Yes, there are machines to make sure we breathe, that our hearts beat, operations that can give us a new heart, lungs. kidneys, and now even a new face. Even the bedside manners of today's medical provider have changed from white-garbed agents of God to the casual, sometimes even sloppy dress of this generation's Ben Caseys.
It was Fall of 1981 in Wallace, and I had returned to my hometown for what I thought would be a few months but ended up being a couple of years. I was taking a little time off from the world of hotels, and it was time for me to do the obligatory family tradition. Yes, it was time for me to go to work for Hecla just like my father, my father's brothers and cousins, and on and one. My father's oldest brother had gone to work for the old Hecla in Burke in 1928.
My father went to worked there the first time in 1932 and worked in both the Hecla and Star for years.He always told us boys that he wanted us to get and education so that we would not have to work in the mines, but when I told him that I was going to work in the Star, he was smiling from ear to ear. I was fortunate because I was hired for a surface job that was reasonably easy and the pay and benefits more than met my needs at that time.
After working there about six moths, I noticed what seemed like a lump under my left rib cage in the same area that I have since fractured several times including just two months ago. I went to a doctor in Kellogg who examined me, took some blood tests. Several days later he called me and said that we needed to talk. Great, those are not the words that you want to hear coming out of a physician's mouth, I was running a low-grade temperature, and that coupled with the lump in my rib and the blood tests indicating an infection, the good doctor set up an immediate appointment in Spokane to see a specialist about the possibility that I had Hodgins disease.
Visions of the end came dancing in my head.I thought for sure that my life here on this earth was going to be a short one.I, however, would put on a brave face for the world, and would be excited about seeing what was on the other side of life as we know it. Of course, inside I was a quivering bowl of strawberry jello. Off to Spokane I went where I poked, prodded, deprived of more of my blood, and questioned very carefully. Finally, the news that I wanted to hear was delivered in the pontifical manner that is reserved for popes and soc called "medical specialists". I did have an infection of some kind, but I did not have Hodgins. They did not, however, have an expert opinion on why I had swelling and a lump in my rib cage.
Back to Wallace I drove with the good news that I was not gong to die in the near futures, but still wondering why I had rib pain and swelling. The doctor in Kellogg called me and apologized for sounding a false alarm but that his philosophy was to eliminate the worst case scenario first. I told him that I appreciated that and thanked him for his call.
Now, what to do about the rib problem that was becoming more painful each day. There was a new physician in Wallace whom I shall not name. I decided to give him a short, pun not intended, at diagnosing the cause of my rib pain. To make a long story short, it was one of the most thorough examinations that I ever had. He looked, and I mean looked at every nook and cranny of my body. I decided about halfway through that examining my prostate and family jewels was not going to let me know why my rib hurt. Perhaps he was confused about just where the rib was located. I made myself a mental note to never, never, visit this doctor again.
Now, I had been to two local doctors and a Spokane specialist, and I did not yet have an answer on why I had a lump and pain in my rib. Well, when all else fails, go back to your childhood for the answers to life's questions. so off to my childhood doctor I went. I had not seen Dr, Gnaedinger in many years, and to no surprise, he not changed one bit. He was still the laid back kind man that always made me feel at ease as a kid. I told him the history of the problem as he pulled up m shirt and felt my left side. He made kind of a grunting sound and said " You have a busted rib cartilage and your rib is either cracked or bruised."Mystery solved,
Yes, modern medicine may be scientifically light-years ahead of the old days of medicine, but it lacks one very crucial element. COMMON HOSE SENSE.
You were the last of a great breed of healers Dr. Gnaed.
Dr. Ernest Gnaedinge
August 1, 1919 to October 9,2004.
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