Good care, good people and goodbye, appendix

About two weeks ago, I made my first visit to Atrium Health Navicent.

It wasn’t for pleasure, that’s for sure.

I had been suffering for weeks with GI issues, which I thought were related to a lingering sinus infection I’d picked up around Christmas.

After several urgent care visits and dealing with a severe case of dehydration, I was told to visit Atrium’s emergency room, which I begrudgingly did.

A few hours and many tests later, I had the cause of my recent suffering. My appendix — a really worthless (and, as it turns out, mean) organ — had turned on me and was disrupting its neighboring organs.

It needed to go, and it needed to go fast. The turnaround time, from ER check-in to the operating room, was nine hours.

My entire stay at Atrium lasted about 15 hours. I was wheeled to the car about three hours after the successful surgery. I was blessed to have no complications and a relatively easy recovery.

I lost count of the Atrium medical personnel I encountered during my short stint there, but they were all wonderful. I’ve always been in awe of health care staffers, the wonders they work and the challenges they face, and that remains.

I haven’t seen the bill yet, so my opinion might change. In all seriousness, though, I’m incredibly thankful for the thoughtful and thorough care I received. Kudos to all.

Across our country and even in Georgia, many communities are losing access to health care facilities and providers. Knowing Macon has so many stellar options is reassuring and a real feather in our overall cap.

While I was recovering, I took some time off and watched a lot of trash TV. My staff took on the extra workload without complaint or question. I work with the best of the best. We’re a small operation, and everyone on our staff goes above and beyond to meet and exceed our tagline, which is “reporting for Macon, from Macon.”

To you folks, take a read and know how proud I am of your work, your kindness to your colleagues and your willingness to take on things outside of the job description. Let’s keep doing this hard work. It’s vitally important, and we do it well.

Six days after surgery, I was on a plane to Miami to meet with colleagues at our parent organization, the National Trust for Local News, and to attend a media forum hosted by the Knight Foundation.

The National Trust is all in on Macon, and Maconites know Knight and its commitment to our city. You can probably infer how excited I was to be at both events.

I’ll write more about takeaways from those gatherings in the coming weeks, but here’s a broad stroke: The state of local news is complex, but there are so many people working to make sure you get — and keep — access to ethical, quality journalism.

We’ll keep working on it. Hopefully, you’ll keep reading and supporting our work.

I’ll continue to lead those efforts here in Macon — with the support and expertise of an excellent team.

And with no appendix.

Thanks again, Atrium friends. I’m grateful.

Joshua Wilson is the executive editor of The Macon Melody. Write to him at joshua@maconmelody.com.