On January 13, I spent 12 hours in the waiting room of a Tulsa hospital’s emergency room.

Several days prior to January 13, I was sick. I thought I had the flu because someone in my family had it and I was having similar symptoms. I asked Jeff Brucculeri to fill in for my on my radio show and he did. (He does a great job on the radio.)

I had developed a cough so I called my regular doctor to schedule a visit to get checked out. The cough was interfering with my sleep and making me feel worse.

I had a 1 p.m. doctor’s appointment on January 13. A nurse or physician’s assistant asked me if I had a cough – I had already told them that was the reason for my visit – and she consulted with a doctor. She came back, told me to step outside into the parking and said I should go to the emergency room.

Which one? She had no recommendation.

A week earlier, my son-in-law and daughter had gone to an emergency room at a South Tulsa hospital and it had taken five hours to get helped.

My wife and I decided to go to a different South Tulsa hospital.

I wasn’t feeling well.

When we arrived, there were two patients ahead of me in triage. We checked in at 1:30 p.m. and that’s when our journey really began.

We counted 10 patients ahead of us which seemed to be a manageable number. I knew that local hospitals were very busy due to the flu and the Chinese coronavirus.

After a couple of hours, I saw two nurses, who questioned me about symptoms and then tested me for the flu and COVID. I found out later that day that the flu test was negative and I found out the next day that I didn’t have the coronarvirus.

Then we waited.

I was ushered into an isolation waiting area that was sealed and my wife was sent in to. It was hot and there was nothing to do in there but sit and wait.

And wait.

After a few more hours, a nurse came in and called my name. She took me to a hallway where they had a portable x-ray machine and they took a chest x-ray. She said it was immediately sent to the radiologist. (I found out later that the radiologist wasn’t even at the hospital but that my x-ray had been sent to him electronically.)

Then we waited.

There was an engaging black man, who identified himself an itinerant preacher, who helped make the time pass. A man of modest means, he said that if he didn’t get helped by 6 p.m., he would have to leave because the last city bus that runs by this hospital is at 6:15 p.m.

I was sitting there thinking of some way to help him but I couldn’t. I didn’t feel well enough to give him a ride and I didn’t know when we would be done.

But an older couple, who said they attend South Tulsa Baptist Church, asked him if they could help. He said yes and they paid for an Uber driver to pick him up and take him home. That happened after 6 p.m. so it was a godsend. It was very gracious of this couple and was a clear display of the love of Christ for a perfect stranger.

In fact, anytime anyone left the waiting room for treatment, people would say “God bless, you” and “We are praying for you.” It was touching.

At 10 p.m., I was still waiting to see a doctor. I hadn’t eaten anything all day. The waiting room had a pop machine with water, so I stayed hydrated but I was very uncomfortable, partly because I had to wear a mask, even in the isolation bubble.

We kept asking the entry clerk when I would see a doctor as the ER waiting slowly emptied. Finally, a nurse told us that they had some people in exam rooms who had been waiting 17 hours for a hospital room.

I just wanted to know if I would be checked in or sent home with medicine.

Finally, a medical tech came and got me. He wouldn’t let Susan go with me to the exam room. He hooked me up to some machines and handed me the TV remote. The last thing I wanted to do was watch TV.

I finally saw a physician’s assistant. He said I had an infection and he would write a prescription. He said I could go home and he would be right back with the paperwork.

Two hours later and after five conversations with different nurses, a nurse came in an unhooked me. I got to bed at about 2 a.m.

This is not a good time to get sick. The hospitals are overworked and they are more inefficient than normal. I am grateful for their help and thankful that we don’t have socialized medicine or it would be even worse.