My First Six Weeks in Las Vegas
I moved to Las Vegas at the very end of June and by mid-August I had to evacuate my house, take a trip to the hospital, and ended up in the middle of a dog fight. Here’s what happened…
In the afternoon on my third day in Vegas, the police had a standoff with a neighbor a few houses down the street. SWAT was called because the neighbor would not come when called out by the police. There were about 30 cops all around and news crews at the end of the street. I don’t know what it was about, only that the girlfriend escaped the house to call the police leaving her young daughter inside with her boyfriend who had a gun, so they were looking at a possible hostage situation. Everyone on the street was asked to evacuate because of the potential danger.
Two weeks later my brother (whom I share the house with) was on vacation in the Philippines and I was home alone. About 3:00 one afternoon I started getting a sharp persistent pain in my lower right back. Because of the location and what I’d heard about the incredibly intense pain associated with kidney stones, that was my guess. I did not want to call an ambulance, and I was in no condition to drive myself to the quick care, but that’s what I ended up doing because I didn’t have anyone to call. Let me tell you, quick care is a misnomer – they are not quick about anything when you are in that kind of pain. After being there for two hours (totaling 4 hours of level 9 pain) they finally gave me a pain shot but only if I agreed to be transported by ambulance to the hospital to get a cat scan to be sure it was indeed a kidney stone. The cat scan did find a small kidney stone and I was sent home at 2am with an expensive taxi ride back to my car, and a prescription for pain meds and antibiotics. This is when I discovered that there are no 24-hour pharmacies in Las Vegas (the town with 24-hour everything else), at least not in my neighborhood. I went home and slept a few hours and filled my Rx in the morning. That little trip, when all I really needed was something for the pain, cost over $10,000, and I have no insurance.
A few weeks after that I was walking one of my two big dogs as I did nearly every morning since I’d been in Vegas. As we finished the loop and came back to my street, I noticed two big dogs up ahead running loose and snooping around. I hesitated, not sure what to do because they were at the beginning of my street, which ends with a cul-de-sac, so there was no other way to go. Just as I feared, one of the dogs noticed us and came trotting over. He didn’t seem too aggressive at first and I know sometimes dogs just want to check each other out and that’s the end of it. Not this time. After a moment of sniffing, the other dog attacked mine. My boy is not aggressive but he will give as much as he gets so he was not going to back down. I reacted in the moment and I’m sure I didn’t handle it right. I started kicking at the other dog while pulling my dog’s leash away. In the process I was bitten on the forearm – not bad enough to break the skin but to have a nasty bruise for a week. I also fell on the ground, getting a nice road rash on my arm. Finally the other dog backed off a little as a car came toward us. The driver must have realized what was happening and drove her car between us and the bad dog, giving me a chance to run up my street and farther away. I noticed later that Rex had a chunk taken out of the top of his ear.
I tell these stories because there are different ways to look at this series of events. Was it a mistake to move to Vegas? Was I out of God’s will by doing so? Or was the enemy attacking because of how God would use me here, trying to discourage me and get my eyes off the Lord. (I guess he doesn’t have any new tricks – he should have known that wouldn’t work.) Or, was it just a reminder of how much I need to depend on God.
Life happens. To all of us. God allows some things and prevents some things – most of which we never even know about. As I started looking at all three of these incidents, I saw God’s favor and protection in each one.
The neighbor ended up surrendering peacefully to the police and we were back home in a few hours.
The kidney stone was easily passed the next morning and I felt great and didn’t need the pain pills. Also, I was approved for Medicaid, which will cover the hospital bills. The dog fight could certainly have been much worse. We’ve all heard the horror stories.
So I look at these things and I am thankful. Thankful that God is in control. Thankful that He had mercy on me in each situation. Thankful that each one was not as bad as it could have been. And thankful, always, for His continuing faithfulness. He is present with me always. He knows what I need at each moment. He takes care of every detail of my life. How could I not be grateful for all things? Also, I am thankful for the quiet, uneventful few weeks I’ve had since then. I think I’m going to like it here.
