Went through a horrible time this week...fri. I was achy and felt uncomfortable. I just figured it was the rain that was coming.
Well, by Sat. night I could barely walk and was in terrible pain.
Couldn't reach my primary care doctor at all...phone was stuck in a loop..."please wait to be transferred..." over and over...
I finally went to the ER on Sun. afternoon when I was able to secure a ride.
Sat in a wheelchair for 4 hours - then saw the on 4yr med student for about 5 min. He listened to my breathing, checked to see how tender my back and sides were. Then I got to talk to the on call doctor for about 3min. who didn't check me at all. (must have been using some x-ray glasses to evaluate my condition...I would have gotten a better exam from TSA security!) He prescribes me Flex-something and sends me home (no pain management meds either - despite the fact I'm in pain.)
I take a short cat nap and wake to find that I'm in even worse condition than before! I can barely stand now, can't tend to my personal care and can hardly walk. I also lose control of some functions and my right leg is going numb at the thigh.
(for anyone that has gone through back labor - that is what the pain was like...only difference is that back labor ends - this wasn't!)
I finally gave in and called for an ambulance - for a start the 4mg of morphine I was given didn't even touch the pain...that should have given someone a clue.
I waited for 3 hours for someone to finally give me something for the pain. Then I finally napped for about 20 min. It was the first real sleep I'd had in several days. I wasn't given anything to drink (not even ice chips) the entire time I was in the ER (9am ish to midnight) I was pushed to the MRI machine and just looking at that machine...it was like trying to put a cow in a rabbit hole! But they tried to put me in anyway and then bounced me all over shifting me from one table to the next. If they'd given me the pain meds, I could have taken a wheel chair and done something - but they wouldn't keep the pain down - the first dose had already worn off by the time they were bouncing me about.
I get back to the room and I call for my nurse, I call for some drink, I even ask for meds...it takes over 45min for anyone to answer and then it's "Oh, let me check..." and they never come back. I finally get some more meds right before they take me away to be stuck with needles. But it isn't pain meds...It's Prince Valium! Like that is going to do a thing for the pain...they are just tired of me bugging them. I have fibroids that make my stomach distend and make it hard. (Can't seem to get that taken care of either...) and these medical people keep saying "is your stomach always that hard?" 1. that isn't my stomach - 2. how often do I have to repeat myself before you stop asking... I felt like pounded up hamburger by the time I got back to my little ER room and made myself rather vocal about getting the pain stopped. (squeaky hinge gets the oil - right?)
During the whole thing, no one spoke to me about much - only to the other doctors. I felt like a kid being ignored, because of course I wouldn't understand - I was only living in my body...they knew more about it than foolish little old me.
Finally the one doctor...young female, bet she lost the draw, tells me that I have this and that and talks to me in medical speak...rather than English. Then says they are sending me home - at almost 8pm! I state that I need transportation and then the nurse comes in with my papers, says I have a Valium prescription, but there's no pain management meds. I ask if she can check about that. Here I'm all hooked up to this or that machine - with tubes connected on both ends. The nurse leaves to ask about pain meds and I slowly drift in a daze due to the pain killer she stuck in my IV (most likely to shut me up)...next thing I know some guy is at the door asking if I'm ready to go.
GO???? I'm still hooked up-connected to things and not even in my clothes! Where was the nurse that was supposed to help me get ready? I begin to feel the distant twinge of pain...I ask what time it is...It's about midnight! A male nurse comes in, in a rush, he finds my confusion and the fact I'd like to get dressed annoying. He removes tubes a tad abruptly, constantly saying- "I just came on. I don't know what you're talking about."
I finally get him to allow me to dress, reminding him to close the door for privacy...I finally manage to get ready, though I'm unsteady and feel very disconnected and floaty. I can feel the pain in the distance...knowing I've got to do what I can while I've the wall between the pain and myself.
I finally get wheeled out to a van, in the rain (they didn't even drive up to the door) and told to get in the front seat with little help. The transport men are not interested in me, they talk to one another and just make sure of my address. Then ignore me the rest of the time. The older one is dropped off, then the younger one drives me to my address. When I reach home, my son and daughter come out with an umbrella and help me. The transport person didn't even get out to offer any help. I had no shoes on either, so as soon as I touched the road and was out of the way, the driver closed the door and left.
My grown kids got me into the house and helped to settle me as comfortably as possible.
That was the most horrid ER visit I've had in many decades! I thought that medical services had improved, not collapsed.
I was severely dehydrated also, so my children made sure I got plenty of fluids and a light meal. They were very upset when they saw the bruising on my arm, legs, hips & back the next morning. I've reported what happened to the patient care rep. at the hospital. I'm hoping that this kind of thing won't happen to someone else.
I still have no idea what caused the problem, I'm taking some meds - mostly OTC and I'm taking it easy. I'm trying to get an appt. to find out what happened and how to keep it from happening again.
I've a high pain tolerance - but this pain is not something I want to deal with again. But to manage it I need to know what happened.
I have arthritis in my hips. I have a lower lumbar injury. I've a weight issue do to the growth of the fibroids and I've some blood sugar issues that cause me not to be hungry. (I don't look fat, I look pregnant. Mostly due to the bulge of the fibroid up front. It's frustrating that they won't do anything. They just tell me to wait for menopause. Gee, thanks!)
But something happened this last week that caused a major problem and turned my life upside down and I'd like to get to the bottom of it. I need to know, cause I don't want that kind of thing to disrupt my quality of life - limited as it is...to be lessened even more.
