Everyone has a story...ER in PC

I didn’t think it was possible to have a good time in an emergency room but, we have…once! A jet ski accident with a deep gash in the chin, while in Panama City sent Preston and I leaving the beach heading across the bridge to find the local hospital which is located off Martin Luther King Boulevard (if you should need it while in PC) as Dad held down the beach towel. Stitches in the chin weren’t a big deal to Preston after the many trips prior to the Jet Ski.


As we sat in an almost empty waiting room awaiting someone to call out Preston’s first name, we noticed a woman sitting alone across the room. Her clothes were dirty and hair unkept. It was the two different color socks that we noticed first. Well, I noticed it and Preston will tell you that he didn’t wonder anything about the woman. Before we knew it, the woman walked over and sat in the chair next to Preston. What followed would be our first laugh in the ER. She looked at Preston and said, “What are you in for”? He said, “Jet ski accident…what about you”? She said, “That’s personal”! I thought I would fall off of my chair! She was a classic stranger wanting to know Preston’s business but unwilling to share her own. She got up and walked back to the other side of the room leaving Preston and I saying, “What the hell… just happened”?

His first name was finally called out as the woman with the two different socks stayed behind. We wished that the back rooms were as empty as the waiting room as they led us to a bed sitting in the hallway with four other beds. As we sat waiting, there were screams from a woman down the hall repeating over and over, “Somebody help me…they are trying to kill me”. When the nurse arrived to chat with Preston...you know, “What are you in for”, Preston tells her to do something with the screaming woman! Shortly after, the woman was taken to a room. I tell you that he feels comfortable in a hospital setting barking orders.

Finally, things settle down as the volume of the area returns to a quieter decibel. Two young beautiful, well endowed, blonde Swedish girls enter the hallway. We noticed that they spoke very little English as they attempted to explain to the nurse that the injured one cut her arm while breaking their hotel window because they lost their key. I am wondering why they didn’t go to the office. I look at Preston to once again make our “what the hell” eye contact that he and I have mastered through the years. His eyes are locked on the well endowed parts of the young beautiful Swedish girl’s. After a few awkward seconds, he looks at me making our "What the hell signal" and says, “Man, I wish I had beads”! Remembering that we were in a hospital setting, I whispered, I don’t think they are in the mood to accept beads at this moment after all, they lost their hotel key!

A doc finally arrives to take a look at the gash. After explains that he lost in a battle with a jet ski, the doc begins to point out his multiple scars from various stunts, including a jet ski. I said, “He doesn’t need any encouragement with this reckless behavior or a hero”! The doc sent in the tech to prep for stitches. What happened next was priceless…the tech has a stainless steel table with three legs where everything needed for the doc’s handiwork will be placed. The table tips over with the tray landing on the exact spot of the gash. I thought Preston was going to come off the bed! Instead, he looks up at the tech and says, “Damn Dawg”. I couldn’t hold it back…I think I was laughing harder than the woman screaming, “Somebody help me…they are trying to kill me”. Six stitches later, we were on our way back to the sun and fun with memories of our PC trip.

There are moments in our lives that happen with strangers if we only take the opportunity to get to know each other and allow ourselves the time to share a little of us with them. This was one of my moments.

Thank you strangers at the ER in PC!