I am not referring to cheesy lyrics from the 90's. I'm thinking about health. Last night was a long night. We took the girls to their school for Melissa's dress rehearsal, stopping for dinner along the way. Abby was driving and around 6:30 started feeling pain in her left arm. The discomfort spread to her shoulder and neck and chest. As we sat through the dress rehearsal, she kept complaining of the pain. I insisted on taking her to urgent care.
The doctor ran an EKG and found nothing, noting that Abby isn't at great risk for a heart attack. He recommended she go to the emergency room where further tests could be run. I agreed; she acted like a man and tried to convince me it wasn't necessary.
By the time we got home it was 11:00PM and both the girls were sleeping so I stayed home and Abby drove herself to the emergency room. I felt terrible, not being there with her, but the kids were knocked out and there was no point in exposing our healthy children to the zillions of diseases that float around in an emergency waiting room.
It was a bad feeling, waiting helplessly for her to come back. Her phone died so when I called her, I got no answer. I watched a movie, prayed, tried to play Wii, whatever I could do to keep my thoughts positive.
She finally got home around 4:00AM. The doctor said it was likely stress, that what she was feeling was muscular, not cardiac. Moments like that make you feel a little foolish, as if having wasted a whole night in an emergency room, or sitting up worrying were a waste of time, but the truth is, life is precious even if it is temporary. If I had told her to stay home and it had turned out to be something worse, I would have never forgiven myself. As it turns out, she's sleeping and the kids don't even know she went to the hospital. I have one more thing to thank God for.
Listen to your heart, your gut, your instinct. I knew Abby needed to see a doctor, even as I hoped there was nothing to worry about and wished the pain would instantly vanish so we could just go home. I didn't want to sit up, imagining terrible things and life without her, but would I have been able to sleep if she had been home instead of being looked after?
Men, especially, tend to ignore their bodies. We think it's weak to go to the doctor. Nonsense. It's weak to be irresponsible and abandon those who depend on you. Go see your doctor, eat right, get exercise. Change your life so you can prolong it.
God bless you, take care of yourself. Make it your best day yet.
- Adolfo
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