If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all

The pumpkin patch is much more fun than the hospital!

It seemed liked "the stars were aligned" against us.  Mike was out of town not by choice but on business, so I was left with the overwhelming responsibility to advocate for our son.  If that wasn't bad enough, we had a nurse that we had never had before.  Not only had she never taken care of Christopher, but she had hardly taken care of anybody before!  She had just graduated from nursing school, and the situation that was developing inside Christopher was going to require the wisdom that can only come from experience.  Our nurse was hardworking and competent, but her inexperience would prove to be a liability.

She wasn't the only "newbie" on duty.  Christopher was still on the surgical service.  It just so happened that the attending physician (who was the one in charge) found himself up to his elbows in emergency surgeries that day, so we were relying on the inexperience of interns to take care of a situation that was definitely way above their pay grade.

Saturdays are great when you are at the park!

Then there was the fact that it was a Saturday.  Why did that make a difference?  All days are "NOT created equal" in the hospital.  Monday through Friday, it is crazy busy.  The halls are filled with white lab coats, patients going for tests, and nurses scrambling to fill "doctor's orders."  Weekends, on the other hand, are eerily quiet.  The staff is cut back, tests are done only on an emergency basis, and so the nurses are (generally) not as busy.  It is just slower.  It always seemed to me like a "wait and watch" for Monday mentality.  The care was always great.  It was just at a much slower pace.

In the midst of all of this was a very sick Christopher!  The sicker he got, the louder I got.  That poor nurse!  I felt so sorry for her.  It was obvious from the start that she was in way over her head.  Despite all the Tylenol they had given him, his temperature was still high.  His tummy wasn't getting any smaller.  It was huge!  He looked like he was pregnant.  Then, of course, there was the endless crying. 

I felt like my head was going to explode.  I had to pinch myself to see if this was really happening.  I had learned from experience to trust my instincts about Christopher.  I knew him better than anyone.  I was the expert on Christopher.  I knew he needed my help, but I could see that I was up against some very unfortunate circumstances.  It was a Saturday, my husband was out of town, and our nurse was as new as they come.  Could it get any worse?  I should have known better than to ask that question.

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can pray like this:

More tomorrow...