Have you ever had “one of those days”? I sure did. On a hot and sunny Friday afternoon while stationed with the Army in Danbury Connecticut, my Commander came to my office to see me. He asked if I wanted to go for a SCUBA dive in nearby Candlewood Lake. Well, that wasn’t a very tough question to answer…stay at work or go diving? We met “Captain Charlie” who was great guy who worked at a local dive shop. Captain Charlie had a 32 foot dive boat and was always available for a quick dip. After several dives in the 30-40 feet deep area we were in, we decided to call it a day and return to my office.
My Commander, Major Howie Lapidus and I were sitting in the drill hall having a soda and I notice everything looked “foggy”. I mentioned to him that it looked the building was full of smoke or something. He said everything was fine and I should go rinse out my eyes. We thought I might have gotten some oil or something in them. Rinsing them did not help.
Later that evening while at home with Barbara, my eye starting hurting and watering like crazy. I sat all night long in my recliner with a damp washcloth getting virtually no sleep at all. The next morning (Saturday) Barbara came down stairs and saw I was still in my chair. She asked what the problem was and I told her my eye was still hurting and I had developed a cough that resulted in a pain in my chest. We decided to head over to Groton CT submarine base to the military hospital to get it checked out.
When we arrived at the hospital, I was the only patient. They had me sit in a small cube and I waited for the doctor. When she arrived she asked what my problem was. I told her about going SCUBA diving the day before and about my eye hurting. I also told her about my coughing and the pain in my chest when I coughed. At that point…I learned a very valuable lesson. Never, never, ever say you have a pain in your chest while in the emergency room! I was suddenly surrounded by 8 or 9 medical personnel with crash carts, monitors, wires, and scopes…the whole deal. Since I had taken a physical only days earlier for my pending transfer back to Ohio, they were able to compare my EKG with the one taken a week or so prior. The doctor said there was a difference in the EKG and I would need to go to the New London Connecticut city hospital for evaluation. I said I would have my wife drive me over there. Nope! They insisted on sending an Emergency Squad (still no relief for my eye). Soon the squad arrived and transported me to the civilian hospital in New London.
Upon arrival at New London Hospital, I was again hooked up with every medical machine known to mankind with wires flowing everywhere. Several blood tests were taken but STILL NOTHING FOR MY EYE! At about 5:00 PM, the doctor told me that he didn’t think I had any heart problems but he was still going to admit me to the cardiac unit for observation. So, after more than 10 hours and thousands of dollars of tests, I was wheeled to the cardiac unit. They said they would give me something for my eye…but they lied. Finally, about 3:00 AM, I told a nurse that either I get something for my eye or I was pulling off all the wires and going home! She returned a few minutes later with some salve which we applied to my eye and I felt fine. Seems I had a small piece of sand or something in my eye and when I rubbed it, it caused a scratch on the eyeball. It took all of 2 minutes for instant relief! I finally fell asleep.
The next morning I was given a stress test and deemed physically fit to be discharged. My eye wasn’t hurting any longer, my heart was in great shape, and I quit coughing. Ahhh, the marvels of modern medicine! I’m sure the taxpayers were billed several thousands of dollars and I was billed for the emergency squad ride across town for months which was finally paid by the military. It’s all pretty funny now but it sure wasn’t back then. It was definitely “one of those days’”!
