‘We are going to strip’

A few inches of snow fell on the region last Monday and Tuesday. Many folks in our neighborhood were up shortly after 6 a.m. to tackle the shoveling of those nuisance snowfalls.

Monday morning’s few inches were mainly light and no sweat.

Tuesday’s morning snow was wet and heavy, and proved to be more of a hassle in moving the blanket of white stuff off of the driveway and sidewalks. At the end of the 40-minutes of snow removal, I was exhausted. There was a fullness in my chest that crept into my neck. It was uncomfortable.

I showered and headed into the office.

That’s when I decided to wander down the walk to the clinic to have things checked. I was anticipating a blood pressure check and return to the office.

Dr. Jacobson had something else in mind. She wanted me taken to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. I turned down her offer and said my wife Tricia would haul me in if she felt it necessary. She felt it necessary. (She’s a determined and persistent physician.)

Tricia picked me up at the clinic and hauled me to the emergency department.

At check in the staff insisted that I take a seat in a wheel chair to be taken to an examination room in the ED. I insisted that I was fully capable of walking, but that statement was overruled and I was wheeled back to ED West Room 2. There I was able to stand, and was immediately, I was met by a rather take-charge registered nurse (who shall remain anonymous).

Like a Marine Corps drill instructor, the first words out of her mouth were “WE are going to strip from the waist up!”

“We, I said?” “You mean you and I are going to strip from the waist up?” My chest may have been tight, but my sense of humor was still functioning without skipping a beat. “No,” she insisted, “You will take your jacket, sweater, shirt and T-shirt off.”

I was relieved. It would have been the first time in my life that an attractive nurse had insisted on disrobing.

After that bit of humorous bantering, the medical staff swooped in and gave me the best care possible, including labs, ECGs, ultra-sound and the must dreaded tread mill test.

After a five hour-long thorough exam I was discharged with one prescription – nitroglycerin. (I’m sure the ED staff was convinced I didn’t need any more “explosive” encounters with the nursing staff.)