A Very Special ER Episode, Part 1

Two days ago, I shared with my class the random piece of knowledge of how the life expectancy of the average male living in the Republic of Central Africa is 39 years old, and that I was also 39. The next day, I was having a tight "pain" on the left side of my chest and radiating down my left arm to the fingertips, and generally not feeling well, so I called my primary care physician. The doctor then relayed to the nurse with whom I was speaking not to drive, but to have someone take me to the emergency room of a local hospital asap. While I thought the doctor was being something of an alarmist in making this request, I drove home where my wife met me to take me the rest of the way to the hospital.

Upon reaching the emergency room entrance (and with a Mercy Flight helicopter buzzing away overhead), I was immediately guided into a wheelchair and whisked on my way to admissions. I felt a little guilty as I was clearly younger and stronger than the older gentleman who pushed me along, but he was only to be the first of a number people for whom I felt bad they needed to wheel me around or otherwise care for me.

My wife and I felt as though we had won the "Emergency Room Patient Lottery" given the wonderful service I received and the efficient manner in which they moved me through a series of blood tests, x-rays, and a myriad of "scans." Unfortunately I did need to stay the night, as we had arrived too late to have a stress test, and the doctors did not want me to leave without one, so into the observation area I went for the night...