Hits and Misses (September 22-28)

This has been a week that I'm ready to put behind me.

HITS

• The week started out on a high note with a visit to First Baptist Church in Marion, Arkansas. I enjoyed the worship and an inspiring message from the Word. I definitely plan to visit again.
• Even though I wish it had been under different circumstances, I am thankful to have gotten positive results from tests run at the emergency room on Wednesday night.

MISSES

• You guessed it! At the top of my list of misses is a trip to the ER. My primary physician was out of town this week, so I had to visit a Nurse Practitioner on Wednesday afternoon since I was feeling bad. What started as a rather normal visit quickly morphed into a discussion of my cardiac health. As a precaution, the NP ordered an EKG. The test came back fine, but she suggested that it was entirely possible that the EKG might not reveal the entire truth. In other words, SHE FREAKED ME OUT! That evening while trying to go to bed, I began to experience pain in my neck and arms. My parents and I arrived at the ER at midnight. Another EKG was performed as well as blood work. The doctor confirmed that there was nothing in the tests to suggest there was a problem; based upon my description of the pain and its locations, he was leaning toward an injury to a neck muscle that was pulling on the chest muscles and arms. He sent me home with a mid-level pain pill and instructions to visit my primary doctor early next week. (Of course, I was told to come back if I had any other problems.) 
• While I'm thankful to know that the problem is not with my heart and that I've not been in much pain at all, I am still frustrated that I don't really know what the problem is. That's par for the course when you are uninsured. 
• Completing health insurance applications is entirely too complicated! Am I the only one who doesn't have thorough documentation of my entire health history? It seems to me that it would be much easier (and more accurate) to have files from my primary physician forwarded to the insurance company. I don't suppose that creates enough red tape though.