[1sicklx]

Bong, Bong, Bong (This is the “for who the bell tolls” section)

Upon arrival at the info desk at the ER the triage nurse took one look at me and quickly spirited me off to a room, admissions clerk in tow with a clipboard to get basic information. ( I must have frequent patient privileges by now .) I was put to the head of the line, I'm guessing because I may have looked as bad as I felt, kind of like death warmed over.


From all the way down the hall, the ER doc knew it was me back again from the distinctively loud hacking cough. They started an I.V., put me on oxygen, hooked up a bunch of beeping and booping stuff as the ER doc paged my Pulmonary and Infectious Disease Docs. As luck would have it they were both in the hospital on rounds and when they heard I was back, and not at Mayo, they were there in a matter of minutes.


Before the other docs arrived the ER doc started me on an I.V. antibiotic which after about five minutes triggered an allergic reaction that manifested itself in an extremely severe asthma attack, I was gasping for air and couldn't breathe. Now that's an interesting sensation to experience; your own body trying to strangle itself. They quickly stopped that antibiotic and gave me a couple of shot of something that settled down the asthma attack. Wheew! Also around this time they decided that the little oxygen tube thingies that go in your nose weren't up to the task, so out came the “Big Bore” kit. Yeah, that's right, the big-tube, high-flow, big-bore oxygen thingies.


In reality this was not the time for levity as things were not good and getting worse by the minute. I was too sick to go to x-ray so x-ray came to me. The three docs listened to my chest and pawed over the x-rays out in the hall, all the time muttering a lot of big doctor words and medical sounding stuff. So there the three docs were, talking and writing, talking and writing. I knew right then and there that I wasn't going anywhere for a while.


When I went to the ER, I was just hoping for was a quick shot of magic feel-good stuff so I could make it to Mayo. Unfortunately, my next trip wasn't driving to Mayo, but a little detour via the fourth floor at St. V's Hospital. Although, it was in a chauffeur driven gurney with three-way adjustable bed, manual-hydraulic ride height control and choice of either 4-wheel or 2-wheel steering. No cup holders though but it did have an IV pole. (It wasn't nearly as nice as Flo.)