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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
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Dear Reader,
I'm in the hospital, it's the middle of the night and I can't sleep, so I'm writing. This adventure all started earlier in the day when I called my doctor and told the receptionist, "My chest is feeling tight and I'm having trouble catching my breath. I'm only five minutes away, can I come over and see Dr. Maria? Maybe she could take a quick look-see? I'm happy to hold."
Funny thing, my mother taught me that the magic words were please and thank you. But clearly the magic words for getting your call immediately put through to a nurse are: "My chest is feeling tight and I'm having trouble catching my breath." No on-hold music, no voicemail recording saying "Leave the complete spelling of your name, your date of birth, the phone number where the doctor can reach you, and a brief description of what the problem is." Nope, the receptionist patches you right through to a nurse, who stops what she's doing and takes your call. "Suzanne, go the Emergency Room now! Can you walk? Is someone there with you?"
Clearly the nurse was evaluating my symptoms differently than I was. Sure, not being able to catch my breath was bothering me, but hey, how about I come over, see the doctor and she writes me a prescription instead? I have some just-baked chocolate chip cookies cooling on the counter, maybe the nurse could put some water on to boil, and the three of us--my doctor, her nurse, and I--could have a little tea and cookies while we discuss my symptoms?
It takes a lot for me to call a doctor. Over the years, I've adopted my husband's approach, "Let's give it a few days and see if it goes away." But even I realized that my symptoms could suggest heart problems, so we headed for the ER. After some tests, the ER doctor decided to admit me overnight for observation and more tests the following day, even though after they gave me some nitro cream and oxygen, I was feeling much better.
So here I am, wide awake in my hospital bed, in the middle of the night. I'm feeling back to normal, but clearly something caused my frightening symptoms earlier in the day. The doctors are going to do more tests tomorrow, searching for a reason, but in my heart I'm thinking the reason might be stress. I'm good at doing things, thinking about more things I could do, and then doing them. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I do too much. I think I need to practice not-doing.
Sitting in this hospital bed is a big wake-up call. I realized, just a moment ago, what my real illness might be when I was thinking to myself, "Gee, I'm feeling better. I can't sleep. There must be something that needs 'doing'. I could be a patient/volunteer. Maybe the trash needs to be taken out? Or maybe a patient is having trouble sleeping like I am, and I could read to them? Maybe they have a mini-kitchen on this wing of the hospital, and I could whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies?"
Maybe I should follow doctors orders, stay in this bed and practice doing nothing.
Not to worry, my heart is in wonderful shape. X-rays and tests couldn't explain the reason for my episode, so I'm going to write my own prescription: "Do nothing for 30 minutes, two times a day." (Refills: Unlimited)
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.muffinsandmayhem.com/
P.S. Enter this year's Write a Dear Reader Contest. It's simply writing for fun, and you could win an Amazon Kindle, a $50 gift card to your favorite bookstore, and the winning entries will be published in my Dear Reader column and at BookTrib. For all the details, goto: http://tinyurl.com/WADR2011
AUTHORBUZZ: Shobhan Bantwal, today's featured author, writes...
THE FULL MOON BRIDE is a compelling story that explores the fascinating subject of arranged marriage, as young Indian-American attorney Soorya Giri navigates the gulf between desire and tradition.
To read more about THE FULL MOON BRIDE goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
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