The MRI

Making lemonade from lemons.

Every 10 minutes or more, Claire checked her watch. Her husband, Ted, had officially been in the ER for five hours and in the area past reception for four. She had already asked Kelly the receptionist to check on him, but her response had been “These things take time.”

Ted and Elaine came to the ER because he had a pain in his chest. It didn’t feel like a full-blown heart attack but just wanted to rule it out. At 64 the chances of it happening were higher, and since his family had a history of heart disease, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Several of the day shift were leaving, exhausted but glad their day was ending. An equal number were coming through the entrance and ready to take on whatever health challenges life threw at people.

Claire checked her watch again and then rubbed her forehead.

“What is taking them so long with him?” she whispered.

When Kelly saw Claire approaching this time, she picked up the phone and punched in a few numbers.

“Terry, I’m checking the patient with the last name Lumberton, Theodore Lumberton. Sure, I’ll hold.”

Kelly held up a finger to Claire and smiled.

Four minutes later, Kelly said, “Yes, I’m here…oh, okay. Sure, I’ll tell his wife.”

“Mrs. Lumberton, your husband will be out in a few minutes. Just buttoning things up now.”

“Thank you,” Claire said as she turned towards her seat. “Sorry to be such a bother.”

“Eh, you’re good, Mrs. Lumberton. I’d be just as worried.”

When two attendants wheeled Ted out a few minutes later, he was joking with them as they continued to apologize about an incident.

“Ah, don’t think anything about it, guys. Could happen to anyone. Ah, there she is, my Bride.”

A tall attendant smiled and said, “Sorry for the delay, Mrs. Lumberton. I’m sure your husband will tell you all about it, but please accept my apologies on behalf of the ER staff. We sincerely apologize.”

Ted rose from the wheel chair and held out his elbow.

“Shall we, Mrs. Lumberton?” he said.

“Wha, What?’

“Later, my dear, later, but I believe these are for you.”

He handed her six gift cards: two cash, one for a steak and seafood restaurant, two for coffee, and the last from Amazon.

As Ted was about to go through the revolving door, he turned around and said, “Thanks for everything, guys, and thanks for the good news too.”

When they got to the car and with both doors shut, he breathed out a heavy sigh.

“First, I have no heart problem at all. No signs whatsoever. That’s the great news. What took me so long was they left me in the MRI machine for about three hours. After they did a scan, things got busy, some heart case and some other trauma patient, yada yada. But there I was in the machine staring up. Then I fell asleep. Three hours later the machine pulled me back out and then the apologies started. Oh man, I’ve never seen so many apologies. Two doctors came and then several nurses and at least four technicians. I couldn’t hear much of the side banter but they were trying to figure out who was responsible. They ended up loading me down with these gift cards…and they’re not the $20 types either. The Amazon card alone was $400 plus the steak and seafood place was $200.”

“I was worried stiff about you but you don’t seem to be upset by it.”

“Upset? Why would I be upset? I no longer have claustrophobia and I had the best sleep I’ve had in years. Really, I think they were thinking I might sue so they loaded me with the gift cards. I still could but why would I? Honest mistake and no harm. Plus no more claustrophobia. Maybe I should be gifting them cards?”

“Don’t go overboard, Ted. You’re treating me to steak tonight.”