A Weekend to Remember

Bizarre weekend, or maybe it is a forecast of coming attractions.  I left the valley we live in under smoky skies. The fire in the hills near us has filled the valley with smoke and the late summer inversion has kept it here. No view of the mountains from here when usually there is some vision of peaks. As I climbed in elevation the smoke remained and the smell of burnt wood was added. This is the largest fire currently burning in California at over 110,000 acres, so the smoke and smell aren't unexpected for us within 30 miles as the crow flies.

What made it strange is that the smoke is usually blown off a bit with afternoon breezes and this didn't happen this weekend. And a new dimension was added when I realized the smoke obscured the stars Saturday night. I tagged along with some co-workers to a Dark Sky Festival nearby. A Dark Sky Festival is a event to bring awareness to the lack of dark skies in many areas. This means people can't see stars, planets nor satellites. The festival was put on by the same non-profit I work for and I was looking forward to viewing what the telescopes set up would show. It had a tinge of Druid-like nature worship, but not too heavily. Maybe that was just the synth style music. A couple of astronauts spoke at different times and different displays were set up. But Saturday night we saw no stars because of the smoke.

Sunday dawned with more smoke and a knock on the cabin door. The son I work with up in the hills had spent half the night in sleep depriving pain. Both he and I were scheduled to work Sunday and doctor care is two hours away. We solved the work issue and waited to see what might happen. Stabbing pain in lower right abdomen? The a-word came to mind. About 2 pm we decided to drive down the hill, pick up Mom and go to seek help. We have experienced the long waits in the Emergency Room and wanted to avoid that. We went to urgent care only to be told this one doesn't do lab work or other diagnostic work. Twenty minutes wasted, but lesson learned. On to ER.

Seven hours later, one bad for us fast food dinner (including the burger we bought the street person hanging outside the restaurant), blood tests, urine sample, and ultrasound we find out nothing. Son is still in pain, but doctors, other than ruling out gall/kidney stones, don't know why. That sounds like a complaint, and it is but only a mild one. I understand medicine is a process sometimes. As a side note it was interesting to be texting son in the Caribbean about his brother's condition. Second son's girlfriend is currently attending med school there and son is in the process of interviewing to attend also. Helps to know an almost doctor. Until the phone battery died. Lesson to carry phone charger learned. Again.  We get back home just before midnight and are waiting for something to happen, or not.

The ER waiting room deserves its own description. If you have been to one, you already know and have seen the effects of the modern healthcare system. In our time we see: a young woman crying loudly with what appears to be a knee injury, her parents trying to help; a father with three young children waiting for his wife, a drunk, loud, cursing man giving very little care or concern to the woman he has walked in with; the extended family, one being cared for in the ER and at least 12 more having a family gathering in the ER; the young man vomiting, or appearing to vomit with a loud soundtrack, while his three friends come and go out of the waiting room to both check on him and make fun of him as he is sprawled across two chairs; the couple with their son quietly sitting and waiting for some help; and the multiple people in various stages of undress, barefoot and tattooed holding some kind of bloody cloth over a wound. I expect this, but to see it again is a reminder of potential things to come.

The cumulative effect of the weekend with the wildfire/natural disaster smoke and the health related visit to the ER, is one of the future. The natural disaster is something that will have to rode like a wave at the beach. You prepare and plan and hope it works out in your favor. The medical situation reminds me to stay in shape and take care of myself and try to minimize issues of poor health. I forgot to mention that many more than half of the people seeking help in the ER were very overweight. Also the open sores and twitches of drug use. I can void those habits.

Having to deal with people in tough times is going to be a long journey.