Hospital Express In Style

This morning, I got an email from friends out west, and the message was alarming. We had met Dave and Irene in Southern California and gotten to be friends. A couple of days ago Dave had complained about his chest feeling tight. Irene, who is a nurse, called 911 right away and Dave got to the hospital in time where he got 2 stents. Dave got lucky and he is home again. The story reminded me of my father’s heart encounter in 2005. But Dad was kind of picky with what kind of transportation he chose. When mom called emergency she accidentally had the number of the police. (Germany has no 911) But those guys understood an emergency when they were told one. After understanding that Dad and mom were living 12 km out on the countryside, they radioed a chopper which happened to be in the air. Well, the medical team also happened to be onboard,so they flew a little detour and landed in a field right by my parent’s house. So yeah....Dad took the chopper to the hospital. Just too bad he doesn't remember all that glamour. After all, mom told us the entire neighbourhood had been watching as the celebrity was shoved into the chopper.  Well, then next day he was sitting bolt upright in his bed and wondered just what the hell had happened. That's my Dad, folks and his story. And Bea and I happened to be in San Francisco on our way south for our first snow-birding adventure. Dad had only flown once before in his life - when he was a soldier in an old tin can of a Junkers 52, which was called Auntie Ju. (Tante Ju) By the way, at an age of 91 Dad is still doing fine, now in a nursing home.