The Transfer to the ICU

In the ER, they rushed me to a room, set me on a chair and gave me more oxygen, lots more. It started taking the fog away and I noticed that the nurses looked nervous this time. They looked sad and when they looked at me, their faces went pale. I must have looked bad. I don’t know how long I sat in the room, but it seemed like a long time. With all the oxygen they were pumping in me, I started to feel a little better again, more aware. The nurses had left, and I just sat in the room all alone looking out the door to the hallway. I watched a younger Asian doctor walk by my room; he gave me a side eye glance as he walked by, and I acknowledged him with a slight grin.  He stopped, looked around a bit and walked in looking like he was wondering where the nurses were.  “I’m not sure where they are either,” I said. Without saying a word, he picked up my chart and started reading. His face got stern. About that time a nurse came in looking a bit embarrassed, in broken English the doctor asked very sternly, “Why is he not upstairs? This man needs to be admitted now!”

She responded that there were no rooms. He stood his ground and pointed to the wall where there was a phone and said, “There is a phone, use it and find him a bed now!” She started to say something he didn’t like; he ushered her into the hall and ripped her; it got quite loud. I was cheering him on; yes, I thought to myself, finally somebody gives a crap. The little doctor walked back in and caringly grabbed my shoulder, looked me in the eyes and said, “I will find someone who will take care of you.”  I wanted to kiss him, I was so proud of him, he was just a little guy that barely spoke English, but he cared!! That little MAN started the ball rolling to try to save my life. I owe him greatly!

It wasn’t long and a nurse came in with a wheelchair, “We got you into a hospital not too far away. You can wait for the ambulance in here,” and she rushed me to a room at the end of the hospital. The room had three glass walls and two empty beds; it was very clean and reminded me of an operating room. I asked her to call my wife to let her know because Deb was still waiting in the truck in the parking lot. She said that she would. I only brought that up because she didn’t.

I knew I felt like shit, but I really must have looked terrible. The trouble with glass walls is the everyone walking by looks in and I could see out. The looks I was getting were ever concerning. I tried to laugh it off. When the ambulance driver and nurse got there, the driver tried not to look at me at all, but the little nurse couldn’t help herself. When she looked at me, her face went white, and she turned her head away as fast as she could. I said out loud, “Well, that’s not good”.  

The little nurse took a big breath and tried to put on a happy face; it didn’t work but I appreciated her trying.  She looked at me and said, “You are a sick man, but we are going to try to help.” She explained to me that I was on so much oxygen that her ambulance didn’t have that kind of volume. I had two choices; they could put me on a machine what would be very uncomfortable, or we could just try it with the smaller tanks like I had at home. She said it should be a shorter drive, maybe 30 to 40 min. I was already uncomfortable enough I didn’t want more. I chose the tanks. They got me ready for the road, and I asked another nurse that worked at the hospital if she could call my wife and she said she would. She didn’t. They rolled me outside to the ambulance, the heat took my beath away, it was very hot; Kansas heat in August what a wonderful thing! As she put me in the ambulance the AC was on high, it was very cold, and it felt great. The cold air was pointed right in my face, and I thought to myself, ‘There is my extra air.’

It was my turn again, I knew I was going to have to focus on my breathing. I convinced myself that the cold AC in my face was all the extra O2 I needed. It was “Game Time” I could hear the sirens blare and the engines kick down.  It sounded cool, I remember being proud of my driver; she did a great job. I could hear the engine roar, but I never felt it, the ride seemed very smooth.  I closed my eyes and went to my competition mode, a place in my mind where I can stay focused, calm, and intense at the same time. I could feel the little nurse watching, but she never said much, just a few positive words of encouragement. “You’re doing great, your oxygen levels are climbing.” When I heard the words, “We are just a few minutes out,” I opened my eyes to a happy look on the nurse’s face. I would say she was smiling but she was wearing a mask, so I couldn’t really tell, but her voice seemed very positive. “We made it here,” she said; I think she was surprised.

They rolled me back out and into the new hospital and we were met by two nurses that moved me back to a wheelchair and rushed me off to the ICU. My ambulance driver and nurse stayed by the nurse’s station, and I overheard her say that she thought they had me on too much oxygen at the last place because my levels came up to almost normal on the ambulance. I waved goodbye as the little nurse said good luck! I was so proud of those two very competent ladies.

Meanwhile back at the other hospital, my wife called them after waiting for hours in a hot truck in the parking lot, to see what was going on and found out that they were transferring me, but they didn’t know where yet. Deb asked if she had time to go home for a quick shower and they said yes. My mom came to the hospital and waited while Deb went home. Neither of them ever got a call. My mom finally forced her way in to find out what they had done with her son. I wish I had seen that. I finally got my phone back and texted Deb to see where they were at and told her where I was. I’m not sure who found out first, my mom or Deb, but I know the way my mom found out would have been more exciting to watch.

Finally, I felt like I was around competent people. I felt safe and was very confident it was almost done.