In the afternoon on my third day in Vegas, the police had a standoff with a neighbor a few houses down the street. SWAT was called because the neighbor would not come when called out by the police. There were about 30 cops all around and news crews at the end of the street. I don’t know what it was about, only that the girlfriend escaped the house to call the police leaving her young daughter inside with her boyfriend who had a gun, so they were looking at a possible hostage situation. Everyone on the street was asked to evacuate because of the potential danger.
Two weeks later my brother (whom I share the house with) was on vacation in the Philippines and I was home alone. About 3:00 one afternoon I started getting a sharp persistent pain in my lower right back. Because of the location and what I’d heard about the incredibly intense pain associated with kidney stones, that was my guess. I did not want to call an ambulance, and I was in no condition to drive myself to the quick care, but that’s what I ended up doing because I didn’t have anyone to call. Let me tell you, quick care is a misnomer – they are not quick about anything when you are in that kind of pain. After being there for two hours (totaling 4 hours of level 9 pain) they finally gave me a pain shot but only if I agreed to be transported by ambulance to the hospital to get a cat scan to be sure it was indeed a kidney stone. The cat scan did find a small kidney stone and I was sent home at 2am with an expensive taxi ride back to my car, and a prescription for pain meds and antibiotics. This is when I discovered that there are no 24-hour pharmacies in Las Vegas (the town with 24-hour everything else), at least not in my neighborhood. I went home and slept a few hours and filled my Rx in the morning. That little trip, when all I really needed was something for the pain, cost over $10,000, and I have no insurance.
A few weeks after that I was walking one of my two big dogs as I did nearly every morning since I’d been in Vegas. As we finished the loop and came back to my street, I noticed two big dogs up ahead running loose and snooping around. I hesitated, not sure what to do because they were at the beginning of my street, which ends with a cul-de-sac, so there was no other way to go. Just as I feared, one of the dogs noticed us and came trotting over. He didn’t seem too aggressive at first and I know sometimes dogs just want to check each other out and that’s the end of it. Not this time. After a moment of sniffing, the other dog attacked mine. My boy is not aggressive but he will give as much as he gets so he was not going to back down. I reacted in the moment and I’m sure I didn’t handle it right. I started kicking at the other dog while pulling my dog’s leash away. In the process I was bitten on the forearm – not bad enough to break the skin but to have a nasty bruise for a week. I also fell on the ground, getting a nice road rash on my arm. Finally the other dog backed off a little as a car came toward us. The driver must have realized what was happening and drove her car between us and the bad dog, giving me a chance to run up my street and farther away. I noticed later that Rex had a chunk taken out of the top of his ear.
I tell these stories because there are different ways to look at this series of events. Was it a mistake to move to Vegas? Was I out of God’s will by doing so? Or was the enemy attacking because of how God would use me here, trying to discourage me and get my eyes off the Lord. (I guess he doesn’t have any new tricks – he should have known that wouldn’t work.) Or, was it just a reminder of how much I need to depend on God.
Life happens. To all of us. God allows some things and prevents some things – most of which we never even know about. As I started looking at all three of these incidents, I saw God’s favor and protection in each one.
The neighbor ended up surrendering peacefully to the police and we were back home in a few hours.
The kidney stone was easily passed the next morning and I felt great and didn’t need the pain pills. Also, I was approved for Medicaid, which will cover the hospital bills. The dog fight could certainly have been much worse. We’ve all heard the horror stories.
So I look at these things and I am thankful. Thankful that God is in control. Thankful that He had mercy on me in each situation. Thankful that each one was not as bad as it could have been. And thankful, always, for His continuing faithfulness. He is present with me always. He knows what I need at each moment. He takes care of every detail of my life. How could I not be grateful for all things? Also, I am thankful for the quiet, uneventful few weeks I’ve had since then. I think I’m going to like it here.