AMBULANCE: An unexplained ride

“Well, I woke up [Wednesday] morning and nothing in my body didn’t hurt.” But unlike Johnny Cash in the song, no reason for a hangover, so I passed on the beer for breakfast. Checked Mayo Clinic’s internet heart attack symptoms. Pressure, tightness, pain, or a squeezing or aching sensation in your chest or arms that may spread to your neck, jaw or back, nausea, indigestion, heartburn or abdominal pain, shortness of breath, cold sweat, fatigue, lightheadedness or sudden dizziness. Check, check, check, Dial 911, check. Spent day in Kootenai ER, test, test, test. Diagnosis: not heart, must be gastric, take acid blockers, go home. Next morning, same thing. Back to hospital, more tests, diagnosis plugged gall bladder. Spent the night there.

Friday morning, ambulance ride to Sacred Heart, Spokane. Down the throat with camera, etc., to drain gall bladder. Another night and then three holes in the abdomen to remove gall bladder. One more night and go home all better. Problem solved? Yes. Question remaining? Yes.

There was a time when Kootenai Memorial Hospital was considered by many as little more than a kind of triage point for Washington’s medical facilities. But now, we have Kootenai Health, a much-heralded world class facility supposedly prepared to fulfill all our health care needs. So, the question is: why was I transported to Sacred Heart for a simple gall bladder operation with no explanation? It did occur during hunting season. Was the whole staff out pursuing game?

BOB LaRUE

Hauser