Dear Editor: I have always been a person who will give credit where credit is due. My wife Brenda was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer two years ago. She has been in and out of the third-floor oncology wing of a very wonderful hospital (which shall remain nameless until later) since her diagnosis.
On Friday, Jan. 17, 2014, she once again was in the hospital. At one point on this day, she was going into respiratory distress where she could not breathe. Her oxygen saturation level was less then 60 percent. All of her outward signs were showing an extreme lack of oxygen, even while being on oxygen. The PA (physician's assistant) from her oncologist's office was in the room, making rounds at the time. She summoned the floor nurse immediately, and then my wife's oncologist, who was also in the hospital making rounds entered the room to further assess the situation. It was, in my opinion, his very quick decision to summon the MET (Medical Emergency Team) to respond that I credit for turning a possibly horrible situation into a lifesaving scenario.
Once this team, besides the floor nurses, her oncologist and his PA were on the scene (less than one minute), I had the honor and privilege to observe from outside the room (at a vantage point so I was always visible to my wife), the extreme high quality of total professionalism in action. These unsung heroes knew exactly what to do and when to do it, like a very well-oiled precision machine.
Once these "angels" of the medical profession had my wife stabilized, she was immediately transferred to ICU (the intensive care unit), where she received more of the same extremely high level of total care and professionalism.
In closing, I would just like to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you to all the extremely well-trained professionals from Rockdale Medical Center and from oncologist Dr. Carter's office who were in attendance and cared for my wife during her stay, for doing what they have trained for all their lives so I can write this letter of praise and be able to take my wife home from the hospital.
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Michael Minkoff
Rockdale County
