Fire drills. We’ve all been through them. When an alarm goes off legitimately, people don’t know what to do. At least not at first. I was accompanying my wife for a routine colonoscopy. We were in the recovery room, and she was still coming out of anesthesia when I thought I smelled something chemical-like, almost the caustic kind of petroleum-product smell with none of the sweet undertones. Now, I have no idea what they use in facilities like that, so I said nothing. About fifteen minutes later the fire alarm went off. My wife had already gotten dressed, thank goodness. The staff was all walking around, apologizing to everyone for the noise. After about five minutes, the surgeon came over and said, “We have to go outside. Let me go over this briefly.” He did and I helped my wife down the stairs and outside. Firetrucks came.
This was something new in my experience. Hospitals and clinics are buildings, with all the usual limitations of physical structures with complex machinery in them. I’d never been in one when an alarm went off before. There’s always a period of disbelief among staff as well as patients. I wondered what they did with those in the midst of a colonoscopy. They’re in a somewhat delicate condition to be rolled outside (and it was none too warm that day). I can imagine how I might’ve panicked had my wife not yet been in recovery. As it was, we thought we were clear to leave, so we just came home as others less fortunate stood outside awaiting the all clear.
After a medical procedure we’re used to being able to ask questions. Take your time. Come out of anesthesia. After we got home I could find nothing online about the incident. It did seem to have “news story” written all over it. Or “horror story.” I’ve watched enough MASH to know that doctors sometimes work in less than ideal conditions. And there must certainly be standard procedures for what to do when the unexpected happens. Colonoscopies are one of those highly recommended procedures that compromise dignity like few others. As such, being interrupted by a fire drill puts this particular procedure into a class of its own. I never look forward to them (few do) but now it seems I have a new worry to add. What was really missing was a sense of closure. Too often these days transactions of all kinds are left open-ended. As the firetrucks came we asked ourselves, is it okay to go?
Steve A. Wiggins 