Dec 20 2003
Heartache
When I got home last night, I noticed that Robert?s truck was gone. I assumed that he had run an errand to the hardware store or somewhere similar. This assumption seemed to be confirmed by the note he had left on the coffee table stating that he?d ?be back in a bit.? So, I didn?t give it another moment?s thought.
I helped Sam stow away his coat, hat and shoes, saw that he found something engaging to play with and then proceeded to make pork chops with stuffing for dinner. Not long afterwards, the phone rang and Robin, Robert?s sister, answered it. She gets hundreds of calls every day, so I didn?t make any move towards the phone. Unfortunately, it turned out the call was for me, and it was one of those calls you hope you will never receive.
Robert was in the emergency room at a nearby hospital.
He had been having a dull, but painful feeling in his stomach ever since the previous day. I assumed that he just had a particularly bad case of heartburn and ignored his complaints. He thought that?s what it was too, until he felt his heart doing something strange while he was sitting at home yesterday evening. He grabbed a magazine, wrote a brief note, and drove himself to the emergency room. Not really a smart idea for someone who suspected that he might be having a heart attack, but it?s what he did.
It turns out that his heart was beating irregularly for 1-2 hours. The doctors don?t know why, but they feel it?s serious and that he needs to consult a specialist for it. They asked him if he might be stressed out over something, but Robert insists that he?s not. He sardonically asked them, ?do stressed out people pick up a magazine on their way to the emergency room, thinking that they might have a lot of waiting to do?? I guess not, seeing as how I left my snarled up and hopelessly ruined knitting project next to the couch at home where the cat could easily have a grand old time with it. I was so upset over the incident that I couldn?t even swallow my dinner.
Anyway, I left Sam with his aunt and went to keep Robert company at the hospital. We stayed there for awhile until the doctors felt his heart had been beating regularly enough for a long enough period of time. They also gave him some medicine to help soothe the burning sensation in his stomach. He’s made appointments with his cardiologist and general practitioner for next week. Hopefully, they’ll be able to sort out what’s going on with his heart and/or stomach.
The past couple of weeks certainly have been topsy-turvy. I feel like I?ve been living in a soap opera or something. Next thing you know, my evil twin will make an appearance and wreak emotional and financial ruin on us out of her jealousy for our good fortune to date. The cat will lapse into an unexplained coma for years and eventually wake up thinking she?s human. Sam will grow up into a real Don Juan who derives enormous pleasure out of seducing other men?s wives and then dumping them when they become remotely attached to him. Robert will turn out to have several wives in several different states and be running a smuggling ring?
