[__ Prayer __] Where to start...

[handy]

Well, 2010 didn't end all that well for us. Steve was loading hay at a neighbor's when he began to experience severe chest pains. After a very expensive ambulance ride and trip to the ER, we found out that (thankfully!) it wasn't his heart. He has had a persistant cough lately, and every now and then, due to the extreme cold and dryness, he really gets to coughing and coughing hard. This caused the lining of his lungs to become inflamed, something call pleurisy, which can mimic heart attack symptoms. Scary, but treatable with meds.

Since we got out of the ER so late, he and I decided to stay in town at the in-law's house. Unfortunately, while we were gone, something happened to our well. Usually this is an easy fix, it often shuts down during extreme cold, and it was well below 0 last night, but for some reason heating things up didn't help. It sounds as if an eletrical part that starts the pump is not working. Not an easy fix, especially on New Year's Day, especially way out in the middle of nowhere. We have found an electrician who answered his phone and Steve is on the phone with him now troubleshooting the problem. Hopefully, the electrician can talk Steve through fixing the issue, or else we'll have to have him come out.

After-hours/holiday emergency electrician; ambulance ride; emergency room visit; cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.

However, as always, there is much to give thanks for...for our wonderful neighbors who drove Steve home and stacked our hay for us...for the fact that Steve will be fine, no heart attack or heart damage (his grandfather dropped dead of a sudden massive heart-attack) for the fact that the kids did such a good job taking care of things here at home while I brought Steve to the ER.

And for the really neat fireworks show that we saw from the front porch in town last night. That was cool.

 

[Alabaster]

Thanks, God, for the fact that this is treatable and Steve is able to continue on enjoying his family, friends, home and job!

handy, was it pneumonitis? My mom had that once---it wasn't fun.

 

[farouk]

Well, 2010 didn't end all that well for us. Steve was loading hay at a neighbor's when he began to experience severe chest pains. After a very expensive ambulance ride and trip to the ER, we found out that (thankfully!) it wasn't his heart. He has had a persistant cough lately, and every now and then, due to the extreme cold and dryness, he really gets to coughing and coughing hard. This caused the lining of his lungs to become inflamed, something call pleurisy, which can mimic heart attack symptoms. Scary, but treatable with meds.

Since we got out of the ER so late, he and I decided to stay in town at the in-law's house. Unfortunately, while we were gone, something happened to our well. Usually this is an easy fix, it often shuts down during extreme cold, and it was well below 0 last night, but for some reason heating things up didn't help. It sounds as if an eletrical part that starts the pump is not working. Not an easy fix, especially on New Year's Day, especially way out in the middle of nowhere. We have found an electrician who answered his phone and Steve is on the phone with him now troubleshooting the problem. Hopefully, the electrician can talk Steve through fixing the issue, or else we'll have to have him come out.

After-hours/holiday emergency electrician; ambulance ride; emergency room visit; cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.

However, as always, there is much to give thanks for...for our wonderful neighbors who drove Steve home and stacked our hay for us...for the fact that Steve will be fine, no heart attack or heart damage (his grandfather dropped dead of a sudden massive heart-attack) for the fact that the kids did such a good job taking care of things here at home while I brought Steve to the ER.

And for the really neat fireworks show that we saw from the front porch in town last night. That was cool.

handy:

Wow, sorry about this event with your husband's symptoms!

Hope he will be okay.

Actually, there are various chest symptoms which can resemble heart attacks. (I know; it happened to me, too.)

It's always good to check it out; with my episode, part of the bother was having to wait so long at the hospital.

Sometimes there is no need for long term concern if the symptoms have been checked out thoroughly.

You guys have a great new year. Keep praying and trusting in the year ahead!

 

[Mike]

This caused the lining of his lungs to become inflamed, something call pleurisy, which can mimic heart attack symptoms. Scary, but treatable with meds.

Oh my gosh!!! I had this same type of thing last Spring!! I don't remember having a persistent cough. All I remember was that I woke up and it hurt tremendously to take a deep breath, cough or bend down for anything. I thought for sure I was having some sort of heart problem, because this was so unique. Fortunately, a neighbor of ours is a doctor, and he nailed it. My son and I were horsing around the night before, and he (15 years thick) slammed me hard on the back. I didn't think anything of it until the doc asked if I was struck somehow in the chest or back recently. That's when I remembered him slamming me, and started to look up popular attorneys. He said the lining of my chest cavity became inflamed and gave me some OTC anti-inflammatories. In a few days, I was fine.

