A Critical Scan After A Critical Fall

Michael's Story

You were inspiring, caring and full of love during my ordeal. You all made my stay a little easier in spite of the trauma to my body and spirit. My simple words cannot express my true feelings and thoughts.

-Michael DeAngelis

On August 4, 2023, G. Michael DeAngelis was riding his mountain bike in Mammoth when he hit a wash of roots and rocks and went down—collapsing a lung and breaking five ribs. “I have never been in so much pain,” he recalls.

He hadn’t been in a hospital in 25 years when he landed in the Mammoth Hospital Emergency Room, where he was treated by general surgeons Dr. Sarah Sindell and Dr. Richard Koehler. Michael ended up undergoing a CT, or Computed Tomography, scan, which showed fluid in his collapsed lung. Doctors at Mammoth Hospital worked to remove the fluid before Michael was eventually transferred to Renown medical center in Reno.

He later wrote a note to his caregivers. “You were inspiring, caring and full of love during my ordeal. You all made my stay a little easier in spite of the trauma to my body and spirit. My simple words cannot express my true feelings and thoughts.”

“It was a lifesaving procedure for me,” Michael said of the fluid drain that his CT scan showed was necessary. Mammoth’s Emergency Room physicians and general surgeons unanimously agree that the CT is the hospital’s “number one diagnostic tool,” according to Kyle Howell, M.D., Emergency Room doctor.