March 4 - “Double Whammy”

The alarm went off at 6 a.m. for me to wake Chris up. I confess I wasn’t as kind as I should have been. Oh, it could have been much worse. After all, I didn’t sing. I did turn on the overhead light, though. And it wasn’t her favorite time of day. But when you have an appointment at 7:45 in League City, sacrifices must be made.

 

Yesterday was breast biopsy day. Not an area that I have any expertise in, to be sure. Way outside my wheelhouse, in fact. She had a chance to chat with the home group ladies the night before though. Five or six of them were comparing notes at the table after Bible Study. Corey and I kind of … stayed away.

 

At the clinic, we were greeted with “hello, how are you going to pay your copay?”  Gotta have that money up front. $390. Chris tried to get it put on a payment plan, but no dice. There goes another night or three of a road trip.

 

Sounds like everything went really well as far as the biopsy was concerned. They didn’t have to use the repeat time they allocated, since the ultrasound showed exactly what they needed it to show. Chris was able to watch the whole thing on the monitors in the room. They must have told her eight or ten times, “Don’t panic.”  Not sure if that’s a good thing to hear or not.  They are supposed to call and set up an appointment to see a surgeon just in case it is malignant. If it’s not, they will cancel. If it is, they want her seen within the week. But … “Don’t panic.” Meanwhile, I was able to catch a few winks in the waiting room.

 

But then … after we got home, Chris had a phone call from UTMB. Nope. Not the biopsy results. This was the cardiologist’s office. Don’t panic?  In Chris’ words, “I flunked the stress test, yet again.”  Well, she’s nothing if not consistent. It means she has to have another heart cath. Not what we wanted to hear so close to Hawaii. Chris told her about our upcoming trip, so they are going to try to get it done sooner rather than later.

 

Now we wait for the scheduler to call and set up a time. And of course for the financial office to call wanting their $390 copay.

 

Wait. Did I say “wait”?  The scheduler called before supper. The heart cath is scheduled for March 15th. Seems four different people called the scheduler demanding she take care of Chris ASAP! Thank you to Teri and whoever else put in a good word.

 

Luke 9:23-24 says, “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’”

 

Father, it is definitely tough to face yet another heart cath. Especially in the midst of waiting for biopsy results. We could use a bucketful of your peace about now. Amen.