Been awhile, hasn't it?
I've been a bit...shall we say....under the weather.......... :)
Okay, okay, I'll tell you the entire and complete story. It was an INCREDIBLE testimony to me!
Let's just say strep throat and I have a long, complicated, love-hate-relationship history (it loves me, I hate it). I used to get it every single year as a child. Every time I got sick, my parents would cart me off to the Minute Clinic at Walgreens, saying, "Come on, kiddo. We gotta test you for strep!" And every time, never-failing, it was strep.
Last time I got it, I was about twelve. I remember the nurse practitioner peering down my throat, that over-sized Popsicle stick pressing down my tongue and activating my overly-sensitive gag reflex...
"Well," she said, "your tonsils are abnormally large." The swelling from previous infections had never gone down. There was talk of a tonsillectomy, but this was the NP at Walgreens, and I didn't really have a regular doctor.
So Wednesday I knew it was strep. I woke up with more pain in my throat than I have ever felt in my life. There was no cough, just this rough dryness that made it really difficult to swallow. It was hard to talk, too. I had sweats and chills all day, and I was purely miserable.
Thursday came and I officially couldn't talk. I was down to eating oatmeal. At one point (the past three days were all a blur) Mom made me an egg sandwich. She said she didn't toast the bread, but wow, that thing hurt.
Thursday night I slept in fifteen-minute increments. I moved to the couch at 3:30am, where I watched Father Knows Best and Donna Reed and all of those fun shows until around 6:00am Friday morning. At some point I got up and made myself some oatmeal. I was not hungry but I knew I had to eat or else I would, like, die or something (I'm always so overemotional and overdramatic when I'm sick). I got my favorite kind -- apple! -- and, after warming it in the microwave, I put in like an entire cup's worth of brown sugar. I took it in on the couch and put a tiny spoonful in my mouth. I couldn't swallow. So I put the bowl on the in-table and went back to sleep (I'm so resourceful!). ;)
It was around 9am when Mom woke me up. She said we were going to go to urgent care because I needed to get tested for strep. So we went -- me, without a voice, going out in public in December! -- and they were able to take us immediately. My urgent care doctor was a member of our Church, and although I had never met him before, I felt completely comfortable......except for the whole throat thing. ;)
The doctor took one look down my throat and he said, "Did you say this happened in three days?"
"Yes," I signed, and Mom replied.
"This is very, very rare," he answered, "and quite concerning. This amount of swelling in three days...I think you have an abscess behind your tonsils." He took out his big old doctor pen and pointed to the end. "This is how much room you have to breathe. If you don't go to the ER right now, you're going to suffocate."
Please note that I hate doctor's offices. I have never been in the hospital. My childhood medical problems consisted of asthma and the yearly bout of strep throat.
So Mom turned to me and she said, "This is scary."
Well, you didn't have to tell me that.
The doctor called the hospital to tell them we were coming, and we made it there in less than half an hour.
On the way there, I was scared, and since I couldn't verbally tell Mom what was going on inside my brain, I pulled out my phone and started texting. I texted Promise first, and then my friend Rose. Rose replied instantly, saying, "I'll ask others to pray as well!" Then, seemingly out of the blue, she texted me with a few lines from a song I hadn't heard in over a year. It was from Whom Shall I Fear by Chris Tomlin, and this is what she sent me:
"The One who reigns forever, He is a Friend of mine...The God of angel armies is always by my side!"
I cried then. I just let loose and started bawling. I told her how beautiful that was, and she said that she felt the Lord telling her to send it. It was so, so perfect.
Well, we made it to the hospital, and triage saw me immediately. I think the triage guy's exact words were "Yeah, her tonsils are kissing..." Mom and I laughed..."They're in love," I tried to mouth.
Well, the next thing I remember is that they told me to sit in a chair in the hallway while they found a room for me. A gentleman came and snagged Mama (I was pretty clingy at this point) to ask her questions about registration. There were all kinds of people, every age, status, color, and size imaginable. There were nurses, doctors, firefighters, security guards, patients, and pedestrians walking the halls, singing, crying, yelling, hugging, laughing, and talking. All of a sudden, it faded away.
The Spirit of the Lord enveloped me, wrapped me in Its arms, and I felt a divine Presence next to me. It lasted for several minutes, and when I couldn't feel it anymore, I had no fears. Those fears never returned.
The next thing I knew the same triage guy who had announced that my tonsils were in love came and escorted me to beautiful Room 8. My nurse came in, and she ended up having the same exact name as me -- even spelled right, which she was very happy about. She gave me a blue hospital gown and she took blood. I'll spare you a few gory details... ;)
Later, the doctor came in and peered down my throat. (I think I gagged a total of fifteen times Friday....good job, reflexes...) She said I was dehydrated and that I needed steroids to get the swelling to go down. She also said that they were going to give me IV antibiotics, which would work faster than antibiotics by mouth.
I had a huge bag of fluids that my body soaked up in less than fifteen minutes. At the same time, steroids were flowing through my IV, and within five minutes, I could feel the swelling going down. My mouth had saliva for the first time that day and I started talking for the first time in three days! They gave me antibiotics as promised, and Mom and my nurse both said I looked "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed".
A few hours later they gave me a glass of water, which I drank in five minutes, and they got me another glass (which was also gone quickly). Then the nurse brought me applesauce -- I swear, that was the best applesauce ever! -- and I downed that in five seconds.
So the doctor came in and said, "You're doing great. Keep taking your antibiotics and pain pills, and you can go home now. If you can't talk again, come right back and we'll admit you and do a tonsillectomy. But you're good for now."
Oh, did I mention that they tested me and all it was was a serious case of strep?
I feel weaker than I have in a long, long time -- going to a cousin's Christmas party last night 'bout did me in, as did church and a grocery store trip this morning -- but I feel so, so incredibly blessed. My choir was singing at Church this morning, and I snuck into the practice room afterwards to tell them how wonderful they sounded. As I opened the door, everyone shouted my name and cried, "HOW ARE YOU?!!?!??!"
If you ever wanna feel loved..........I know some people that are pretty shuck-darn good at it!
Even one of my GUY FRIENDS came up to me and was like, "ARE YOU OKAY I HEARD YOU WENT TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" (Yeah, I have great guy friends....)
Sitting here this afternoon, I realized that I don't even have a single bruise from the IV. :)
Finally I see the two sides of God...both the "amazing, all-powerful" side and the "I am your best friend!" side. Friends, I simply cannot explain to you the magnitude of the God we serve. He. Is. Incredible.
Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus the blessed Redeemer!
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