I've now been treated by the Emergency Room of Queen's Hospital three times over the past thirteen months or so:
- 26Nov2012: swollen thumb
- 9 August2013: fishbone in throat
- TODAY: dislocated pinky
This was trivial, almost embarrassing and a huge waste of time, but there were extenuating circumstances. Simply, I tripped in a parking lot and used my left hand to cushion my fall. There was an excruciating pain and my left pinky was out of joint. Almost instinctively, while I was still on the ground, I somehow did something to force the joint back into place in the knuckle.
I was able to drive home, and had no other recourse but call my doctor, who is retiring tomorrow. He just happened to be in, but told me to go to an emergency room, as there needs to be follow-up.
So back I went to Queen's, where the wait was interminable. There must have been 20 people in the room, and the staff plain forgot me twice. Again, the room was close to freezing, people were coughing and your mind conjures all kinds of worst case scenarios.
The worst part was that I had missed lunch, and actually thought, should I eat before going to the hospital. But pain trumps hunger, even though I knew my blood pressure would jump if I had nothing to eat for a few more hours. My pressure was measured at Queen's, and was a very high 171 over 80, but I've been up to 180/110 in hunger. The problem was that I had a few hours to wait. I had measured my pressure on the fifth hole at the Ala Wai Golf course two days ago, and the machine read 110/68. I just measured my pressure at home, six hours after that 171/80 above, and it had dropped to 136/78.
Anyway, three and a half hours after entering Queen's parking, I was on my way to pick up a bento plate lunch (kalua/cabbage, rice and macaroni/potato salad) at Zippy's, which I had at home with a beer. Food never tasted so great. The good news is that there is no fracture, plus the parking was free. I just noticed that my ribs now also hurt, so that must have been one of landing points when I fell. Anyway, compared to all those patients at Queens, I can only feel blessed.
This has not been a great year, so I hope for the better in 2014. Tomorrow my review of this past year, or, maybe my annual prognostications.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average did it again today, for the 51st time this year, up 26 to 16,504, breaking the all-time record.
-
Oh my, Tropical Cyclone Bejisa in the Indian Ocean is up to 105 MPH, will strengthen into a Category 4 and seriously affect the west coast of Reunion in the later afternoon of January 2:
-.
0 comments:
Post a Comment