Yesterday at the ER

[Guest guest]

Hey Y'all,

I spent most of yesterday in the emergency room. What fun! NOT!!! The

triage nurse determined that I had pulled a muscle in my back. That put

me at the bottom of the list behind colds and coughs! During triage I

specificly told her that I have multiple herniated disks in my spine and

that I had been unable to void my bladder since about 7:30am yesterday.

Still I went to the bottom of the list. I could not stand without

wobbling, could not sit without crying (and I'm NOT a cryer) I could not

walk without wanting to scream and I was not able to go to the bathroom

and I really NEEDED to go! Had to go to the registry department and

filled out a complaint form. When the ER did not respond to that

complaint, I had to go back to the registry department and voice my

concern about my bladder as well as my back. The head of the registry

department called the nursing supervisor and the war was on! Another

triage nurse came to re-triage me. She tried telling me what I had told

the previous triage nurse. I told her that she had been misinformed and

that she needed to get the original handwritten form that I filled in

when I arrived at the ER. She said that she didn't know where it was and

I told her that was NOT my problem. I told her that I had not received

adequate medical call for a condition that was considered an emergency

any where in the country and that I was not going to sit back and just

let it happen that way. I told her that if my bladder ruptured that I

would own the hospital along with her butt! I got a little nastier than

I should have, but I'm not going to regret it.

They had a nurse come get me and take me to a room to insert the Foley

catheter. The nurse nearly fainted. In less than 10 minutes they had

drained over 1000 cc of fluid off my bladder! The doctor, who I really

liked, showed up and asked me how I was doing. I told him that I still

had the pain and grinding in my spine but that my bladder felt so much

better. He looked at the bag and stormed out the door. He was ripping

nurses heads off all the way down the hall. The problem is, the nurse

that originally triaged me had gone home for the night. I made sure that

the doctor had her name before I left!!!

They checked me for a bladder infection, gave me a shot for the pain and

a prescription for pain. Gave me a referral to a pain management clinic

and was very nice to me the rest of the time. The registry staff came

back to see about me several times and the nursing supervisor was my

best friend by the time that I left!!! The first triage nurse is going

to catch it when she returns to work, the second triage nurse caught it

from the doctor and nursing supervisor last night as well as me letting

her have it with both barrels so to speak. She avoided me the rest of

the night and I was OK with that!!!

The point of this long post is that just because we are disabled or in

pain, it does not give any one the right, including doctors and nurses

to dismiss our complaints. It is NOT OK for them to determine without

talking to us or examining us that we are drug seeking. It is not OK to

determine that they know more about what is really wrong with us than we

know! They have not seen the doctors that we have seen, they were not

present when we were seen by other doctors and it is NOT within their

rights to attempt to withhold treatment based on what they " think " is

wrong with us!

Still in severe pain, but still relishing in the adrenalin rush!