It's Like This...
Apr. 10th, 2016 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alynwaLast Thursday, I went to see my Primary Care doctor with symptoms of a UTI. After testing, he prescribed Bactrim which I started that day. Friday night, I experienced some of the worst pain of my life. Saturday, I called his office and left the message that my symptoms were were exponentially worse. He called back and advised me to go to the ER. This was the first time in 40 years I've had to avail myself of ER services and I was psyching myself up for a horror show.
I arrived at 5, got triaged, checked in and pointed to the Adult Lounge to wait. Ten minutes later, I was called to get my vitals checked. Ten minutes after that, I was called for Medical Screening. That Physician's Ass't. told me my doctor had called him and told him what he wanted done and who he wanted to see me. Fifteen minutes later, I was called for bloodwork and urinalysis. I then was back in the Lounge waiting. After almost an hour, I was paged into the actual ER, placed on a gurney and stuck in a cubicle curtained off from my "neighbors." Then began a longer wait.
About an hour later, another Physician's Asst. came, advised me what my earlier tests had shown and told me that I was being sent for a CT scan after which I would eventually be moved to their Observation Unit for the night. Hmmm.
When I first arrived, my BP was 160/90, which is quite high for me. As the evening progressed and I learned more, it continued to drop until it reached my normal 110/70. After the CT and before the transfer, I was amusing myself by watching what was going on around me and trying to figure out how to utilize some of it in future stories. I couldn't play with my phone too much because though I had brought along a charger, I had not brought a plug for an outlet for either device so I could only recharge the phone once.
At one point, the woman to the left of me was coughing while the woman to the right of me was sneezing while the man in the gurney at my feet was moaning. All I could think of:
"Coughing to the left of me
Sneezing to the right!
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you!"
I actually had to cover my face because I cracked myself up. I know, I'm weird, but I couldn't help it.
Eventually, an orderly came and told me he was taking me to the Observation Unit. "You'll like it," he told me, "It's dark and quiet." By this time (11:30ish), the ER was getting busy, crowded and noisy.
The Unit is in the basement, so after a short elevator ride, he wheeled me to my room. I had been imagining a long corridor of hapless, helpless people like me lined up as Nurse Ratchett watched us doing...whatever. The reality was that I had a private room with a flat screen TV whose speakers were on either side of my head(!) in the bed. When the nurse came, I asked her why the bed was moving because I wasn't touching anything. "Oh," she said, "that is the new anti-bedsore technology; the bed adjusts and changes your pressure points." It was like lying in butter, my Tempurpedic times 100.
What was such a pleasant surprise during this experience was how nice everyone was! Everytime staff approached me, they introduced themselves before explaining why they were there and when they finished with me, every single one told me to "Feel better." I felt cared about. I loved it.
I was released today after I was enrolled into the hospital's Outpatient IV Clinic. For the next 10 days, I report back to receive antibiotics intravenously. The alternative would have been staying for the treatment. I much prefer this even though I had breakfast and lunch in the hospital today and I was shocked at how good it was.
Breakfast was oatmeal, a waffle with strawberries, orange juice, milk and coffee. Lunch was baked salmon, steamed asparagus and rice with slivered almonds, milk and tea. Both were really good. I had had no appetite and hadn't eaten since Thursday and wasn't hungry when breakfast came, but it tasted good enough to entice me to eat as did lunch.
So that was my weekend. How was yours?
I arrived at 5, got triaged, checked in and pointed to the Adult Lounge to wait. Ten minutes later, I was called to get my vitals checked. Ten minutes after that, I was called for Medical Screening. That Physician's Ass't. told me my doctor had called him and told him what he wanted done and who he wanted to see me. Fifteen minutes later, I was called for bloodwork and urinalysis. I then was back in the Lounge waiting. After almost an hour, I was paged into the actual ER, placed on a gurney and stuck in a cubicle curtained off from my "neighbors." Then began a longer wait.
About an hour later, another Physician's Asst. came, advised me what my earlier tests had shown and told me that I was being sent for a CT scan after which I would eventually be moved to their Observation Unit for the night. Hmmm.
When I first arrived, my BP was 160/90, which is quite high for me. As the evening progressed and I learned more, it continued to drop until it reached my normal 110/70. After the CT and before the transfer, I was amusing myself by watching what was going on around me and trying to figure out how to utilize some of it in future stories. I couldn't play with my phone too much because though I had brought along a charger, I had not brought a plug for an outlet for either device so I could only recharge the phone once.
At one point, the woman to the left of me was coughing while the woman to the right of me was sneezing while the man in the gurney at my feet was moaning. All I could think of:
"Coughing to the left of me
Sneezing to the right!
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you!"
I actually had to cover my face because I cracked myself up. I know, I'm weird, but I couldn't help it.
Eventually, an orderly came and told me he was taking me to the Observation Unit. "You'll like it," he told me, "It's dark and quiet." By this time (11:30ish), the ER was getting busy, crowded and noisy.
The Unit is in the basement, so after a short elevator ride, he wheeled me to my room. I had been imagining a long corridor of hapless, helpless people like me lined up as Nurse Ratchett watched us doing...whatever. The reality was that I had a private room with a flat screen TV whose speakers were on either side of my head(!) in the bed. When the nurse came, I asked her why the bed was moving because I wasn't touching anything. "Oh," she said, "that is the new anti-bedsore technology; the bed adjusts and changes your pressure points." It was like lying in butter, my Tempurpedic times 100.
What was such a pleasant surprise during this experience was how nice everyone was! Everytime staff approached me, they introduced themselves before explaining why they were there and when they finished with me, every single one told me to "Feel better." I felt cared about. I loved it.
I was released today after I was enrolled into the hospital's Outpatient IV Clinic. For the next 10 days, I report back to receive antibiotics intravenously. The alternative would have been staying for the treatment. I much prefer this even though I had breakfast and lunch in the hospital today and I was shocked at how good it was.
Breakfast was oatmeal, a waffle with strawberries, orange juice, milk and coffee. Lunch was baked salmon, steamed asparagus and rice with slivered almonds, milk and tea. Both were really good. I had had no appetite and hadn't eaten since Thursday and wasn't hungry when breakfast came, but it tasted good enough to entice me to eat as did lunch.
So that was my weekend. How was yours?
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no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 12:36 am (UTC)Glad you're hospital experience was better than you expected.Glad you're home and not hospitalized. Whew!
I think you had enough excitement this weekend for the both of us!
no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 02:26 am (UTC)Jealous of your CDU. Ours is less than 6 months old (new ED and CDU), but trust me, we ain't got waffles and strawberries!
Flowers for your feeling all better!
no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 03:45 am (UTC)I'm glad that aside from all the germs and all the waiting, you were treated well. That's great.
Do they know what's wrong?
I've watched ALOT of ER in my day, and a CT scan from UTI symptoms sounds pretty worrisome.
I hope you're doing better.
no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 04:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 12:03 pm (UTC)What did they decide was wrong?
no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-11 05:02 pm (UTC)The ER experience sounds typical, but the actual inpatient part sounds pretty awesome! Glad you felt like they noticed you were a person and not just an ailment.