I regularly fry an akule (also known as bigeye scad) on my roof. Towards the end of my meal last night I felt this piercing pain near where my left tonsil once rested (both were taken out when I was a child). I've felt this fishbone in my throat a few times in the past, but by the next morning, it was gone.
So I called my doctor, Melvin Inamasu, who suggested that I go to Queen's Emergency Room as soon as possible to take care of this problem, for there are dangers to puncturing the wall. But I told him the last time I was there for my thumb, I had to wait so long in a freezing room, so he mentioned Kuakini. What he said kind of worried me, so I packed an overnight bag and a lot of reading matter. Off I drove to Kuakini Hospital, but just as I was turning in to the parking lot, the thought of Pearl starting her ordeal in that emergency room convinced me to turn around, and I instead went to Queens.
At the outset, let me say that the staff of Queen's Medical Center, every one of them, was terrific. Second, there was no crowd this time. I was the only one there and was seen almost immediately. There is still a triage system, but no decision to make when you are the only patient. The last time my thumb took last priority next to 35 dying and seriously ailing people waiting. For the record, my thumb recovered.
The attending nurse took a look down my throat and could see nothing suspicious, so I was sent for X-Rays. It was more than that. I was assigned to a room with a wheelable bed and waited a long time. No doubt the charge will be substantive. I was then wheeled to the X-Ray room, then assigned to a second room with special reclining chairs. Again, at an added cost. They treated me like I was an invalid. I do have two sore knees, but could have walked. I never got the bill for my thumb, and probably will get by with almost no cost for this latest tribulation, for the combination of Medicare and HMSA seems to pay all the bills.
Fortunately enough, Dr. Danny Cheng came by to say hi. He is the youngest son of Grace and Professor Edmund Cheng, former chairman of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Hawaii. I once was part of this department. Anyway, Ed and I golf regularly, and he is proud of his three sons (who are all medical doctors), and especially Danny, the youngest, who just recently returned home to work at Queen's. I remember him when he was a few weeks old. He advised me that as X-Rays probably won't show anything like a fishbone, I should immediately get my doctor to make an appointment for me with a an eye, nose and throat specialist. He also gave me a link.
Through a combination of circumstances, as no doctor was available this Friday afternoon, six phone calls later, Dr. Inamasu actually called me, and finally got me in to see Dr. Winston Murakami, an Otolaryngologist, late in the afternoon. He fished around, at considerable pain to my tongue, with some involuntary gagging, but could not see much. Kind of reminded me of a new movie opening today called Lovelace, which surprisingly got good reviews. So he placed a flexible laryngoscope through my nose and again saw nothing suspicious. However, as soon as that ended, it occurred me that the stabbing pain in my throat had disappeared. That earlier mucking around probably dislodged something.
I was so thrilled that I stopped by a curry shop and took home their most expensive dish, a kalbi and chicken curry. I had not eaten all day so that was a treat with a bottle of beer. From despair to euphoria in 22 hours. And I still don't know if it really was a fishbone.
It, finally, occurred to me that I might have stumbled on why we have tonsils. The jawbone configuration is such that there is a hollow at the left and right base of the head and throat. Maybe the tonsils are there to cover this trap for fishbones and such.
It, finally, occurred to me that I might have stumbled on why we have tonsils. The jawbone configuration is such that there is a hollow at the left and right base of the head and throat. Maybe the tonsils are there to cover this trap for fishbones and such.
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Typhoon Utor popped up east of the Philippines, and will, as a Category 2 storm, slam into the country north of Manila on Sunday, and head on for Hainan still scheduled as a Cat 1:
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