Patience of Job

"A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly." Proverbs 14:29 "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." Proverbs 16:32 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22, 23 (All verses from NIV)
Patience is a virtue - I've heard it said all my life. Definitely one of the fruits of the spirit I lack greatly. During the waiting process of this journey I have been described as having the Patience of Job. I can only say, I have never met anyone with the Patience of Job and cannot imagine I will ever grow in patience to the level of Job.
Let me recap as I have I had a little time from my last entry. On January 14th my life changed dramatically from the day before. Calling 911 and being whisked away to emergency with a blood pressure of 190 over 130, I had no idea what was happening to me. No answers, so home to see what happens next. A couple of days later another call to 911 and the anxiety chatter begins, even though my blood pressure seems to be extremely elevated. Gary and I go to the clinic where my doctor works out of to have my blood pressure checked. The panic attack diagnosis is the end result even though again my blood pressure is extremely elevated. Upon visiting my doctor several days later, after my pressure has not gone back down to normal I am still being told that the anxiety has to be taken care of first. Well you know the rest of that story. After medication has been given to me the process is slow and steady, still not feeling like I am being taken seriously. Another emergency visit with my pressure through the roof, I am finally being taken more serious and the tests begin. Off to a blood pressure specialist who adds medication to help stabilize my pressure and again the waiting continues. In the meantime my lungs are tightening and I am finding it a bit more difficult to take deep breaths. I was able to get on the home IV program and start antibiotics to help alleviate the pressure on my lungs. The test of patience does not end there, as I endure 8 needle pokes and 6 successful IV sites to run my medication through in a 14 day stretch. I also had to adjust the speed of injecting the meds because they were wearing out my veins and causing me some pain. After 2 weeks of IV antibiotics I can tell things are better with my lungs. I went in to the hospital to have my last IV taken out and then I went to do a breathing test, to see how much my lungs improved. Well I was nicely surprised to see that my test resulted in a 62 percent lung function. Approximately 4 months ago I was sitting at 48 percent, so I was quite pleased.
Upon visiting the blood pressure specialist I was told there would be an appointment set up for me to have a renal Doppler ultrasound on the artery connected to my right kidney. Again the waiting game begins. I call within the first week after hearing nothing and am told yes the letter has been sent, so you should hear something soon. I waited 'patiently' as another week passed with no word. I called again and was told the same information, but that she would check and make sure they got the letter. Later that afternoon I had an appointment with my family doctor just to check on the blood pressure progression. I mentioned it to her that I haven't heard anything yet and was wondering why it hadn't happened yet. Prior to our conversation the nurse had checked my pressure and it was high. The doctor said she would find out what was going on with the ultrasound and get back to me. Not happy with my pressure she upped the dosage of one of my meds and I again was feeling like my situation was being taken more serious. So home we go and, you got it, the waiting game begins again. Excellent you are all catching on quickly! (-:
The next day I get the mail and WOW there is a letter with an appointment date for my renal Doppler ultrasound. Needless to say I was surprised. Amazing what doctors can really do once 'they' actually believe there is really something wrong with you. At times it feels like it has only taken 6 weeks for doctors to believe that I am not making my blood pressure go up, but that there is legitimately something happening that is out of my control.