Community of Faith where you least expect it

I had the opportunity last night to witness a community of faith form somewhere that I least expected it and that was at the OSU Medical Center Emergency Room waiting area.

When I got up and headed to work yesterday, the last place I expected to be spending my evening was at the OSU ER. What I thought was a normal case of diarrhea turned out to be less than normal by early afternoon. I had to visit the bathroom with increased frequency to the point where I alternated between ladies rooms so than no one became suspicious of the time I was spending on the can. It was not the frequency but the change from passing bowel to passing blood that freaked me out to the point where I went to the ER. Jon couldn't get off work early so I muddled through the rest of the day at work and went to pick Jon up. I moved over to the passenger's seat and asked Jon to drop me off at the ER.

Jon dropped me off and headed off to pick up Jonnie from school. I checked in, was triaged, and registered. I was told by the triage nurse that it could be several hours because they were very busy. I called Jon and asked that he and Jonnie go home to have dinner and that I'd keep them updated. When I talked to Jon at 8 PM, I was still waiting and it had been three hours. He said that he and Jonnie were leaving the house at 8:30 to join me at the ER.

I had a book to read but I was getting lightheaded from the loss of blood, lack of food, and lack of water so I didn't read too much after the first couple hours of being there. However, there were many of us sitting and waiting. I talked with a woman who had been waiting since 11 AM; I began to feel like I was doomed. I could not help overhearing her conversation with the front desk and it seems like she had been directed the wrong area of the hospital. There was an elderly couple who had come in about an hour after me. The woman was in a wheelchair wearing a fuzzy robe and slippers to stay warm while I was sweating in a short sleeve top and capri pants. I noticed her legs were wrapped. I don't know the situation and did not ask although I did chat with she and her husband frequently during the time there. A group of three black women came in and the one young woman looked really bad but I have not idea what was wrong. The waiting area had started to clear out by this point. Within an hour, a group of family and friends had come to join them while the young woman waited to be seen.

When Jon and Jonnie showed up, we moved to the waiting area on the other side of the entrance so that we could sit together. This area was larger and I could see where smaller communities formed of people talking with one another and offering support. At 11 PM, the elderly couple was finally called to see a doctor. Everyone cheered and clapped. The flipside is after waiting all that time, it only took 20-30 minutes for the doctor to decide the woman needed to be admitted. Her husband was irritated as he suspected that would be the case all along. He wished me luck and hoped that I would be seen soon.

Maybe "community of faith" is the wrong term to use here but it's the only thing I could think of. No one was reciting scripture or openly praying but would could tell the spirit was at work. The hush that come over the whole waiting area when a paranoid schizophrenic young man tried to flee and had to be tackled by 5 cops was rather eerie. My son asked me what was wrong and I told him that the man was really upset.

At 11:30 PM, my husband went to the front desk and expressed his concern over my 7 hour+ wait as I lost blood every time I used the bathroom. I was in luck that a bed had freed up and a triage nurse took my vitals again. The nurse said that she had only been on shift for a half hour but took notes of issues she saw which she was going to be presenting to her boss. She was very concerned about the long waits that lead to cheering and clapping when someone finally could see a doctor.

We were shuttled back to an ER room and I changed into a fine hospital gown. Within a half hour, it was determined that I should have a CT scan to check for abdominal injury and/or inflammation. I was given barium shakes to drink over the next two hours. I told Jon and Jonnie to go home and get some sleep and the nurse encouraged them to do the same. It was going to be three hours before I had the CT scan and then time for the results to be read. I quickly became a human voodoo doll as the nurses took blood twice for blood work, hooked me up with an IV, and gave me a small dose of morphine. I had the CT scan at 2 AM and ended up taking a snooze when the doctor came in and told me that the CT scan showed no abdominal problems. The only explanation that could be offered for my bleeding was that since the diarrhea increased in frequency that my intestinal lining became irritated with all of the traffic and that's why I was bleeding. By 3:30 AM I was discharged.

Jon gathered up a sleeping Jonnie and put him in the car and tried to pull himself together to come pick me up in the pouring rain. At 5 AM, about 12 hours after my ER journey started, I was finally home and eager to brush my teeth and climb into bed.

I have a follow-up visit with my doctor on Friday per the direction of the ER doctor. The discharge paperwork indicates although nothing was found at the time of my visit that there are some abdominal issues that can start out slowly so I should work with my doctor to make sure this was a one time thing or the start of something else.

Although it was amazing to see how people pulled together for one another while waiting in the ER, I hope not to have the experience again!