On Call

The phone rang this morning at 3:51 AM. It was the hospital operator: "We've had a Code 99 from the Emergency Room; let me put you through."

So, for the first time since I signed on as a chaplain there, I got dressed and went in. I arrived at 4:25 - not bad for what is normally a 30 minute drive. The hour of the morning helped with that, of course; even though it was rainy and wet, there were very few other drivers on the road, and all the traffic lights stayed green.

As it turned out, my services were not really all that urgently needed. The patient had been intubated, so she was sedated, and no family was present. I prayed for a few minutes, chatted with the ER staff, filled out the necessary forms and left. I'd have been out a little bit earlier, if I hadn't had to backtrack once or twice to find my way back to the pastoral care department. I'm still a little befuddled by the hospital hallways.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home-- no sense in going back out later, when it's right on my way. Shopping, when it's just me and the cleaning crew, turns out to be quite easy; who knew? I got back at about 6:00 AM, just in time to greet the daughter groggily dragging herself out of bed for school.

Good morning, everybody! Ready for the day?