We took the Angry Baker to the LSU emergency department last night. His condition wasn't an emergency (shortness of breath; he's fighting off pneumonia again), but all the urgent care centers and his doctor's office were closed because of the power outage -- not even the answering service was available. We thought, hey! There are functional 120V outlets in the ED! How bad could it be?
Of course he was triaged into the least urgent group, so we got to sit around in the waiting room with the other non-emergent cases. These included a young man with a skin condition and a young lady in gastrointestinal distress. While we were waiting, the ED handled a trauma case and an old man brought in in full arrest. Meanwhile, the sick and merely uncomfortable slowly filtered back one by one.
The ED wasn't terribly busy. We were there about 3 hours. We listened to one mother talk about her son turning himself in for arrest and being unable to make his court date because he was arrested on some other charge on the way to court -- as if this was perfectly normal, and just a spot of difficulty that any fine, upstanding young man might find himself in. During this time (throughout the entire 3 hours), the young lady with the stomach flu moaned and wailed without ceasing. She cried for her mommy. She said (loudly) that she was dying. She screamed, she begged, she was obnoxious. (She barfed only once, but made sure to make so much noise during the act that the entire waiting room could hear her.) Her partner held his head in his hands and tried to become invisible. By contrast, those with sprained ankles and collapsed lungs and feverish babies were patient and dignified. The 86-year-old wife of the old man brought in in arrest wept quietly in a corner, her son holding her hand.
We shouldn't have been there, like about 50% of the other patients in the waiting room.
It pays to be nice to the triage nurse when your condition is not emergent. We explained that we were there only because of the power outage, and that we would go away if they were too busy to see us. The staff could not have been more pleasant, and AB went back to a bed before the howling, nauseated banshee and the psoriasis patient, much to their mutual disgust. The banshee was so disgusted, in fact, that she found the strength to pull herself up from the 3-4 chairs she was occupying and walk out the door without being seen at all. Even though we shouldn't have been there, I'd like to think we helped out a little just by giving her the motivation to leave.
The AB is fine. We left with a prescription for antibiotics and advice to load up on the mucinex. Current ETA for electricity is Sunday night.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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7 comments:
I'm astonished that you were only there three hours; the last time I was in the emergency room, when I was 17, with a much lower load of people (but with my having the same health problem as AB) it took me 14 hours to get through the emergency room, ten of which were spent waiting. Maybe I wasn't nice enough to the triage nurse?
I hope power comes back soon. Even going to urgent care for medical stuff like that--which I had to do when I was unemployed, as doctors were in high demand in my town--is really no fun, and the emergency room is worse.
I wonder if she had appendicitis. When mine first hit, I was puking and in pain, too. They misdiagnosed it, so I lived with it for ten years, but they finally found it during an exploratory surgery. Just wondering.
Waiting in the ER when you can't breathe sucks. I hope he gets better, and I really hope you guys get your power back on. Sunday?! Ugh. That's awful. At least it's not winter, right?
I'm sure the banshee was annoying, but really what's the most logical way to act in an insane situation (say, when the health care system is ridiculously overpriced and inaccessible). Eventually I'm sure that acting like a banshee becomes the most logical. Not that I blame you for being annoyed. But maybe we should all be acting like banshees.
Thanks so much for your kind words. It is refreshing to see someone actually recognize that they are not the most ill person in the emergency room.
When I had to work the ED I used to dread "Zone 3" -- the nonemergent hallway. It seem to be constantly filled with people who had minor ailments (which I don't mind treating,) big attitudes, and a predelection for abusing the resident staff.
Fortunatly, I graduated, and now I only come to the ED for the sickest of patients. However I remember, and symphathize with, your trials in "Zone 3."
I'm glad AB is OK.
Last time I was in the ER to take my hypochondriac brother, we were privileged to hear a banshee of our own. I wonder if they get together to discuss the banshee agenda.
Being nice to the emergency department is often helpful and always to be recommended.
When I had food poisoning I felt too sick to move so stayed home. For the first four hours I wanted to die to make it stop hurting. For two more hours of lying on the bathroom floor it was "Oh damn I'm going to live and have to keep hurting," then it was over.
Luckily it wasn't pig-belly.
Ouch- just catching up because I was also without power (and buttons and zippers and other witchcraft).
May the AB make a triumphant return to baking...
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