Why Access Matters: One CT Scan, One Life Saved

Gordan's Story

This is why it’s important to have a CT functioning all the time.  Without it, we wouldn’t have known what Gordon had and we wouldn’t have been able to treat it, and we wouldn’t have been able to transfer him anywhere due to the storm.

-Dr. Craig Burrows

On January 9, 2024, Gordon Madison showed up at the Mammoth Hospital Emergency Room in “serious crisis,” as he describes it.

“I’m not a person who goes to the hospital,” Gordon says. “If I’m going to the ER, I’m carrying a limb with me.”

Gordon, a resident of Crowley Lake, had been airlifted to Renown on New Year’s Day 2024 with severe abdominal issues that required surgery, which he recovered from. But several weeks later, he found himself unable to breathe and back in the Mammoth Hospital ER. A CT scan revealed a grave diagnosis—a massive pulmonary embolism. A blood clot in his lungs. A storm was raging in the Eastern Sierra, and flying Gordon out was not an option.

Dr. Craig Burrows, Hospitalist, hoped that treating Gordon with a simple blood thinner would work, because his recent surgery put him at higher risk for use of a thrombolytic, or “clot buster” medication. But despite the blood thinner, Gordon’s condition continued to deteriorate. The clot buster, said Dr. Burrows, was his only option. He called in General Surgeon Dr. Sarah Sindell for support.

“The doctor was very frank,” said Gordon in the wake of his experience. “He said, ‘You may or may not live through this, but it’s all we’ve got.’”

Gordon prayed.

“I was at peace. I was so confident in my care and because of the bedside manner of everybody, I felt like I was in very good hands.”

“This is why it’s important to have a CT functioning all the time,” says Dr. Burrows. “Without it, we wouldn’t have known what Gordon had and we wouldn’t have been able to treat it, and we wouldn’t have been able to transfer him anywhere due to the storm.”

“I came to Mammoth Hospital once I recovered to express my gratitude to my caregivers,” says Gordon. “I was so excited for them to see me walking down the hallway to give them all hugs, instead of in a morgue.”