... pain that won't go away ...

.... i was in deep sleep when i felt a cold hand on my arms and a silent weeping. i opened my eyes and saw my wife, there, next to me, crying in pain. She's wincing as she slowly said.... 'mahal.. sobrang sakit!'. At first i couldn't make out what she's trying to say, when i saw tears flowing from her cheeks i understood... she's in great pain.

i held her and asked her what was wrong. she said something about her tummy. i tried to comfort her, gave her anything to eat, but then nothing seemed to work, the pain won't go away.

I asked her if she'd like me to take her to the hospital. She said that they (hospitals) will just make us wait and try to pacify our minds as they sent us back home with loads of prescriptions and unrelieved pain. I had terrible experience with some hospitals in the philippines and i understand where my wife is coming from, and so i decided to stay awake and be with her as I pray for the pain to go away. I even asked the ever powerful Lord to take the pain away from my wife and give it to me. But time passed and she's still crying in pain.

When i couldn't anymore contain my worries and fear, i begged that i take her to the closest hospital. The pain must be too much that all she could do is follow. And so i changed my clothes, wrapped her in her robe and grabbed the keys. At 5am we're on the freeway to the nearest hospital.

We went directly to the emergency entrance. Although it says 'emergency', no one seemed to take us seriously. I know they can see my in-pain wife, she can barely walk for pete's sake! I almost lost my tempter. But then i thought to myself, if i got out of control there, that'll delay us and will prolong the suffering of my wife, and so i calmed down and gave in to the nurses.

We waited 30minutes before someone attended to us, talk about emergency! They asked my wife and myself of so many things about my wife's condition. I could see my wife's difficulty in speaking because of the pain, and so i suggested if they can give us anything to fix the pain. She was given something, but that only numbs her tongue, the pain is still there. They asked us to wait for another minute for an ecg, after the ecg they sent us out and asked us to wait for the blood test. After the blood test they made her rest in a gurney and stitched her to a dextrose, we are then asked for a urine test.

It was 10am when finally the doctor came and talked to us. He asked a more detailed questions and asked us to have my wife's abdomen xray-ed. Again we waited, as we wait the pain is becoming intense. And so i asked the doctor if they could help my wife, if they can't fix the pain, at least give us something to lessen it to a point bearable. And she was given a morphine. And she fell asleep.

While she's asleep, a nurse walked up to us and asked us to move to the chairs as the gurney's for examination not for resting. I was hesitant to move my wife as it's her first nap since 10pm last night. But the nurse had lowered the bed and woke up my wife, there's nothing i could but assist my wife to the closest chair and allowed her to continue her rest.

After few minutes the doctor came back only to tell us that nothing is wrong with my wife, and that she needs to have an ultrasound. But since it was sunday, and they don't do ultrasound on sunday, we'll have to wait for the next day, that is if we can find a pathology that would take us, normally for exams like this the waiting time is 4 weeks, minimum.

The doctor says there's nothing he can do without that test. And so he sent us home, prescribed us with some medications to ease the pain, and like what my wife said, the unrelieved pain. Well, at least it's not as intense as before and she's a bit drowsy.... she can get some uninterrupted rest at home.

Now she's next to me, resting, but in a frown because of that same pain that kept her up all night. I don't know what to do but wait for the pain to finally subsides... neither she can't do anything... the doctor has washed his hand and sent us home. And as i write this i can't help thinking, are our hospitals equipped with the right people? Well, the nurse took awhile to find the right vein to get some blood from my wife, they did a whole lot of exams, the doctor too asked us for some exams.... and yet the pain that we brought there for them to fix is still with my wife to bear...... or am i just soaking into the drama because i haven't had enough rest?

How many people out there had the same experience?

How many lives were saved? How many were lost?

If lost, how?

Before i took her to the hospital she said that they will just make us wait and send us home with prescriptions and pain that won't go away. She was right. But had i obeyed her, she would still be crying in pain now..... instead of resting.