My father was walking off the Acela in Baltimore as he felt a chill to his core. He came home and went straight to bed. Thursday and Friday he was still ill, with a visible fever, chills, and chest pain. He was thinking that he had a heart attack, so Friday night we went to the Emergency Room at St. Joseph’s, where we have gone before, and a Top 100 Heart Hospital.
When we arrived he was quickly checked in, all the vital information was taken. My father was directed to his room, blood was drawn quickily and vital equipment was attached. While the nurse was drawing blood, she had to print out a label to put on the vile, so scanned his name tag using a palm pilot and printed the labels to a wireless label printer, right next to her. In each room, there was a wall mounted computer, where the doctors and nurses could easily update the patients records, and vital data. The EKG machine, which also checked the blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature was integrated into the system. Where at the click of a mouse a print out of his recent data showed up. I was amazed at how efficiently all of the systems interacted with minimal user interaction.
A few hours later after the decision was made that he was going to have a heart catheterization. This was the most stressful part of the ordeal, while it is a relatively simple procedure, just the thought of something poking my father’s heart was nerveracking. We were led to the waiting room, which is just for heart catheterization, and saw there were about fifteen other people waiting, at 8:00 PM. My mother and I called family members to let them know what was going on, while cell phone reception was intermittent we dialed out using the house phones. Family members called back on the house phone, I received text messages wondering what was going on.
The entire time that we were waiting was about an hour, while the procedure only takes fifteen minutes at most. When we were informed that he came out of surgery with flying colors. We were then led into the recovery room, and we then found out that his arteries were narrower, than what they should be. Wewaited for a long period of time, until he was taken to his room.
We arrived home at around 11:15 PM, where we proceeded to get something to eat and go to bed. I didn’t get into bed until midnight but it was much longer until I fell asleep, I was anxious and worried about him, all night. That morning I was scheduled to take the SAT, I had to be at the test center by 7:45 and then my mother and I decided that we would call the College Board and reschedule the test for a small fee. We didn’t want to take an important exam when I was up for most of the previous night and stressed out.
When I was finally able to get some sleep, I woke up around 9:00 AM, and cleaned up the kitchen, and then gathered some items that my father wanted with him. We arrived at the hospital at 1:00 PM, and he was still gone from his room, when he left for a CAT scan and an ultrasound at 11:30. We met his roommate who was flown in from Havre de Grace, on Thursday and had two stints put into his heart. He was very nice.
My father’s roommate was also suffering from a cold, and I was instructed to wear a mask as I have chronic asthma, and numerous allergies. We waited in his room for a few hours until he was finally discharged. During this time waiting, I walked up and down the hall with my father, watched Scrubs and 30 Rock on my iPod, got a snack, visited the gift shop, and still had time to spare. Towards the end, I saw a wheelchair that was left in the hall, and proceeded to fool with it for a few minutes.
The nurse came in with the discharge papers, and instructions, and we were told to wait for transport. So my mother went down to pull up the car, and I waited with my father. After 10 minutes had passed we decided to take the wheel chair and wheel him down to the entrance my self. We stopped to get something to eat, and came home. The three of us, went back to bed for a few hours, and then got up.
Today I slept in, did some homework, and then took my father to the grocery store.
