PART 2 OF MEDICAL EMERGENCY

We were much more comfortable in the hotel while we waited to see what our next option would be. We had been in touch with the Company and they were working diligently on trying to get Craig to a facility that would be able to treat him. Mid afternoon we received a phone call advising us that they would be sending an ambulance from Odessa, TX to Fort Stockton, TX to transport us to Oddessa Medical Center. We were relieved to hear this information and made the requested call back to the local ambulance service to have Craig transported to the local hospital where the ambulance from Odessa would pick him up.

This is where the plan goes awry. Upon arrival at the hospital, the ER nurse starts saying that the Odessa ambulance can not take Craig from their hospital without a Doctor referral and a Doctor in Odessa that would accept him. We felt totally in a Catch 22. No matter what we did, it seemed we were no closer to getting to Odessa and hopefully the help Craig desperately needed. Thankfully, there was another Doctor on call Tuesday afternoon who actually took the time to do some testing on Craig and determined he in fact had a spinal problem. A call was placed into the trauma unit in Odessa and Dr. Janke told them he would accept Craig into their facility to at least be triaged, but have access to specialists.

It was a long wait for the ambulance to arrive from Odessa, but at least they were able to give Craig some pain medication for the long ride to the Medical Center. About 10:30pm, we finally arrive to see an emergency room with their halls lined with people on stretchers seeking treatment. A passing comment by an ER nurse stated just put Craig in the hall and it may be 4 or 5 hours before they got to him. I don't know what was said by the paramedics that transported us to the ER personnel, but within 2 minutes we were put in a room by ourselves and a mere 20 minutes later, just after I had given all the required information on Craig, they wheeled him away for a CAT scan. But hope was vanished once again, when he was immediately brought right back in. Craig could not tolerate lying flat for the scan. Dr. Janke had them give morphine to Craig to help ease the pain and off they went again. Thankfully, I was not within hear shot of that CAT scan room, as the morphine did not help him, and Craig later told me he was making as much noise as the man a few rooms down from us who was suffering from kidney stones and was determined to let anyone within a half mile radius know it.

Awhile later, Dr. Janke came into our room and said that the CAT scan was inconclusive, due to it not showing soft tissue, but his best assessment was that there was a nerve being pinched. He wanted us to call one of two Doctors in the morning in an attempt to be seen as soon as possible. He arrived for a wheelchair for us to use and had more pain medication administered to Craig before we left. At that time, I made my now usual early morning calls to hotels in the area, only to find out that there were no rooms available anywhere in Odessa. Seems the oil boom is there as well. I finally found a room in Midland, a town about 20 minutes away and I called for a cab. With Craig tucked into the front seat, reclining back, the wheelchair in the trunk we took off for a well deserved bed.

A few hours after checking in, I made arrangements to be able to stay at this hotel for a few days, called a cab to take me to the airport, and rented a car. With that accomplished, I was able to get Craig's prescriptions filled and get back to the hotel to make sure he was comfortable. I made the phone call to the first Doctor, who was out of town all week. Feeling desperate, I called the second Doctor, and I am happy to report we will be seeing him first thing Thursday morning. With that, I could finally have a clear mind, and get some rest. We are hoping that with time Craig will heal, but if further treatment is needed, we are leaning towards trying to get him stabilized enough to fly back home to California. Right now, we are both needing some sleep and with hopes that Thursday morning the orthopedic Doctor will be able to tell us what is going on.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to send messages, through the blog and email, and with phone calls. All are very much appreciated during this time when we are feeling very much out of our element, in an area we are unfamiliar with. Your continued thoughts are a blessing to us both.