Happy Birthday or Doctor is coming: Part 1

“No matter what, tomorrow we are going to Porvoo” – said Maria – my sister-from-another-mother – on our way to Suomenlinna on Saturday. On Sunday she turned 25, and we had planned a huge program for that day, including a trip, dinner at the restaurant and overall good mood and lots of fun. However, instead of good time, life presented us with a good story for later. 

Morning didn’t forebode anything unusual to happen. Not until after the breakfast, when Maria’s stomach first sent a signal on a change of plans. By early afternoon, holding moaning-out-of-pain Maria’s hand, first call to an ambulance was made. An hour later I called 112 again, to ask why ambulance hasn’t yet arrived. “They are coming!”. True, two hours later they arrived. three paramedics looked at the birthday girl, measured blood pressure, made sure she’s not pregnant, and told that by noon she’d be fine. “Drink sweet juice, and in case of high fever call us again”. Thank you, doctors. We are going to call in two hours. Now, instead of silent moans, room was filled with heart-wrecking sound, that scared even paramedics, who arrived hour-and-a-half since the second call. As examined Maria more closely, they decided that she indeed must have been hospitalized. 30 minutes of medical manipulations in ambulance, and screams fade away and off we went to the hospital: Haartmann sairaala. With the promise to let her mother know what has happened, shortly after 6p.m. they took her away and told to wait for a nurse with news. 

Time went by. One hour. Two hours. In the company of my worries and kind-hearted people who supported us on the phone, I finally found a nurse who “shall tell about the progress”. Two more hours later, the same nurse told about test results, that doctor is coming and soon we can go home. By 11 p.m. we came back home, barely surviving the ride in a cab. Dog was taken care of, so I could focus on Maria, who still was nasty shade of green. Exhausted,  we dropped on a bed, turned off lights only to turn them on 20 minutes later. “Call the ambulance!” – pain returned and was gaining strength. “Hello, need an ambulance. We just came back from the hospital, but pain is getting worse, we must get her back there!” – “Ok, they are coming.”