Will B. BLESSED
Recently, I had to endure the presence of a kidney stone yet again. UGH! Unlike the last one a couple years ago, this one was so painful that I suddenly began to lose my dinner and rushed to the emergency room at Olney Hamilton Hospital [OHH]. Believe it or not, I feel very blessed over the event. Not the pain, of course.
As the pain became unbearable, I quickly rushed to my truck and raced for OHH. Along the way, I had to choose to break the speed limit and make an illegal passing, and I was quickly pulled over, as I should be. Olney Police Officer Fellows was the officer pulling me over and I quickly pulled to the side of the road, Officer Fellows approached my window and I explained as best I could that I needed to get to the emergency room. He immediately waved me on, saying to go ahead. He followed me to OHH and made sure I made it into the emergency room and helped call for someone. He had real compassion and concern for my well being. We are so blessed to have such a compassionate and well-trained Police Department in Olney. I lived in big cities most of my life and this would be a rare occasion, to take someone at the word and usher them on quickly, then make sure I got into the hospital okay.
Blessing Two is the OHH. Wow, what an amazing group of nurses, doctors, nurses aides and all others involved. I was examined by Dr. Mankins who was compassionate, skilled and patient. I was pretty much screaming in the emergency room. The pain was so severe. Every single nurse I came in contact with was so friendly and showed great concern for pain and trying to get it under control. They answered all my questions and were very thorough in diagnosing what was going on. After a CT scan, Dr. Mankins advised me he would make arrangements with a urologist at United Hospital in Wichita Falls. He said I had several kidney stones and one was blocking my urinary tract.
I was transferred to United by two great Olney EMS techs. I am sorry that I did not catch their names but I have met most of the EMS techs and they are all very professional and caring. The two techs made the trip pleasant as could be withholding the bumps. Ha-ha.
My time at United was totally different and I knew from the start I was not in the community I loved anymore. It was all brisk and nothing but business except for two nurses and one nurse’s aide. The doctors were almost unreachable and it took 4 to 6 hours on one occasion just to get something approved. I never even received a visit from the doctor who did the surgery. The one nurse aide took time to chat with me for a while and he told me about his daughter and other personal details. It was nice to just chat with someone to take my mind off things. The two nurses went above and beyond to make me comfortable while trying to reach a doctor about pain levels and questions. One of the two nurses spent most of her shift chasing down a special heating pad that ran off hot water. I had let her know that with my A.S. the longer I lay down, the more the pain would increase. She was a real lifesaver and improved my stay dramatically.
There is plenty more to my tale and if you see me and would like to hear more, I would love to proudly talk about these nurses from OHH and United who made a world of difference. Don’t ever take our small community for granted and the people in it. It took a trip to a bigger city to refresh my memory of what life is like outside a small country town. This is Will B saying, have you hugged a nurse lately?