So, what’s this about? I have decided to post some more of my life in these posts. Why?  (1) I don’t do social media (2) and am going to stop doing posts for my film classes.  This was an experiment in going green with my classes.  However, most of the classes were not comfortable with the result which was time-consuming for me  to prepare. So, some time now to talk about my favorite subject, i.e. Myself.

The entire West had a horrible heat wave a month ago.  Searing heat up to 115F was common.  We don’t sweat here.  Cuts down on deodorant but I and many others were not aware of being dehydrated, bad news for anyone.  I thought I was prudent carrying water, most of the time and grabbing a soda from the refrigerator at school.

A walk in the park? Not for me and I tried to get errands done in the morning as the evil rays beat me down, so… nap time in the afternoon. Why indeed? I did some Googling on health and hot weather and thought, Eureka, I found it. Not the town in CA, the answer.  Heat exhaustion explained many of my symptoms.  I called a buddy who used to work construction in CA across the border.  He said, sure sounds like it. The guys who tie one on over the weekend have a really tough time on Monday regardless of bottled water at work. My boozing days, such as they were, are long gone but I felt some vampire was sucking something out of me, though water helped. This lasted so-so for a week but I had a tough time at church on Father’s Day could not sing, barely stand silently.  No water bottle with me, that explained it, so I though. I went home drank a lot of water and accepted a dinner invitation from a very gracious couple I know. No problem.

Monday I felt really crapped out, crude description but apt. I was nauseous and unsteady in spite of my attempts to deal with it.  I ate some generic something for lunch, kept it down but getting worse.  I called Louise in CA and told her I was going to call 911, she readily concurred, and shortly a crew from the Fire Dept came.  They did a basic interview, checked b.p. , temp, pulse, etc.  Nothing obvious and told me I could tough it out or take an ambulance to the ER room at Summerlin Hospital which is near me.

So a lumpy ride on the road to nowhere to be dumped off, not just literally at the ER of Summerlin Hospital.  On the way  my right arm gets a mighty jab with a really big needle.  To hydrate me, so I was told.  Perhaps for mysterious experiments. Other electrodes taped here , there, no who knows where on my dehydrated upper body.

I was carried on a commercial ER ambulance not the Fire Dept one.  Fire is much better, they were here first, but I got the commercial ambulance which I have never liked very much caring for Marge.  Fortunately a short drive.

Have you spent much time in any ER?  Avoid it if you can, but if so take an ambulance for quicker service. Hopefully you have insurance for this. Trust me on that one.

So I got dumped off the ER bed to one of two beds in the ER room. The process went smoothly and I was left with a few mental cases and others suffering unknown maladies.

The ambulance tags get ripped off me so I can have still more from the ER.  I looked like Frankenstein’s monster on a good day.   Where is Igor when I need him?  To be fair, the charge nurse was pleasant, closed the bead curtain and gave me a bottle to pee in.  It was a liter flask and I doubted I could pass the first test here.           

After sending SOS messages on my phone to my loved ones, a nurse informed me that my brain was to be scanned.  Of course I thought of those formaldehyde bottles with neatly labeled brains in the laboratory; was I to be next?

Guess not, I was wheeled back from the scanner and I believe my brain was intact.  Looks like I failed another test. By this time, I thirst and hunger and soon had a sandwich, juice and water.  Very nice really considering the circumstances.  The charge nurse comes in a short while, gets rid of my trash and informs me the doctor will soon see me. Sure he will.

In a while the hospital Doc comes in checks my ID to assure himself I am not one of the mental cases.  His news was encouraging, there was nothing he could find that was wrong with me. Not all was lost as he said my prescription drugs were a bad combination and I should not swallow them with alcohol. I am now one of the millions in the opoid epidemic. I could wake up dead! Well he hinted a that, not outright though. I did my best to have a deadly disease so he wouldn’t waste time with me any more.

He dashes off to find somebody with some rare disease that he can really sink his teeth into, figuratively of course. The charge nurse comes in and tells me I have been there long enough and time for me to be admitted to the real hospital .

Now things get bizarre. A very nice young man comes in and whizzes me to a room in the hospital. There a nurse tells me I am to be admitted, she checks her computer and tells me I am being discharged. such efficiency. Admitted and discharged at the same time. How efficient can you get?

Really, it was good to know that all those tests showed positive results. I am tapering off the drugs that we’re giving me trouble and restricting, at least most of the time, my wine and/or cocktails to two a day. Tapering off.

A buddy drove me home, my time was really well spent and I am now doing well.  Not my idea of a fun day, but a very productive one. The charge nurse called me at home asking in detail how I felt and how I liked the staff.  They were all great, really, If you have to go to an ER this is a good one.