My husband came home from a fishing trip and said he thought he was "having another heart attack" (he'd had two previously). He said his chest hurt (8/10) and the pain was radiating up into his collar bones. I took him to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center ER and the team immediately sprang into action. They drew labs and did an EKG, which were normal, but his pain was getting worse. Over a couple of hours, they gave him fentanyl and two doses of morphine, but his pain only got worse. It increased to 10/10, and repeat labs, EKG, chest x-ray and chest CT were all normal. It was really scary watching my husband suffer so intensely with no clue what was causing it.
My husband had told me earlier that he had been jarred rather severely when the boat crested a wave and slammed down on the other side of it on his way back to the marina. He said he instantly got a headache and the chest pain started soon after that and had been steadily increasing ever since. It didn't occur to me to mention that to the doctor because my husband had said he thought he was having another heart attack.
I told Vaughn about my husband being jarred on the boat, and he relayed it to the doctor. The doctor came in and said to me, "that would have been nice to know early on." He seemed perturbed. I apologized and felt absolutely horrible because I didn't think to mention it earlier, which meant my husband suffered much more and much longer than he would have otherwise. Vaughn picked up on my emotional distress right away and replied in my defense, "Well, when you hear hoofbeats, you typically think 'horse', not 'zebra'."
With the new information, they revised their care plan and I got to take my husband home shortly thereafter. I so appreciated the way Vaughn not only cared for my husband but also took care of me. That one little comment on my behalf made a world of difference in my emotional wellbeing.
Thank you, Vaughn! You're amazing!