WOW! The ride to the hospital seemed to go so quickly. The ambulance pulled into the ER garage reserved for first response vehicles only. I have come through this ER entrance before but what was different this time was that I noticed that there was a group of what looked like 8 to 10 ER staff standing all together off in a corner room on the opposite side of the main ER where patients were side-by-side in small draped-off stations. There was a lady dressed in a white coat standing in front of the group who were all dressed in scrubs. I noticed that this group appeared to be made up of possible ER doctors, nurses, technicians, and assistants all facing towards the ER entrance that I had just passed through. I wondered to myself “Am I going to that corner room. Are they waiting for me?” I was taken directly to that corner room, and yes, they were waiting for me. As we moved closer to the room this group began to move into specific positions and readying any equipment near them for my arrival.
As the paramedics moved me into the room the lady in the white coat introduced herself as the attending ER Physician. The rest of the group began doing what they had been trained to do, each person had a task and quickly began moving around me introducing themselves and explaining what they were doing. I was asked questions since I was awake and aware of where I was. One ER staffer apologized for having to remove all of my clothing. Another ER staffer began a new IV in my left arm. Now I had IV’s in both arms. And then another ER staffer apologized for needing to remove the pads that had been placed on my chest by the first responders. By this point most of my skin felt like I had been waxed to beyond having any remaining hair on my chest. This was an extreme “Ouchy” moment. Others were also performing their tasks but I could not keep up with all of the activities. Then I remember hearing someone say loudly “Blockage”. The attending physician said to me that I was being moved to the Cath Lab. At this moment I noticed my wife had arrived and was standing outside the ER room with a look of surprise. I don’t think she had ever witnessed an ER room with so much activity and so many people moving about. I just imagined in my moment of thinking that her observation of the activities going on in the room must have been surreal. Then two of the ER staffers in scrubs quickly unlocked the bed and off we went…
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