Experience: couldn't breathe, so called EMS

It was past midnight, maybe 1 or 2 a.m., that I woke up some four weeks ago. I could not breathe.

Thinking that my days as a COVID recipient, pneumonia and lungs holding water were gone, I got scared. Really scared. It was really difficult to breathe ... I was just gasping.

My wife, a real night owl, was in the kitchen crocheting the little doll blankets used for the Shoe Box program.

I wandered into the kitchen and told her, “Call 911, I need an ambulance right now!”

She jumped to attention, made the call and before she hung up with 911, a Carrington City Police official was already at the front door. It was good to see the cooperation there.

I don’t know how long it took for the Carrington Medical Center ambulance to arrive at my home . . . say five or 10 minutes. It wasn’t very long and if there was a time to be happy, I was happy!

Two members of the ambulance team came into my room with a host of needed items to work my case. They knew I had a hard time breathing, but what could that mean ... maybe a heart attack?

Quickly the two began working on me with an IV, had the oxygen machine on me quickly and placed the readers on my upper body for a heart report.

All this time this was happening, the city police remained on duty to answer questions or assist with any procedure that may be called for as needed.

Following their opening work and I assume contact with the hospital, I was transferred, placed in the ambulance for a short, but crucial ride to the ER at CHI St. Alexius Health Carrington Medical Center.

(For the record, and not pertaining to my condition, but it sure was a rough ride. When does 5th Street get fixed?)

At the hospital, the work continued on me and shortly I was breathing pretty well, assisted by a big dose of oxygen. The care was phenomenal, too, as the on-duty nurses hustled around taking care of me.

It was probably like the two-week period I spent in the hospital when my COVID was first detected. They all did very well to comfort me.

So, after a four-day stay at the hospital, again, they decided that I should get a portable oxygen machine (which I did) and would then be ready to go home.

Scared, yes – appreciative, yes, very much so.

Now that I have witnessed a call to the local ambulance service firsthand, I can honestly say, “What a relief to have such a service at your beck and call!” I’ve thought about it many times ... what would have happened if there was no immediate help?

So during my 45 years in the news business here, I’ve seen plenty of good and bad happen to the local ambulance service. I’ve seen them run with skeletal staffs, very few members willing to give their time, but a host of them dedicated to cases like mine.

I saw all of that in 45 years.

I finally found out just what it’s like to have a dependable ambulance service in this area.

And some day I’ll find out the names of the two ambulance people who took care of me ... and I’ll buy them each a hot fudge malt.

Not much pay for a job well done.

And, it’s so much like other things in life. We take their service and preparedness for granted.

It made me think of other take-for-granted issues. The list is growing each day. Try it sometime!