Jan 30, 2011

Life Interrupted for Cheap Sr. Citizen

Guest Post by Ruth Morse
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I usually have an odd, quirky or downright strange money-saving idea or helpful hint to pass along. But not today. My series is interrupted this month and I'll have more tips to bring on my next post.
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We didn't save one red cent last week, and that's OK with me. Here's what happened:
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There was a bit of snow on Tuesday. Jim went out to do his usual shoveling. When he came in, he commented that he had tightness in his chest and was short of breath. Fast forward to the Emergency Room, where the nurses and doctors started ordering tests and hooking him up to all kinds of equipment, not necessarily in that order.
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Zip along to Wednesday. Jim had a heart cath and angioplasty. They found two arteries 95% blocked. One they opened with just the balloon. The larger one they opened up, then put a stent in...

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Jim was discharged Thursday morning and got home before noon.
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Now! This is the short Reader's Digest version of those three days. People who know me will marvel that I could actually condense this account into so few sentences. I'm known to ramble, you see.
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We haven't gotten any bills from all of the above yet, but whatever it costs... who cares? I could not find a parking place anywhere around the hospital on Thursday, so parked in the nearby Walgreen lot, felt guilty, went inside and spent $18.18 on stuff. That's a pretty steep parking fee, but I didn't mind at all. I didn't even look for sales. I just picked up 3 things we needed.
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Jim is doing well, thank the Lord. We could see God's hand each and every step. We are very thankful for the good medical care he got. Everyone who took care of him did just that: took care. And did it cheerfully and with skill. The surgeon said there was not much damage to the heart from the MI.
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But, being me, I have to leave you wtih one cute part of the week. Jim didn't fit into the usual boring hospital socks. They found him a neon yellow polka-dot pair that did the job. When Jim was being wheeled down the hall, headed to the cath lab, his feet and socks were sticking out of the sheet. Kind of like headlights, leading the way. People going in the opposite direction pointed and giggled. Jim enjoyed that!
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Very late that night, I was finally home and just about falling asleep when my cell phone jangled that a text had arrived. It was from Jim:
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