ER Visit #5!

Made another visit to the emergency room this morning; it's the 5th time in 5 weeks. And again it was not for me, I was accompanying someone to the ER; this time it was Kai. He said I am the common denominator, so I must be the cause... On the evening of the 7th his throat started hurting and it rapidly led to a headache and fever. The fever broke after 3 days and the cough became worse. Then the sinuses started to fill up and began to hurt. Today was the last straw so he requested a trip to a walk-in clinic. After a little bit of on-line research, I found the closest one open on Saturday was Straub Clinic. We started at their Urgent Access Clinic but when I insisted he be seen by a doctor covered by their financial assistance program they said we should go to the emergency room since they can't refuse to see people. (Kai has the no-frills Washington state health insurance. The ER folks said they will submit it to his insurance and see what happens.)


Walking up to the front of the Straub Clinic was like walking up to the front of a hotel in Waikiki. It did not look like any other hospital that I have ever been to, even one in Hawai'i. Although the ER doctor said most of the time symptoms such as Kai's are caused by viruses, he prescribed an antibiotic to knock out anything bacterial due to Mom's suppressed immune system. He commended Kai on using a mask but also recommended he use gloves to further limit spreading anything to Mom. He also prescribed a cough suppressant to help him sleep and an expectorant to break up the crud and help move it out. (Kai says the antibiotic has given him the fastest, most long-lasting relief so far.)

Looking at the front driveway where patients are dropped off at Straub Clinic, there is even valet parking!

While in Kohala, the neighbor Jessie gave Kai some salted lemons to help with his sore throat. He said they were very intense, the aftertaste was like someone electrocuting his tongue! Tomiko and I decided to try to make some, so we asked Justine and Ursula to pick us a bunch of lemons. (By now those of you who have been keeping track have realized Kai has been sick since the day after he arrived in Kona! He is hoping to have 1 or 2 days of illness-free vacation before he leaves.)

L to R: Ursula, Karen, Justine, & Tomiko

We knew we had to roll them in salt, then let them sit over night to draw out a bunch of liquid. Then they are packed in to jars to age. After we prepared these 3 trays of lemons we discovered that we started out wrong! We need to start with the lemons in a much greener state. We'll try again next year.


Happy Birthday to Dottie!