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monkey5sLast Saturday I got sick. Details are too tedious to go over. It has resulted in TWO (count 'em, TWO) trips to the emergency room, a visit to my family practitioner between them in the horrible heavy snow of our blizzard-o-doom, and a bonus EXTRA visit to the same hospital this morning, after a fabulous hour and a half of sleep, to get the actual test my doctor sent me to get last night.
When I went down to the emergency room last night, it was because my doctor had done a blood test that, if results were above normal, could indicate a blood clot. She called me at home at almost 8 pm to tell me the results were high and she wanted me to go to the emergency room right away to get a doppler test on the leg that has developed a skin infection. I told the admitting staff what test I was supposed to get when I was checking in. They said yes, of course, but the doctor who saw me would have to order it. Fine.
Doctor decided that I needed another test as well, to check for blood clots in my lungs, and she would order both. As the tech was trying to insert a line to get the contrast agent administered for the CT scan of my chest, the doctor came in all apologetic, telling me that she had forgotten that the department that does the lower extremity tests closes down at 9pm. And that I would have to come back in the morning for that test, and the only opening they had was 8:30am. I was really angry. She seemed to feel like I was attacking her, but my question was, if the department closed down at 9pm, why did the ER admitting people not tell me when I got there and asked specifically for that test? I could have said, "OK then, I'll come back in the morning" and gone home and had a real night's sleep. Instead, I spent 5 1/2 hours in the ER, got a CT scan, was given the disgusting potassium drink because my potassium was way low (I've been very dehydrated from the fever), and had plenty of time to sit and think angry hateful thoughts about the hospital, while my s-i-l glowered in the corner because I had begged her to come with me.
Then when I drove myself down to the hospital this morning, I discovered that the doctor's instructions for where I went to get the test I was supposed to get were completely incorrect. It was another nightmare of trying to get to where I needed, and I was again angry because, when she went to get the information for me, SHE was given the correct information for a weekend outpatient visit. For someone who was coming in on a Thursday.
Obviously, neither test showed blood clots (or I would be in the hospital instead of at home). The dizziness and shortness of breath that made my doctor suspect a blood clot in my lungs all went away when I drank a lot and got the potassium back up.
I'm going back to work tomorrow, because there are things I HAVE TO GET DONE BEFORE I AM OUT OF THERE. And I'm still sorry I missed the big Christmas Eve feast, but I was still so sick with the fever and intestinal crud at that time, that sitting upright was still a feat.
Hoping for a MUCH BETTER 2013.
When I went down to the emergency room last night, it was because my doctor had done a blood test that, if results were above normal, could indicate a blood clot. She called me at home at almost 8 pm to tell me the results were high and she wanted me to go to the emergency room right away to get a doppler test on the leg that has developed a skin infection. I told the admitting staff what test I was supposed to get when I was checking in. They said yes, of course, but the doctor who saw me would have to order it. Fine.
Doctor decided that I needed another test as well, to check for blood clots in my lungs, and she would order both. As the tech was trying to insert a line to get the contrast agent administered for the CT scan of my chest, the doctor came in all apologetic, telling me that she had forgotten that the department that does the lower extremity tests closes down at 9pm. And that I would have to come back in the morning for that test, and the only opening they had was 8:30am. I was really angry. She seemed to feel like I was attacking her, but my question was, if the department closed down at 9pm, why did the ER admitting people not tell me when I got there and asked specifically for that test? I could have said, "OK then, I'll come back in the morning" and gone home and had a real night's sleep. Instead, I spent 5 1/2 hours in the ER, got a CT scan, was given the disgusting potassium drink because my potassium was way low (I've been very dehydrated from the fever), and had plenty of time to sit and think angry hateful thoughts about the hospital, while my s-i-l glowered in the corner because I had begged her to come with me.
Then when I drove myself down to the hospital this morning, I discovered that the doctor's instructions for where I went to get the test I was supposed to get were completely incorrect. It was another nightmare of trying to get to where I needed, and I was again angry because, when she went to get the information for me, SHE was given the correct information for a weekend outpatient visit. For someone who was coming in on a Thursday.
Obviously, neither test showed blood clots (or I would be in the hospital instead of at home). The dizziness and shortness of breath that made my doctor suspect a blood clot in my lungs all went away when I drank a lot and got the potassium back up.
I'm going back to work tomorrow, because there are things I HAVE TO GET DONE BEFORE I AM OUT OF THERE. And I'm still sorry I missed the big Christmas Eve feast, but I was still so sick with the fever and intestinal crud at that time, that sitting upright was still a feat.
Hoping for a MUCH BETTER 2013.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-28 03:44 am (UTC)2013, remember: we've set that bar really, really low. All you have to do is lift your foot a tiny, tiny bit to be a better year than the last couple. Give it a go, will ya?