I'm back--by the grace of God!  Two Thursdays ago I fell asleep in front of my computer.  I woke up on the floor aching all over and with chest pains.  Somehow I dragged myself to bed and fell asleep, assuming all this was because I ate something that disagreed with me.  When I woke up, I felt better and went and did my usual errands, but sometime around 7PM, the chest pains came back.  So I called my dad and he drove me to the emergency room of St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago.

There I was rushed in and they began doing tests on me while the TV on the wall played a kids' sitcom on Nickelodeon.  They decided to keep me overnight, so I was transferred to the ICU.  There the nurses were very attentive towards me:  They gave me a sandwich and snacks when I asked for them (dinner was over at the hospital by then).  The next morning the kitchen called and asked me what I wanted for lunch and dinner (they already gave me breakfast).  After breakfast they gave me new medication for my blood pressure and ran more tests right in my room.  Later that afternoon my family doctor, Dr. L. Gandhi, examined me, looked at my tests, prescribed new medication and in the early evening I was checked our and Dad drove me home.

My time in St. Catherine was the most restful I'd ever felt in years.  Everything was clean and quiet, as opposed to my cluttered apartment and noisy (sometimes) neighbors.  This could only mean one thing:  I need a vacation!  When I start comparing a hospital to a five-star hotel, I know I need one.

So I've been home for over a week and am still doing fine.  I just have to learn to take it easy on myself and the world.  And I have to learn to eat healthier--cutting back on salt, grease and spicy foods (the only hard part).  Oh yes, last Wednesday St. Catherine called me to see how I was doing.  Now that's what I call service!