Being Good Friday and the workplace was almost totally deserted, I decided to leave work shortly after lunch so I could get in an extra long (different route) bike ride. I'd thought I would take a very long detour out to the Rio Grande and ride the Bosque Trail bike path down to at least Central and work my way back to the car leisurely. Then I made the mistake of deciding to "just work another hour". I was scheduled to meet Jacque at the Albuquerque Temple for the 5:00 PM session, and as 3 PM approached I realized I did NOT have time for any extra biking: I would barely have time to ride back to the car, drive to the Temple, change from work clothes to dress clothes, and still be able to catch the 5:00 session. My strength seemed to be a bit off as I rode, and the headwind got pretty miserable, even though it was not the strongest headwind I've had to withstand, not by a long shot.
I ran low on blood sugar after the first 2 miles and had to stop for a power bar, then I trudged on back to the car. What a relief to get to the Hahn Arroyo turnoff and turn east with the wind to my back. Still didn't seem to have much strength but the pedaling was much easier. Then, after all that, Jacque turned out to have forgotten about the 5 PM meeting and had gotten herself a leisurely pedicure and done some Easter dinner shopping as well. We wound up eating dinner at one of our favorite holes-in-the-wall, a small East Mountain restaurant called Chilepeno's. When we got out of our cars after parking, I noticed a medium knot of pain in my upper left shoulder area. As usual, Chilepeno's food was fantastic, and the new cutie waitress serving us turned out to be someone we see every Sunday at church even though we didn't know her name: Brooklyn, who lives in the other ward. As we ate, I became concerned because my shoulder pain was still there and still unexplained: I hadn't done anything strenuous that I could think of. I told Jacque about it and she suggested we just pop over to the East Mountain Urgent Care Center which just so happened to be right across the street. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be closed already for the evening. We debated about whether to make a drive into Albuquerque and do the all-night wait drill in any of the area emergency rooms but I decided it wasn't hurting that bad and we should just go home, only another 4 miles away. We passed a fire station which has EMT crews and Jacque suggested pulling in there to get a "priority ride" to the ER, which would result in more immediate service instead of having to sit all night, ignored, in the ER waiting room if we drove ourselves in. I reluctantly agreed. One of the firemen/EMT's was working on one of the trucks when we walked in the open bay of the substation. He looked a bit dubiously at us until we explained I was experiencing chest pains, whereupon his demeanor immediately changed to courtly. He escorted us into the office where an entire crew of EMT's sprang into action, wiring me up with probes, taking my blood pressure, pulse, etc, and radioing the Bernalillo County dispatcher that they were going to take me in the rescue wagon to town for an ER run. At first my blood pressure seemed a bit high (I was a bit alarmed and off balance at first) but within a few minutes all that had calmed down in a few moments and my readings ran pretty well normal, except for my pulse rate. We were underway and well into my first ambulance ride of my 63-year life when the EMT attending to me complained that my pulse rate was "Way too low". When I told him I rode my bike 14 miles 5 days a week he calmed down and told me "Your pulse rate is lower than mine, and I'm half your age, so it worried me."
Got to Lovelace Downtown (what we old timers remember as Saint Joseph's, where so many of our kin have survived and died, including my brother George) and endured the usual pokes and prods and endless questions. What we DIDN'T endure was the multi-hour wait outside in the ER waiting room we've all become so accustomed to. It was 1:30 AM before we finally got home, with a clear bill of health, but all that time had been spent being LOOKED at instead of IGNORED.
So, the world is still stuck with me, for at least a little while longer, at least.
One thing that hammered my brain pretty hard was the realization: It could have been "IT". It could happen just that fast and that easily. I'm close to "the age of a tree" already. It further stiffens my resolve to get cracking on my "bucket list" and not keep putting it off until next week, next month, next year.....
Happy Easter, everyone. Thank Heavens Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead to open the way, and allowed me the privilege of going to Heaven with all you Good Guys.
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