Longtime cattleman and Reba’s big brother Pake McEntire traveled 150 miles from his home on the range in Oklahoma to correct a complex gallbladder problem in Dallas.
But it was no city slicker doctor who performed his minimally invasive procedure at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Instead, Pake came all that way to be treated by a neighbor he’d never met before: Paul Tarnasky, MD, medical director of the Methodist Digestive Institute at Methodist Dallas.
“The service and the courtesy and kindness and promptness were just great at Methodist,” says Pake, a former member of the Singing McEntires with his own hit single, a fiddle player, and a steer roper like his world champion father, Clark. “And come to find out, my neighbor is a doctor with his own ranch up here in Coal County.”
Thanks to Dr. Tarnasky and his staff at Methodist Dallas, the 72-year-old violin virtuoso is healthy again and ready to pick and grin for the next hootenanny at his sister Reba’s Place.
Pake has been raising cattle on his ranch in Oklahoma for over 50 years.
‘THOUGHT I WAS DYING’
It was spring 2018 when Pake experienced his first gallbladder attack. It wouldn’t be the last.
“I thought I was having a heart attack,” he says of that day he won’t forget. “I thought I was dying.”
Pake first went to a hospital in nearby Atoka, where they ruled out a heart problem, and was transferred to a bigger medical center just across the border in Texas. There he was diagnosed and referred to Methodist Dallas, where the specialized staff is equipped to deal with a problem like Pake’s.
“I had no idea about the symptoms of a gallbladder attack,” Pake says. “It was midnight when we got down there to your hospital. I was so weak. I could barely walk in the door.”
It turns out that Pake had a gallstone lodged in his bile duct and would need a minimally invasive procedure known as an ERCP, or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.
Pake’s ranch isn’t far from his sister Reba’s Place in Atoka, Oklahoma.
PATIENTS FROM FAR AND WIDE
Dr. Tarnasky performed the ERCP, a procedure where an endoscope is passed through the mouth, stomach, and small intestine all the way to the bile ducts. Once a diagnostic tool, ERCPs now serve a therapeutic purpose, pinpointing the problem and correcting it in a single procedure.
“Pake had a complex biliary drainage problem,” says Dr. Tarnasky, known as “T” by his patients. “And it needed our expertise.”
Dr. Tarnasky would soon learn that his patient was not only “country music royalty,” but also his neighbor on the wide-open prairie of Oklahoma. Referrals from neighboring states are nothing new for his team at Methodist Dallas.
“We get referrals from all over,” Dr. Tarnasky says. “We get a fair amount from Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.”
Dr. Tarnasky was born in small-town North Dakota and grew up in Idaho, so he takes pride in putting his patients like Pake at ease after they drive for miles to receive care in Dallas.
“They often have some anxiety about driving to Dallas for a complicated procedure that can’t be handled locally,” he says. “The nurses identify where they’re coming from, and they can say, ‘Relax, Dr. T is one of you.’”
Pake’s home on the range is full of mementos and photos of his famous family.
MUSEUM OF THE McENTIRES
Pake was dubious when he first learned that his neighbor back in Oklahoma would be performing his procedure, but Dr. Tarnasky quickly won him over.
“I’ve got ranchers and farmers on both sides of my family,” says Dr. Tarnasky, who has been practicing in the Dallas area for over 30 years but stays true to his ranching roots by maintaining a ranch in Coal County, Oklahoma.
As for Pake, he may have lost his gallbladder — an organ that is often removed when gallstones cause problems — but he’s gained a fan in Dr. Tarnasky, who later visited Pake’s ranch to deliver a Christmas gift.
“His house is like a museum,” Dr. Tarnasky says. “He’s got his dad’s rodeo saddles, and he’s got three of his gold records on the wall. It was a lot of fun.”
Still grateful for the care he received at Methodist Dallas, Pake is ready and willing to give his caregivers a show at his sister Reba’s popular restaurant and entertainment venue in Atoka.
“Tell them doctors and nurses if they want any good fiddle playing and singing at Reba’s to just give me a call,” he says.
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