When Saundra told me that D was on the line, I knew something happened. Turned out that my father-in-law was in our ER that afternoon. D did not ask me to but I knew that even I was still overwhelmingly busy trying to get things done before shift change, I needed to take 15 minutes off and go downstairs to look for him.

Being an RN in this family means that I need to offer free consult and visitation to any family members when they are hospitalized or having some aches, pain or discomfort. I searched Papa in our computer system first. Trying to get all the information pieces together and see what the ER doctor has done for him. "Vital signs look ok," I told D. " They did a CT scan to the abdomen and pelvis. But the result was pending," I continued. "The ER note has not been dictated yet...Do not worry. I'll personally go downstairs, D." Alrighty, not much info at this moment to reassure D, but at least it seemed like Papa should be stable at this moment. 

It was awfully busy there in ER that afternoon. Everyone looked like they were "flies without the heads." "The computer was down," one of the externs sitting outside the ER entrance told me, "Don't you want to work here?" Nope. NOT in a million years. Who would want to work in a battle zone when there are a lot of rare antibiotic-resistant bugs out there these days? Watching ER is one thing, but working in one is absolutely another. "We do not know which patients in which room at this moment." WHAT?! Okey-doke, I'll just look aisle by aisle then. Working in the hospital has trained me to live one moment at a time.

First I saw Big Joe and Tony there in the room, then I saw Papa was lying on the stretcher. "So what happened?" I wanted to hear from them what they would say about coming here. "He almost passed out at home....He had so much pain at the right abdomen that he almost passed out at home..." Big Joe said. "Mom said it could be a hernia thats causing the pain," I turned towards Tony when he said it was a hernia. Near syncopy? Could it be cardiac-related? Papa had a heart attack last December. He is 86y/o. Another MI can kill him for sure.

"We are here because Bloomfield Hills sent an ambulance... there was a fire in the jewish center and we could not get to Henry Ford..." Big Joe continued. So our ER was not their first choice? I see. However, if their memory serves right, last time it took them 8 HOURS to find an available bed in downtown Henry Ford to transfer from their emergency clinic to CCU for someone who was having a HEART  ATTACK. Has anyone remembered it?

"3 hours after we have been here, they finally gave dad a pain shot," Big Joe looked at me hoping I would make some comments. What am I going to say? This is unknown abdominal pain. We do H&P, diagnostic tests and lab work  first BEFORE giving any pain medication. The rationale is that we do not want to mask the pain by giving relief without knowing why first. I did not try to explain this to them. Seeing their dad suffering in pain was too much for them already. I nodded and listened.

Setting a priority is NOT easy. Especially in ER when there are so many people coming for their own emergency reason. Someone who can not breathe, who is bleeding, who is having pain, or simply here because the lesgislature guarantees them for certain treatment. ER can not turn down any people without treating them first. What would you do between an abdominal pain and a chest pain? This is called PRIORITY.

Its all meant to be. Somebody was successfully resuscitated even on the side of the road by a junior who knows how to CPR. And somebody was not, even though he was in ER where there should be the most accessible medical people and equipments. Papa was released from the hospital that same night after he was ruled out DVT in the right leg or any aneurysm in the abdomen. He was sent home with vicodon.