What a weekend it’s been!
On Friday I finally went to a doctor to get some help for a sore throat that had been bothering me for a week. It was rapidly becoming unbearable, and, for someone whose job it is to read the Torah in shul, a sore throat can be bad news.
On Saturday night, one of my kids’ schools had their annual dinner. It was a nice affair - long, boring and full of speeches. However, I must have eaten something that made me horribly sick - I ended up spending most of the night in the bathroom.
On Sunday night, I nearly lost my mother.* She had been in the hospital for a blood problem when her blood pressure suddenly plummetted, right through the floor. For over an hour and a half the doctors worked on her, trying to get her stable She had to be intubated and emergency surgery done to find out where she was losing blood from.
After a few shaky hours, the doctor (who, mind you, was supposed to go on vacation last week and put it off because of my mother) came down and told us that her bleeding was under control and that she was going to be kept in the ICU for a while. My sister and I went up to see her in the ICU after the opeartion for a few minutes on Sunday night. She looked horrible - tubes everywhere (including the breathing tube), her hair a mess, her face showing pain. Even though she was sedated, we knew she could hear us speaking because she twitched slightly whenever we spoke to her.
Most of Monday (I was off for the holiday) was spent at the hospital. The breathing tube came out, she was alert and concious and wants to go home (always a good sign for her). She’s still going to be in the ICU for a while, but things are looking better.
So, all things considered, if things had gone slightly different, I could have found myself this morning sitting shiva, unable to speak and sick to my stomach and not wanting a housefull of people. Instead, here I am at work this morning with my throat still hurting a bit (much less than earlier) and no stomach illness.
It’s a good day.
Zev Steinhardt
*My mother has a looooooooooong and complicated medical history. If I told you the half of it, you wouldn’t believe one person could go through so much.