Off the Cuff 2006-09

Salmonella Seniors Choice September 2006 - Joel Rickard - (The following article is written as a recent event and I truly hope it does not create any major negative feelings, memories or responses to the reader.) "Hello??is this Joel Rickard? "Yes" "This is the Royal Columbian Hospital calling in Vancouver. Do you have a sister by the name of Joan living in the Burnaby area?" "Yes I do....what happened??.what in God's name is wrong? Has she been in an accident?" "She has not been in an automobile accident but she is not feeling well at all. She is in our emergency and we feel that it is important that you come out to Vancouver if you can. At this point in time she is on full life support. This is the address and phone number?" "Could you please explain what you just said to my wife, please?..as I am not sure of some of the details you mentioned?.and where the hospital is?and?and?please...here is my wife." That was eight days ago and we have learned a lot about salmonella - a poisoning of the blood. It is now an ongoing snakes and ladders game of life and death as everyone involved has "chosen" to keep my sister alive. The emergency area of this hospital, especially the trauma department, was and still is unbelievably busy and chaotic. There is absolutely no room in I.C.U. or in Emergency yet my only sister was too critical to move anywhere. They took her in. Thousands upon thousands of snapshots of a family growing up flooded my brain as my eyes darted over the maze of blinking lights, pulsating numbers and colored lines. The sounds and smells of organized confusion; the many, many levels of stress in everyone's eyes confirmed that this was not a good place to be and this was just the beginning. There are thousands upon thousands of life and death truisms; from the confusion and insecurity in a child's eyes to the far off gaze of too much truth given to an elder. A new and unbelievably complex world exists just on the inside of the sliding emergency doors where the funnel into hell continually whooshes open and closed. I have learned a lot about Emergency, I.C.U. and C.C.U. in the past few weeks. A new and totally amazed respect for ALL the people who work in that environment and who have came to wrap their individual strengths and frailties around my pounding heart. Please remember we are talking of only one hospital of many who seem to struggle against insurmountable odds on a second to minute, to day upon day of professional responses to a multitude of emergencies. I could talk about the struggle for survival due to the salmonella and all the dangers we should know about as we grow older here, but this is common knowledge to anyone who now wishes to do a bit of research. I sincerely hope you do, as food poisoning is very, very real and should be respected without becoming paranoid. I do choose though to reflect on how things can change so very quickly in one's life. Never have I witnessed intense stress in the same rooms with such compassion. The flooding of information along with every human and spiritual sense being aroused and amplified and linked with a strange sense of humor is almost intoxicating. Even in this time of life v/s death, our family (and friends) responses have become more honestly pronounced. This seems to be a common story. Many people, who I would have never thought cared, do. Many others, who I thought should, don't. And then when I come home what do I do to relax my mind? I watch the news, of course. I guess that is why I can still call this a humor column. (At this point in time my sister is still fighting the salmonella and is also still critical. We are optimistic, yet realistic: "God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change?Courage to change the things I can..?and Wisdom to know the difference??.")

 

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