Dear editor,

Over a period of six days, my husband was in Emergency, the Telemetry Ward and ICU at the Comox Valley Hospital where he was diagnosed with a very rare condition called swallowing syncope.

He was taken by ambulance to Royal Jubilee Hospital, had a state-of-the-art pacemaker put in and monitored to make sure he was OK before being discharged.

Because this is such a rare condition, he underwent heart monitoring, blood pressure tests, EKGs, x-rays and a CAT scan. He is home now, hale and hardy, looking forward to getting back on his motorcycle and getting on with gardening.

We are so thankful for all the care, patience, professionalism and kindness of all the medical staff both locally and at Royal Jubilee Hospital. If you have any doubt about our medical system, you need only to have been in our shoes this last week to know that we are second to none in our medical care.

Karen and Karl Langenmaier,

Courtenay