It is nearly 200 years since the battle of Waterloo. The night before the battle, the Duchess of Richmond held a ball to demonstrate that the country’s culture, spirit, and life would carry on even in the face of an attacking Napoleon. Many of those who would lead the battle and lose their lives dined and danced into the night. It is reported that some of the men died in their dress uniforms having not had time to change after the ball. I heard this story on NPR this morning and verified it with a bit of research. I was taken by the image of the band playing on in spite of the dire situation.
Living for the moment is quickly moving to the top of mind issue. I say that because this was my week of exposure to health care issues for friends and family. I really want to give a tip of the hat to the care givers of our world. My mother, Laura was an RN for over forty years and the night supervisor at Bannock Memorial hospital for many of those years. It was always about her patients, co workers and family. Those selfless souls make our lives easier. I suppose that my mother is a major reason I have gotten involved and stayed engaged at St. Luke’s. We are so fortunate to have the quality of health care that is provided in our valley by Luke’s, St. Alphonsus, affiliated and independent Doctors and their teams.
I have mentioned that my youngest brother Jeff is in his 19th day of recovery from a serious brain injury. Jeff is now at Southwest Idaho Advanced Care and making great progress. The first physical therapy session I attended was supervised by Jon – better known as the Swedish Fish. This person has great interpersonal skills to go along with his talent for helping patients push themselves forward in their rehabilitation. Swedish Fish had Jeff smiling with his sense of humor. He also educated the family on what he was doing and why. The team at SW is excellent and we are very fortunate to have them on board for Jeff’s recovery.
Influenza A was my next opportunity to check out health care. I do not think I am violating HIPPA by telling you that Karen has been under the weather with a cold and associated severe symptoms. Our Dr. felt she needed to be seen in the ER after an office visit if she did not improve by morning. He called us at7:30 the next morning to remind us he was concerned and to get an update. Karen thought it was very inconvenience and a bit scary but she finally relented and off we went. Karen is in the system at St. Luke’s so the check in was easy, her records are in the system so they were all accessible and they quickly found a room and introduced us to our second great doctor. Dr. Chatlin was exceptional in all ways from reviewing his thoughts, describing the pro and con’s of testing we were considering and keeping us calm. Dr. C introduced us to Meghan, a super RN who just moved to Boise from Carolina with her military husband. For the next three hours, Meghan worked her magic with needles, swabs, IV’s and explanations. Turns out Influenza A is a nasty and unpredictable virus. There are many volunteers at St. Luke’s and even though you do not want to be in the ER or the hospital I must say that I am proud of the people we met and relied on during our three hour visit.
Prevention is obviously the key to many items in our life. I skied in early March with a friend in Sun Valley. Kerry is a great athlete, eats right, and stays in good shape. We spend two days on the mountain and we were getting near 30,000 vertical feet each day. I was very surprised when I heard Kerry was having by-pass surgery last week. He was out running when he experienced shortness of breath which did not seem right so he went immediately in for a stress test. The Dr. is giving him credit for possibly saving his own life but no doubt keeping his heart from suffering the inevitable damage done by a heart attack.
The band is playing on for each of us and it is very important for us to do all we can to be up for the dance. Celebrate your life.
Enjoy the week end. Mike