the ambulance arrived.
The EMT’s were masked and gloved and took my temperature again.
The masked and gloved folks in the hospital took it twice more.
I had three EKG’s and even through all the protective equipment, you could tell that no one wanted to touch me.
Normally, I would have been held overnight for observation, but they wanted me out of there now.
I was a bit wobbly on my feet as I left, but they did not put me in a wheelchair, but did make me sanitize my hands twice on the way out in case I touched something.
I was grateful that no one ran in front of me shouting “unclean, unclean!”…
I was picked up by my peeps who had to wait outside the empty ER in the parking lot the whole time I was there.
The true cost of the coronavirus is not just our health, jobs, and personal freedoms, but our humanity.
It’s finishing the job we started with all our other divisions that have made it so easy to dehumanize someone with a label.
It has exacerbated our divisions and given us new reasons to hate each other.
We’re running as hard and out of control as my heart was.
There will have to be a “shot” to reset” us as a society…I don’t know what that will be, but it’s going to be really uncomfortable…it may feel like death.
Those who follow Jesus should have some wisdom to offer then, if they’re not busy shooting at someone else…
Michael
Stay in, stay safe and try to rest up. BTW, if you have a heart attack, I’m going to get really, really angry! 😁
Also, my wife just got the updated facts and figures for our area from the Governor’s office… “it’s going to be really uncomfortable”…
Michael, you could have died – no joke!
But we are in a very strange transition now… For some reason (old age?) I feel like the world is being groomed by Satan in order to make his move. . Dispensationalist speaking? 😇
Thank God you’re OK. Dehumanizing is the right word to use. I am deeply concerned for our nation, not only with the COVID, but the other “plague” that rests in the White House.
This morning I was driving on a rural road, nobody around, no traffic, no humans . . . except for one woman walking her dog, and she was wearing a protective mask. I wondered how many people have lost the ability to think for themselves, to use common sense. God bless the lady, maybe there were other reasons of which I am unaware, but I cannot ignore all of the lemming-like behavior, all the fear-induced actions I see every day. Using an abundance of caution doesn’t exclude using common sense as well.
Anyway, take care of yourself.
Michael–Scary! So glad you’re going to be o.k., brother. Continuing in prayer for you, my friend! 🙂
Michael, I’m glad to hear you’re OK and welcome the wise words your ordeal induced.
When ER staff is scared, then it’s time to be scared.
Who’s a human these days.
Our local dump experienced a tragedy yesterday. In the recycling building there’s a conveyor belt that moves junk along so workers can salvage useful materials. Yesterday, among the tin cans and bottles appeared a dead new born baby girl.
The local Facebook thread told what was known of the incident. Everyone was rightly horrified with cries of “poor baby girl.” This, of course, is the proper human response. However, the majority of these same people would have insisted the the baby’s mother would have had the right to kill this same baby a few days earlier if she was still in her womb.
In the womb: not human unless you want her, the parasitical non-child of a woman with rights.
Out of the womb: A human we must mourn, a community tragedy, the child of a horrible person who needs to be tracked down and punished.
As for people not wanting to touch us…now we know how the Old Testament lepers felt, and their isolation was be a decree of God.
People comply with their government, practice the six-foot rule, wear masks and stay home and plant gardens, read books, etc. This is mocked as “being fearful.”
Other people resist all the guidelines (“Ain’t nobody gonna tell ME what to do”) and believe whackadoodle conspiracy theories which they breathlessly spread all over the Internet and repeat dark predictions about the One World Government.
Which group seems the more fearful to you?
Thanks for the kind words and comments…I’m going to be in and out of followups until later today…
Xenia, I am much more fearful of the nutcase conspiracy theorists. They are truly dangerous. To them, virtually nothing is as what it seems. It is impossible to engage in a conversation with them. I’ll observe the guidelines for this time. This will pass. But the conspiracies will never pass, as there is always a new potential anti-Christ. In my lifetime, it goes back to the days of Henry Kissinger, where many thought of him as the one. Why? He was a peace broker and a Jew. Well, that fits the model! But that was almost 50 years ago. Many have come and gone, but the hyper last-days people always have another candidate in waiting.
DavidM, yep, I agree.
Some day it will be the “last day(s).” There is nothing amiss with measuring life’s events by that standard. However, the run in circles hollering the ” the sky is falling” is not a Biblical standard. We will always have, always have had, scandal mongers… They need our help to get through life.
Looks like there are plenty here that are up to the task. 😉
Before old Adolph was defeated we had preachers preaching he was the antichrist… Well, no he wasn’t THE antichrist, but he was A antichrist; even cloaked in phony virtue, he was a destroyer… a servant of THE destroyer….
Will The destroyer be as easy to identify when he makes his move? “Deceiving the very elect? ” We need teachers after the preachers do their evangelizing. (Sorry). 😇
This gives me anxiety just reading it. Even though we know WHY that’s how the first responders respond right now, I still think it’s ok to think you were treated in a way that we would normally call “wrong” and even “uncaring” if I should even go that far. As someone with anxiety, I had been freaking out probably. My perspective may be wrong and even sound uncaring to the first responders and front-line workers but that isn’t my intent
Anyway, this post makes me sad but it makes me happy because you are recovering. Take care of you MIchael.
Thanks, Alexis.
I wasn’t offended by any of the care givers…they want to get home safe too.
It was odd, though…
So scary Michael, and worrying and observing how they dealt with you was added unnecessary stress. Glad you’re ok.
I just read this! Oh my goodness, I am thanking God that you’re ok. You know that HE often warns us to slow down and take care of ourselves. I can say this because it happens to me. I fell off my horse two weeks ago. A bit shaken and bruised but I’m fine. As I was going home after the fall I kept thinking of all I needed to do. But I believe The LORD was telling me to slow down. I’m so very grateful that you’re ok. You are so loved and appreciated by many.
Thanks, Barb!
I’m glad you’re ok…now , slow down… 🙂
I’m so sorry you had to suffer that physically.
I’m so sorry for people being so cold and distant.
I was already seeing socially awkward and fearful people in the fall; COVID19 has made it so much worse! People on the hiking trails, many feet away, won’t even look you in the eye. Today, as well as 5 weeks ago. It’s tragic.