I hate going to the ER. You'd have to be crazy to like it there. But as someone who has had to go to the ER more times than I can remember, I detest it there. Absolutely hate it! I think it is the worst place to go when you are sick. Yes, they treat you, but unless you are having a heart attack or come in by ambulance, you have to wait. And you never know how long the wait will be. It isn't a first come, first serve kind of place. You don't take a number and wait, like at the bakery. You are treated by the severity of your condition. For me, my possible condition is fairly serious, but it isn't life or death. So I sometimes have to wait.
Yesterday, I had a lot of pain during the day, and didn't have regular BMs, instead I just had one small one that was black, which generally means blood. So I called my GI to ask what I should do. He called me around 5:00 as my hands were covered by pizza dough. He wanted me to go to the ER, and warned me that I might end up being admitted. So I called my mom and asked her to come stay with my son so my husband could take me to the ER. We arrived at the ER around 6:00. I was told repeatedly that I would be seen right away.
After an hour, I was told I would be next. Instead, after an hour and a half, they pulled me to the side of the waiting area to try to start an IV. The nurse told me he'd been doing it for 27 years when I told him that I am hard to get IVs to start. Of course, he couldn't get one started. He called for IV services to come down with an ultrasound. By the time the IV guy came, they had a room for me. So we went back to my room, and the IV guy, Jeff, got it started after only 2 tries. So it took 3 stabs for the IV to get started. My BP in triage had been high, around 150/100 or so, because I was in excruciating pain. It remained high while I was there, even though my normal BP is around 117/70. Then, instead of seeing a doctor, I was seen by a med student. She was great, but it was odd that I wasn't treated by a doctor. She ordered some morphine for me, and the wonderful nurse Pat was so kind as to inject the morphine very slowly, so I never got that funky feeling I get when they slam it in. Blood tests were ordered, and the first phlebotomist couldn't get blood from her first stick, and then she said she'd definitely be able to get blood from the inside of the wrist, which hurts like heck. But I wanted to get the blood drawn, as I knew it was going to be difficult to get the blood drawn. As usual, it didn't work, and my left wrist was in a lot of pain.
While waiting for the next phlebotomist to come, I had a CT scan. I have to be at some sort of cancer risk from all the CT scans I've had done. But they offered to do an X-ray instead, but past experience is that they do the X-ray, and it is inconclusive so then the do the CT. So I just went right for the CT.
After that, my husband & I watched most of Secrets of the Dead. It was an episode I'd seen before, which was good (where they examine the remains found in Mexico of an Aztec massacre). It took about an hour to get the results of the CT scan, but I still hadn't had blood drawn. Then, the med student told me the CT scan showed no obstruction or abscess. Instead, it showed inflammation, but no change from the CT scan I had done in July. I asked the med student if the inflammation was localized or spread throughout my intestines, and she informed me that the inflammation was widespread all through my large and small intestine.
They finally got my blood drawn, and it was OK. So they sent me home with an Rx for vicodin and told me to call my doctor. I was able to sleep until almost 11 this morning, so I didn't have too much of a morphine hangover.
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