Not the best of days

Yesterday, my mother-in-law had an EKG on the advice of her doctor. She's been suffering from general fatigue and her GP had noticed a slow and erratic heartbeat. The EKG was scheduled to take half an hour, but before the test was even finished, technicians at the hospital had decided that things were going poorly, and my mother-in-law was sent to the emergency department. She has been placed on a heart monitor, and doctors are adjusting her heart medication to see what will happen. Consensus at this point is that she will need to have a pacemaker inserted, and surgery will probably be scheduled for some time in the next few days.

Meanwhile, there is a shortage of beds at the hospital. She spent last night sleeping in a cubicle in the ER. Rumour is that the man in the next cubicle has been there for several days. Except for the lack of solid walls and a TV, she is, at least, in a private area. If she had been placed in a room, it's likely it would have been in a ward, with three other roommates. This way, she's within a few feet of the main ER nurse's station and lots of doctors.

I hope all goes well with her, since she's relatively young, and my wife is certainly not ready to face a life-and-death situation with her mother.