Do these symptoms and conditions sound like Steve? I'd never heard about that before I experienced it. Thankfully, he and I recovered. Sorry about the well. So your New years went something like this: Out like a bull, in like a heart attack, huh? Sorry to make any light of the bull thing. Just trying to cheer you up. How sad.

Blessings, Dora

 

[handy]

Well, the Lord has answered our prayers and the well is now fixed. Kudos to Gem Co. Pump for answering the phone at 5:00 on New Year's Day, coming all the way out here, with the right parts and the know-how to fix the thing. Nice to have running water again!

I was seriously concerned to not have the well running properly in this extreme cold. It's below 0 out there again, but now everything is in working order, so we don't have to worry about irreparable damage.

No irreparable damage to the well; no irreparable damage to Steve; the bull, well, one day in the New Earth, I'll take him over to Mike's mansion, just to say "I told you so!".

Nice to have something positive to happen this New Year!

Have to share this...an example of living out in the country...when Steve was having the chest pains, I gave him a couple of asprin and bundled him into the Expedition and took off to town to where the hospital is. When we got to the next town down the road, where cell phones work, I called my m-i-l and asked her to call the hospital and let them know we were coming in and would be there in about 20 minutes. She did, and immediately called back and said that the ambulance was on it's way. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, we thought she said that they had told her to tell us to stay by the side of the road with our blinkers on. So we did. We were pulled out in a safe place, I put on the blinkers and we waited...and waited...and waited...

Truly, we were only about 20 minutes away from the hospital when they told us to wait and we waited for 18 minutes when I told Steve that I was heading in. They did finally meet up with us about 10 minutes out from the hospital...and they told us how glad they were that we called and that they came to meet us...10 minutes after we would have arrived at the hospital if we hadn't had waited for them!

I mean, they did a good job and everything...they were true professionals, but honestly, we would have been in the ER way sooner if we had just driven in. Next time, I'm not calling in...I thought it would be helpful for them to know that a possible heart patient was on his way in...but boy, am I glad that Steve wasn't having an actual heart attack, because he might have died while we waited for the ambulance.

 

[PouringRain]

Glad to hear all has turned out well for you all!

 

[farouk]

Well, the Lord has answered our prayers and the well is now fixed. Kudos to Gem Co. Pump for answering the phone at 5:00 on New Year's Day, coming all the way out here, with the right parts and the know-how to fix the thing. Nice to have running water again!

I was seriously concerned to not have the well running properly in this extreme cold. It's below 0 out there again, but now everything is in working order, so we don't have to worry about irreparable damage.

No irreparable damage to the well; no irreparable damage to Steve; the bull, well, one day in the New Earth, I'll take him over to Mike's mansion, just to say "I told you so!".

Nice to have something positive to happen this New Year!

Have to share this...an example of living out in the country...when Steve was having the chest pains, I gave him a couple of asprin and bundled him into the Expedition and took off to town to where the hospital is. When we got to the next town down the road, where cell phones work, I called my m-i-l and asked her to call the hospital and let them know we were coming in and would be there in about 20 minutes. She did, and immediately called back and said that the ambulance was on it's way. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, we thought she said that they had told her to tell us to stay by the side of the road with our blinkers on. So we did. We were pulled out in a safe place, I put on the blinkers and we waited...and waited...and waited...

Truly, we were only about 20 minutes away from the hospital when they told us to wait and we waited for 18 minutes when I told Steve that I was heading in. They did finally meet up with us about 10 minutes out from the hospital...and they told us how glad they were that we called and that they came to meet us...10 minutes after we would have arrived at the hospital if we hadn't had waited for them!

I mean, they did a good job and everything...they were true professionals, but honestly, we would have been in the ER way sooner if we had just driven in. Next time, I'm not calling in...I thought it would be helpful for them to know that a possible heart patient was on his way in...but boy, am I glad that Steve wasn't having an actual heart attack, because he might have died while we waited for the ambulance.

handy:

Glad he seems okay now.

Even with an ambulance, seems like there's always bureaucracy to negotiate and the most technically advanced paramedic facilities are so often dependent on some human factor involving a precise address detail that can be misunderstood.