Emergency Room nightmare is what tonight (rather last night, now that it is 2 am) was. Hubby has been out of town all week and his plane was delayed. I felt so bad for him.
My dad was following the ambulance that I was in. Did you know my Dad is an amputee, just had quadruple bypass, and is a survivor of a rare cancer that has a less than 10% survival rate? He is like the energizer bunny...he keeps on going. He is good with asking the doctors direct questions. He came to be with me since my husband was out of town.
We get there and it is like a scene straight from the hit show ER. People were lined up in the hallway and I became one of them. I can't imagine how bad it was for the people waiting out in the waiting room. They must have been there for hours. For as long as I was there, no bed opened up.
So, they did all the work up and everything right there in the hallway. I am doubled over in pain, even though I got a shot in the ambulance of some sort of cocktail. (No...it was not Rum and coke :)
My doctor finally comes to see me and is rather inpatient to hear why I was there. I showed him my cath bag which was full of blood. They took me to CT to examine my kidneys. I have to remember that they are just there to make sure you don't die. Anything above that, they can't deal with people. The CT scan showed no obstruction or hemorrhaging.
My husband made it home safely and despite my best efforts to tell him to go home and sleep. He has been working so hard and needed rest. But, he surprised me at the hospital and that was the best gift ever!
The doctor was all confused that I was at The Cleveland Clinic and had a Urologist there and then had a Urologist here too, He seemed very flustered and said quote "You are too complex of a patient, so you just follow up with your urologist" And off he went. Once again, leaving me feeling like I always do when I have to go to the ER...and that is having no faith in medicine whatsoever.
I just put my face in my hands and cried. Mainly because I am sick to death of being sick. I don't know what I am supposed to do in these situations. I mean where else would you go if you have knife like pains in your kidneys and bladder and your stomach is so distended. And worse, you are bleeding terribly. Where do you go? Every literature that I have read insists you go to the ER.
The Dr. told me "Oh, a drop or two of blood from the bladder will make it look worse than it really is....it will just turn it to a pinkish color." Even my husband chimed in and said "No, it is the color of that blood that is coming from her arm". AND not to mention that my Cath bag is completely Red. Sorry if that was TMI for you. They make me feel like I am some sort of idiot or something that I don't know what is going on. They can't be bothered.
It just leaves me even more jaded about doctors and especially the ER. I seem to be in this perpetual waiting and waiting and getting test results back which makes them to have to continue to do more specialized testing and more waiting. Of course, I care about the long term problems that I have that are going on. I recognize that will take sometime to get the answers back. However, in the short term....it is a nightmare. The low blood sugar that drops out of nowhere to (in the 30's) which is in coma time. My kidneys and bladder are in so much pain and it is unreal to think that no one here is going to do a lot about it. It is back to business as usual...get sent to this doctor, that doctor and no one is talking to each other.
I am at a complete loss as to what to do next. I was on the phone with Cleveland Clinic last night and they were more than accommodating to help me out with the ER in NC.
I am doing any and everything to keep the faith. I am blessed in so many ways that I can't believe how lucky I am. Sick or no sick....I am lucky and blessed to have amazing friends and family!
My dad was following the ambulance that I was in. Did you know my Dad is an amputee, just had quadruple bypass, and is a survivor of a rare cancer that has a less than 10% survival rate? He is like the energizer bunny...he keeps on going. He is good with asking the doctors direct questions. He came to be with me since my husband was out of town.
We get there and it is like a scene straight from the hit show ER. People were lined up in the hallway and I became one of them. I can't imagine how bad it was for the people waiting out in the waiting room. They must have been there for hours. For as long as I was there, no bed opened up.
So, they did all the work up and everything right there in the hallway. I am doubled over in pain, even though I got a shot in the ambulance of some sort of cocktail. (No...it was not Rum and coke :)
My doctor finally comes to see me and is rather inpatient to hear why I was there. I showed him my cath bag which was full of blood. They took me to CT to examine my kidneys. I have to remember that they are just there to make sure you don't die. Anything above that, they can't deal with people. The CT scan showed no obstruction or hemorrhaging.
My husband made it home safely and despite my best efforts to tell him to go home and sleep. He has been working so hard and needed rest. But, he surprised me at the hospital and that was the best gift ever!
The doctor was all confused that I was at The Cleveland Clinic and had a Urologist there and then had a Urologist here too, He seemed very flustered and said quote "You are too complex of a patient, so you just follow up with your urologist" And off he went. Once again, leaving me feeling like I always do when I have to go to the ER...and that is having no faith in medicine whatsoever.
I just put my face in my hands and cried. Mainly because I am sick to death of being sick. I don't know what I am supposed to do in these situations. I mean where else would you go if you have knife like pains in your kidneys and bladder and your stomach is so distended. And worse, you are bleeding terribly. Where do you go? Every literature that I have read insists you go to the ER.
The Dr. told me "Oh, a drop or two of blood from the bladder will make it look worse than it really is....it will just turn it to a pinkish color." Even my husband chimed in and said "No, it is the color of that blood that is coming from her arm". AND not to mention that my Cath bag is completely Red. Sorry if that was TMI for you. They make me feel like I am some sort of idiot or something that I don't know what is going on. They can't be bothered.
It just leaves me even more jaded about doctors and especially the ER. I seem to be in this perpetual waiting and waiting and getting test results back which makes them to have to continue to do more specialized testing and more waiting. Of course, I care about the long term problems that I have that are going on. I recognize that will take sometime to get the answers back. However, in the short term....it is a nightmare. The low blood sugar that drops out of nowhere to (in the 30's) which is in coma time. My kidneys and bladder are in so much pain and it is unreal to think that no one here is going to do a lot about it. It is back to business as usual...get sent to this doctor, that doctor and no one is talking to each other.
I am at a complete loss as to what to do next. I was on the phone with Cleveland Clinic last night and they were more than accommodating to help me out with the ER in NC.
I am doing any and everything to keep the faith. I am blessed in so many ways that I can't believe how lucky I am. Sick or no sick....I am lucky and blessed to have amazing friends and family!
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