Another Wild Night

My plans for the evening last night included dropping the car at the shop, taking care of my wife who has the bug that's going around, eating a little dinner, and watching game three of the Bruins/Flyers series. I was looking forward to a quiet night at home.

No way, Jose.

I met Jen at the garage. She had gone to the doctor and was given a couple of symptoms to look out for. She was told to call the doctor back if she developed a headache or a stiff neck.

By 6:30 she had both. Her doctor's office was already closed so we headed to the emergency room to get her re-checked out. (Holy Family in Methuen... is that what it's called? I just think of it as "the hospital" because it's 5 minutes away from us and I can never remember the name.) The place was packed. There were probably 10-15 people ahead of us. After about 30 minutes of waiting we were starting to get antsy. Jen decided to double up on the possible diagnoses by calling her doctor's office nurse-on-call service. She called and left her information and we sat in the emergency room waiting room waiting to be either called into the triage room by the nurse there, or to be called back by the on-call nurse.

After another good chunk of time Jen had had enough. The on-call nurse is affiliated with a clinic in Manchester, NH and if a hospital visit were required they would (theoretically) be able to get us right in. So we left the ER in Methuen and decided to wait for the call back while driving North toward Manchester.

A little less than an hour after her initial call, Jen called the on-call service back and asked what the wait was. She was assured that she was the next call back in line. We got up to exit 4 on route 93 and decided to head into Derry instead of all the way to Manchester. There is a hospital in Derry that Jen was familiar with. We figured we'd head there and see what the on call said... if they ever called back.

We got to the hospital and parked in the ER parking lot. We decided to give the on call 10 minutes and then say the hell with them and just go into the ER. After 2 minutes Jen had enough and said, "Let's just go in." That was when the nurse called back.

We got two things from the talk with the nurse. First and most important we were told that she would be all right if she just went home and went to bed. We also found out why the wait was about 70 minutes. This nurse was thorough. Amazingly so. Every little detail of the smallest symptom Jen was feeling was covered in depth. Both why it was happening and how to deal with it. The nurse was great.

After the conversation was over we just put the car into gear and drove home. Jen went straight to bed. I listened to the end of the Bruins game and read for an hour and a half or so. As soon as she laid down she was sound asleep. She really needed to rest.

So the most important thing in my whole world last night was taken care of. Jenny wasn't feeling well, but she was reassured that it was just a bug and she'd be fine if she took things easy. My bride was taken care of.

That left me to look after the other interesting event last night. Game three!

Another incredible win over the Flyers. I just can't get over it. Three games to none! A 4-1 win. Just... just... astounding!

But... we lose David Krejci for the rest of the season with a broken wrist. That is going to hurt us a lot. He has been playing his best hockey of the entire year and centering the team's hottest line.

Granted, after he was out of the game the team picked up their game without him. They had not been able to do that at all this year, but last night... when it counted the most... they did it. They carried their shortened bench. McQuaid went out too. It was a tough night for injuries, but it was a great night for winning.

Three games to none... four chances to win one game. As a Red Sox fan who clearly remembers 2004 I am not going to write this one off as won. Nope. Cautious optimism is the key. They had better play like their lives depend on it Friday and not slip back into their lazy regular season habits. We need to win it as soon as possible.

Here are the highlights from last night's game.


So the car is in the shop getting checked out for Florida.
The Bruins are on the brink of winning their second round series.
My beautiful, wonderful, wife is not as sick as she had feared last night.

Get well soon, my love.
Go Bruins!
Get well soon, my wife.