Surviving The Emergency Room

How to get the most out of your trip to the ER with the least amount of pain and suffering – for all involved

At one time or another just about everyone will have an ‘Emergency Room Experience’. Maybe you will be the patient, or, just as likely, you will be there with a friend or family member in need of emergency medical care. Either way it will not be a planned event and it will not be convenient. If you are the patient there will be pain and possibly some bleeding involved, you will most likely not know the doctor or nurses taking care of you, their qualifications to do so, or track record. At best it will be an unpleasant interruption of a normal day. At worst—well… But there are some things you should know and some things you can do to minimize the chances of that worst-case scenario.
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EPILOGUE

It’s been a while since the last post. Almost a year. It’s taken me that long to put enough emotional distance between myself and reality to make it possible, to put things in perspective. It’s been that long since Kaya and I had our last chat.
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Health Care Legislation

The failure of the Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare was a disappointment but not a surprise. Sensing there would be no consensus on this I sent a letter to Paul Ryan’s office a couple of weeks ago outlining what I thought a reasonable, comprehensive, patient-oriented, market based health plan would look like. I based it on 35 years of Emergency Medicine practice and practice management in both for-profit and County facilities. I’m fairly certain it never got read.
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Free Speech

It’s official. Free Speech is dead. At least that’s what we are being told by the Berkeley campus protesters. And what better source could we have for this bit of news, considering U.C. Berkeley was the birth place of the original Free Speech movement in the 1960’s? Full circle. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

The current crop of protestors wasn’t alive back then. Maybe they’re jealous and that’s what’s making them so righteously indignant. Or maybe they are unaware of history. More likely the case because if they were the irony would be unbearable.
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THE ELECTION

Before going any further I have an announcement to make. The Big Tree is back. Got here a little over a week ago. I probably should have told you sooner. Anyway, it’s here and it’s all dressed up. There are lights over the fireplace, lights on the really big tree in front of our house, and lights on trees and houses and bushes all over the neighborhood.
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On the Other Side of the Stethoscope

It began with an ache in my right lower abdomen. There was a sharp edge to it, at times. Not severe, just not normal. It came and went, lasting a few minutes before gradually ebbing away. Being a physician, and thereby a hypochondriac, I immediately considered the worst possible scenario—acute appendicitis. Not the worst because of its potential to kill me, but because of the inconvenience such a diagnosis would be at that particular time.
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