Confessions of a Fugitive Mind
December 06, 2002
Real Life ER
I just spent the night in the emergency room at McLaren, and I can say that its nothing like the TV drama. I got a call from my father last night, asking me to take him to the ER because his blood pressure was over 240. He failed to mention the burning indigestion (the only symptom in his first heart attack) and chest pain he was experiencing until we were pulling into the parking lot, an hour after I'd finished watching ER on TV. It turned out not to be a heart attack, so the hospital took its sweet time admitting him. After six sleepless hours in the cramped little room next to a screaming stroke victim, I was relieved to make it up to the 10th floor. The heart monitors haven't been hooked up since the move, but there's a nurse in every half hour to check his vitals. His bp has stablized around 160, which isn't good, but its bad enough to panic over. So I'm home trying to get a few hours of sleep before the cardiologist drops in. Even though I've been through it before, its still stressful and scary. And nowhere near as exciting as the television show...
Posted by criminal at December 6, 2002 08:41 AM