James Peters with his wife Jennie in his bed on 7-North (Image Credit: James Peters)

By James Peters

Two & Out

PETERS: To the staff at Royal Inland Hospital — thank you

Dec 17, 2021 | 11:19 AM

LIFE CAN CHANGE IN AN INSTANT. That instant comes for all of us — it just doesn’t have the common courtesy to warn us ahead of time.

For me, that instant came on a Saturday evening in November. My wife and teenage daughter dined out together and I remained home to supervise my son and two of his friends. I was looking forward to a relaxing evening at home.

While standing in the kitchen eating a slice of pizza, I was struck with a pain in my chest and back of a magnitude I had never experienced before. It felt as if all the soft tissue in my torso was being torn in two.

I lost my breath. I became nauseous. Not immediately grasping the seriousness of the situation, I retreated to a bathroom where I collapsed onto the floor. Still conscious, I texted my wife two consecutive messages: “You have to come home” and “I need you”. Calling out to my son was futile; he and his friends were having fun in another part of the house and couldn’t hear me.

So, from the floor of my bathroom, I dialled 9-1-1.

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My wife and daughter made it home first. Two first responders from Kamloops Fire Rescue were not far behind, with a B.C. Emergency Health Service crew hot on their tails. Time for my first ambulance ride.

Waiting to get into the emergency department at Royal Inland Hospital, it was suggested I might have kidney stones. “Holy cow,” I thought to myself, “If I’m in this much pain now, how much more painful will it be when I need to pass them?”

The eventual diagnosis was much more grim.

A CT scan revealed a Type B aortic dissection. The aorta is the largest and most important blood vessel in the human body; mine had unravelled. The vascular surgeon who spoke to me later that evening described the condition in terms of someone pulling up a strip of a carpet — only on the inside of my aorta. The dissection ran from the top of my aorta all the way to the bottom. I’m nothing if not thorough.

About one in 30,000 people will experience an aortic dissection in their lifetime. The median age for suffering this injury is 63. I am 41. But in relative terms, I was lucky. A Type B dissection is far more survivable than a Type A dissection. Immediate treatment is key to survival, and the response from KFR and BCAHS ensured I was seen promptly, while the quick ordering of a CT scan in the RIH ER was also absolutely crucial. The most notable person to die of aortic dissection is actor John Ritter, who was initially misdiagnosed with a heart attack and was dead within five hours of entering the hospital.

So what happened? That’s the big question.

My doctors have ordered a series of tests as they work to determine the answer. Aortic dissection is most often caused by hypertension — high blood pressure. I do not have a history of high blood pressure, but as regular appointments with my family doctor were replaced by telephone calls during the pandemic, it is possible my blood pressure may have been rising unbeknownst to me.

To date, I have avoided a risky surgery. Instead, I spent 12 days in Royal Inland Hospital with my blood pressure being strictly monitored and controlled by half-a-dozen different medications. A device inserted into an artery in my arm monitored my vital signs in real time. IVs fed me more medicine and a catheter relieved my bladder of its duty. I had more attachments than the family Christmas email.

If you ever doubt the seriousness of your medical condition, admission to the intensive care unit removes that doubt quickly. There are 17 spaces in the RIH ICU and they are rarely vacant. Patients get their own rooms and the spaces all around me were occupied, mainly by unvaccinated COVID-19 patients struggling to stay alive. The ideal patient-to-nurse ratio in ICU is 1-to-1, though that is often stretched by short staffing. It’s a fishbowl.

More difficult even than the long days of recuperation in ICU was the isolation from my family. Visits with my wife and kids kept my spirits from hitting rock bottom, but they were limited by a constantly shifting visitation policy that showed no flexibility or common sense. In drawing up visitation policies, administrators must recognize family as key to healing for ICU patients, not simply avenues for viruses to potentially enter.

Even so, the nurses, doctors and other frontline staff in the hospital were sensitive and attentive. It is so unfortunate that this hospital has developed such a shoddy reputation in the community and in the province. Carried by the care demonstrated by its staff, RIH should stand as a beacon of light in Kamloops. Too often, it is sabotaged by short-sighted decision-making by administrators and intimidation by middle management.

After nine days in ICU, my blood pressure stabilized to the point where I could be discharged into the cardiac ward of the hospital — 7-North. Three days later, I was at home, truly ready to begin the long road back.

I don’t know what the future holds. It’s unsettling for me and my family. Suffering from an aortic dissection once makes a repeat more likely in the years ahead. How will my life change? Will I be able to return to some semblance of normal living? What burden has been placed on my wife and children? The future is clouded by fear and uncertainty.

Today, though, I am here. I can’t quite walk properly yet after all that time in a hospital bed. I lost 25 pounds the hard way. But I am here and ready to maximize whatever time I have left, thanks in part to my family, and thanks to the network of caring individuals who have helped me along the way.

Emergency Room:

• Dr. Dustin Janz and an amazing team of nurses and health professionals

Vascular Surgeon:

• Dr. Steven Johnson

Intensive Care:

• Dr. Paul Campsall
• Dr. Shailendra Prasad

Internal Medicine:

• Dr. Kiley Cindrich
• Dr. Dayne Ortved
• Dr. Chai

Nurses on ICU:

• Tom
• Tanis
• Angie
• Harris
• Teal
• Michael
• Roland
• Melissa
• Della
• Christina
• Liam

Nurses on 7-North:

• Kaitlin
• Klint
• Kennedy
• Lisa

——

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.