Now I wouldn’t call myself a wimp when it comes to physical pain. I’m brave enough when it comes to flu shots, blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, stubbed toes, hang nails and similar pains. Fortunately, that’s about the worst I’ve had to deal with if I leave out hip-replacement and prostate surgeries and a few broken hearts as a teenager.

That changed unexpectedly last month. Miss Em and I were on our way to Atlanta to visit my oldest son Michael and his wife Samantha and our three grandsons—Taylor, Joshua and Jeremy. I was driving and we were yakking as usual and enjoying the scenery. We were almost to Aiken on I-20 when a severe pain suddenly grabbed me in my right side and almost took my breath away.

“Something’s bad wrong,” I groaned to Em as I quickly slowed down and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. When I got out of the car, the pain got worse and I couldn’t straighten up. We both knew I needed a doctor. I couldn’t drive, so Em quickly headed back towards Columbia and Lexington Medical Center.

I tried unsuccessfully to find a position that would ease the pain, but it got worse instead of better. I thought I was dying. As the pain and my groaning got worse, Miss Em pushed the accelerator harder against the floor.

We zipped up to the Emergency Room entrance, and Em jumped out car and ran inside. In a flash, she was back with staff and a wheelchair, and those good folks quickly put my groaning, crying carcass on a table surrounded by fast-moving caring professionals intent on finding the cause of my pain and easing it.

After four shots of a pain-killing drug, I calmed down enough for them to get scans and x-rays which revealed nothing.

They hooked me up to a clear intravenous liquid and kept me over night for observation. I slept, but not well, but poor Em didn’t sleep at all. That IV led to frequent potty calls, and I was so groggy she had to get up to keep me from falling and to wheel the IV stand out to the hall john.

The next morning they sent a pretty young woman in to tell me the doctors had ordered an enema to rule out the possibility that an impacted bowel had caused my problem. That indignity cleared me for release. The doctor who came by to dismiss told me they didn’t know what caused my problem.

Thankfully, I haven’t had any more problems. I’m grateful to the great professional team at Lexington Medical Center Emergency Room for their compassionate care.

Emily and Hugh Clements, of Little Mountain, are columnists for The Newberry Observer. The Bits & Pieces column appears the second Wednesday of each month.