The health care system is beginning to work remarkably well. For example my good buddy Carolyn Hall, about my age, was rushed to Share Medical Center over the weekend with what the ER provider believed to be a ruptured appendix. A step up the urgency ladder brought her to St. Mary's Hospital in Enid.

Carolyn's talented daughter, Alica, has a long history with our family helping us photograph dozens of area weddings in southwestern Kansas. She managed our print shop, Printing Design, for a couple of years. I think the last wedding assignment Alica did for Lynn Martin Photography ended in a nighttime head-on collision near Ashland, Kansas. Terry Hall, Carolyn's husband, wasn't much of a seamstress, but he was a brilliant woodworker. The family has been very theatrical helping with NWOSU and AHS productions, often providing their own trailers and similar transportation in support of all theater programs in Alva.

I ended up in the SMC emergency room a couple of weeks ago. I personally DID NOT WANT to be there but Marione decided it was essential since I kept losing balance and clinging onto doorways. On the first visit, Dr. Self made the call due to fever and low blood counts from a test that day. He and Dr. Reitz are coordinating my care in the management of my esophageal cancer.

Two things: I could not believe how fast they got me in – maybe two minutes each time; and with four experts staring down my throat with all sorts of tests happening at once, I was remarkably analyzed from all sorts of medical disciplines lightning fast. On the second visit, I would say that constant observation continued for four hours before PA Emily Nayar consulted one more time with Dr. Self at 4 a.m. with the conclusion nothing merited a higher level of intensity. Nayar was already familiar with my first ER visit since she’d been reading our Newsgram column.

The progression of local professional clinic care (Dr. Self's office), to emergency room care to eventual high intensity ER care was jaw-dropping without my ever leaving town.