October 21, 2009 10:45 PM

Somethings wrong!

That was the verdict a year ago after I went to work and my wife, during the day, convinced me to go to the doctor after work. One little number was wrong! That's it - just one number! After undergoing blood tests and chest x-rays, the doctor homed in on my hemoglobin number which was 6.8. Normally, for me, it should have been at least 13.

And, since it is the hemoglobin that carries the oxygen that we require to all parts of the body, it seemed that the source of my breathing issues had been uncovered. But why was it so low? That was a question that could only be answered by a visit to the hospital. Figuring that I could do it at my convenience, I asked the doctor when I should check myself in. He emphatically responded, "immediately"!

He was also so concerned about my health that he refused to let me drive myself to the hospital even though I had driven to the clinic. I was forced to call my wife who was with a friend at the time and she came and brought me there. I also called my boss and told him what was happening. Always the caring and thoughtful man, he told me not to worry about work and to just concentrate on getting back on my feet again. Who knew it would still be going on a year later?

At the hospital, step 1 was to get me a bed in the cardiac ward. They thought that with my lack of oxgen that my heart would be beating extra hard and that I was a possible candidate for some sort of cardiac irregularity.

Step 2 was to give me a transfusion of 2 pints of blood to get my hemoglobin back up to an acceptable level. For someone who had never even given blood to get to get 2 pints was quite disturbing because they sit you down and run through the litany of all the things to look out for while it is occurring and all the things that could possibly go wrong. To a large extent, in my total ignorance of such matters, I thought that it would be somewhat of a non-issue. Unbeknownst to me I was now starting on a path that would get a lot more precarious than that before it would could be considered completed.

Since it was no getting late, step 3 would have to wait until the next day. They would need to start conducting tests as to why my hemoglobin was so low. In the meantime, my priest arrived, and annointed me with the oil of healing. It was the first of several times that he would do this over the past year. Say and/or believe what you will, I have never had any problems as you are all aware.

My wife and priest left and I went to sleep thinking - how bad can it be when the infusion of 2 pints of blood can "restore" you?

How bad indeed...

Bob