Boswell

I've had a pretty poor perception of Boswell Hospital for some years, mostly because my dad died in that hospital. Did anyone or anything at Boswell contribute to his death? I can't say for sure in a legal sense, but I do know that he had surgery in Boswell and then died a few days later, and whether there's any actual culpability or not, that's not the kind of thing you forgive readily.

But having said that, I have to say that the care I received from Boswell was first-rate and I find that I just can't hold a grudge against the hospital any more.

Actually, every part of the health care chain seemed to work extremely well, from the EMS crew to the Del Webb ER to the Boswell CV/SICU. Looking back on it, I have only one real complaint, that being that the barf bags were entirely inadequate to the task at hand and need serious enlarging.

Now it's up to me whether any of this bypassing and grafting means anything in the long run. I smoked for about 25 years prior to my heart attack, and always swore that I'd quit smoking when I noticed smoking affecting my health. I was always pretty heavy, and swore I'd lose weight and start exercising when I noticed health problems. Well, a heart attack and bypass surgery are pretty hard to miss as "health problems", so what I do propose to do about it now?

I haven't smoked since the morning of July 4th, and at this remove, the idea of copping a cigarette while having an actual heart attack seems pretty foolish, but there I was... I quit cold turkey, though being in a morphine and anesthetic haze for a day or two spared me the worse of the physical withdrawal symptoms. Now I just have the residual habit to deal with, the habit of wanting to smoke. Some days are better than others, but I'm now on Day 25 without a cigarette and I think I'm past the worst. I just keep reminding myself of how I felt on the side of the highway waiting for the ambulance to arrive.