Pothole!

April 27th, 2019| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

Here’s one—and the only one—reason not to complain about potholes. A guy now has a pothole to thank for saving his life.

A couple of weeks ago, Gretna Rescue’s EMTs, in Gretna, Nebraska (pop. 5,062), were called in to help a 59-year-old man whose heart was racing at his workplace. And he had no history of cardiac problems.

The good paramedics arrived on the scene, and loaded the patient for the 7-mile, 20-minute drive to the nearest emergency room. At one point the guy’s heart was beating at 200 beats per minute!

During this ride from 144th Street and Interstate 80 to Lakeside Hospital in Omaha, the ambulance hit a pothole.

Apparently, that the jolt of the pothole converted the patient’s racing heart to a normal cardiac rhythm.

Said Dr. Andrew Goldsweig, an interventional cardiologist with Nebraska Medicine (who wasn’t on the case but provided his expert opinion):

It’s rare, but it’s a well-described phenomenon.”

That, of course, is not the recommended way to treat cardiac arrhythmias—I’d trust the professionals, not the potholes.

And you can bet insurance is not going pay for cardiac rhythm conversion via pothole.

(Though I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a billing code for this somewhere in the voluminous International Classification of Diseases-10. This monster compilation has over 68,000 billing codes for diseases, including “V97.33XD: Sucked into jet engine, subsequent encounter” [i.e., the second time!]; “W55.41XA: Bitten by pig, initial encounter”; “Z63.1: Problems in relationships with in-laws”; and even “R46.1: Bizarre personal appearance!” There ought to be one for said pothole therapy.)

Goldsweig again:

One way to treat that is with an electrical shock. Classically, you’ll see it on television. The paddles, ‘Clear,’ and a big jolt. Turns out, you can do that with a pothole.”

The pothole in the right place at the right time with the right depth! Amazing!

Everyone wanted to know where that lifesaving pothole was located. It deserved an award.

But Gretna Fire and Rescue’s chief decline to talk about the matter. HIPAA violation of patient’s privacy and all that, you know.

Friends of the patient said that our man was released from the hospital the next day. No doubt, he will be seeing potholes a little differently from now on.

The providence of God—special providence (those extraordinary “accidents”), as opposed to his general providence (his constant upholding sustenance of the universe). From the Latin pro (ahead of/before) and videre (to see). God sees ahead … for us!

Case in point: The patriarch Joseph was sold into Egypt by his deceiving brothers. Later, by a series of extraordinary (providential) events, Joseph became the Prime Minister of that land and the prime beneficiary of his family during years of famine. Later the family is reconciled.

Then Joseph said to his brothers,
“… I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here,
for God sent me before you to preserve life. …
God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth,
and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God;
and He has made me … ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 45:4–8

The brothers may have sold Joseph into Egypt. But it was God who sent Joseph into Egypt! The providential supervision of God over everything turning even bad into good!

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good
to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28