eye opening personal experience-our health system
i am typing this hunt and peck style, as i only have one usable arm...
need to vent.....
yesterday afternoon, around 4, epitome of grace that i am, took a dive on the pavement after tripping over a garden hose.
i knew immediately, because i could feel myself getting shocky, and from the way the bones of mt elbow were sticking out at odd angles, that i had done something.
went to the local er. need to say something about local er. you might wast to second-guess your choice of hopiyals when their crash-carts are made by 'craftsman'. no lie, will downloads the pick as soon as able. after 4 hours and 8 x-rays, nurse practitioner gives me the good news, dislocation, and fractures of the radius and ulna, and as they do not have an orthopedec surgeon on call, and due to the fact that this is a serious injury requiring likely immediate surgury, they are going to splint it and send me to the hospital in a slightly larger town 15 miles away. before we leave, i ask the nurse if i have any x-rays to take with, and she says that they have no hard copies of x-rays, everything is on disc now, and she does not think this second hospital had the softwear to use the disc, but second er docs could access the x-rays on computer. arrived at second er at approx. 9pm. waited in waiting room for an hour, while triage nurses ask me if i have any x-rayds, and i explain what the hospital told me, only to be told this is not true, they should have sent the disc, and i would need another series of x-rays. well, by this time, someone finally decides that i moght be in pain, and i'm given the happy juice.
2 orthopeds check out my second set of x-rays, and decide that as the head of my radius is shattered in 3 peices, that this is not a job they can tackle, and i should be treated at a trauma center. ask me my choices, i give them. in the meantime, they shoot my elbow foll of lidocane, and temporarily re-allign the dilocation, and put a temporary cast on it, and prepare tyo have mwe transported to that hospital.
first hospital REFUSES to take me, i don't know why, i guess it is theire perogative, maybe they were over crowded, i do not know, bot i have to assume this is thwe case, as second choice in same city refuses, as they are under a 'CODE RED', meaning they cannot take any new patients. third choice, only ortho on call tonight is already in surgury with a chainsaw injury, can't work on me tonight, 4th choice state they are full.
so, they give me 3 lortab, admonish me not to eat or drink anything today, and to contact 3rd choice first thing in the morning.
so, here is is, 18 hours after a seriously fractured arm, and the hospital just calls me back, to let me know i can come. will take us 2 hours to get there, and we are leaving as soon as mike gets dressed.
this is crazy!!!! i have insurance, so it is not a qestion of them getting paid.
I'M JUST AGAST, HUNGRY, THISTY, IN PAIN, AND CRANKY....
need to vent.....
yesterday afternoon, around 4, epitome of grace that i am, took a dive on the pavement after tripping over a garden hose.
i knew immediately, because i could feel myself getting shocky, and from the way the bones of mt elbow were sticking out at odd angles, that i had done something.
went to the local er. need to say something about local er. you might wast to second-guess your choice of hopiyals when their crash-carts are made by 'craftsman'. no lie, will downloads the pick as soon as able. after 4 hours and 8 x-rays, nurse practitioner gives me the good news, dislocation, and fractures of the radius and ulna, and as they do not have an orthopedec surgeon on call, and due to the fact that this is a serious injury requiring likely immediate surgury, they are going to splint it and send me to the hospital in a slightly larger town 15 miles away. before we leave, i ask the nurse if i have any x-rays to take with, and she says that they have no hard copies of x-rays, everything is on disc now, and she does not think this second hospital had the softwear to use the disc, but second er docs could access the x-rays on computer. arrived at second er at approx. 9pm. waited in waiting room for an hour, while triage nurses ask me if i have any x-rayds, and i explain what the hospital told me, only to be told this is not true, they should have sent the disc, and i would need another series of x-rays. well, by this time, someone finally decides that i moght be in pain, and i'm given the happy juice.
2 orthopeds check out my second set of x-rays, and decide that as the head of my radius is shattered in 3 peices, that this is not a job they can tackle, and i should be treated at a trauma center. ask me my choices, i give them. in the meantime, they shoot my elbow foll of lidocane, and temporarily re-allign the dilocation, and put a temporary cast on it, and prepare tyo have mwe transported to that hospital.
first hospital REFUSES to take me, i don't know why, i guess it is theire perogative, maybe they were over crowded, i do not know, bot i have to assume this is thwe case, as second choice in same city refuses, as they are under a 'CODE RED', meaning they cannot take any new patients. third choice, only ortho on call tonight is already in surgury with a chainsaw injury, can't work on me tonight, 4th choice state they are full.
so, they give me 3 lortab, admonish me not to eat or drink anything today, and to contact 3rd choice first thing in the morning.
so, here is is, 18 hours after a seriously fractured arm, and the hospital just calls me back, to let me know i can come. will take us 2 hours to get there, and we are leaving as soon as mike gets dressed.
this is crazy!!!! i have insurance, so it is not a qestion of them getting paid.
I'M JUST AGAST, HUNGRY, THISTY, IN PAIN, AND CRANKY....
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That sucks. I hope you are ok. 0 -
Sorry to hear about your pain and your ordeal. That's not fun. I do hope you get to feeling better soon and wish you a speedy recovery.
E.R.s can be a nightmare -- they do, believe it or not, triage incoming patients to prioritize. So, you may sit there for three hours, waiting for someone -- anyone -- but you may not know that there are four E.R. doctors trying to save the life of one person down the hall.
Being in a small-town hospital that doesn't see much in the line of serious injuries is a mixed blessing -- great that you don't have it, horrible when you do and you need it.0 -
Good luck. Hope you get better soon.
BTW, you did a pretty good job of typing that, even with an f-ed up arm0 -
Very sorry to hear about your injury and especially the way you were treated. Sounds like this area. They will screw you around for awhile before sending you to where you can get treated. 0 -
yer pretty tough!
Ben0 -
Soory to hear what you went through. Been on both sides on the story before. I can understand what and why. Get better soon. 0 -
Hope things work out for you today.Thats gotta hurt. 0 -
Yes may you heal quickly.[;)] 0 -
they where probalby full of little whiny meximericans. [:(!]
something similar happened to me 3-4 yrs ago skill saw tried to yank a couple of my fingers off. 8hrs later they sent me home. 4 days later they called me back and sent me to another hosiptal for surgery. sons a b1tches
get well soon, good luck, and do "ALL" the phy's theraphy as hard as you can. it will be worth it in the long run.0 -
A two hour trip with Mike driving should take about an hour!!![:D]
I hope you get it taken care of up there!!! Let us know how you make out!!!
Tim0 -
Oh Mannn!!! You are gonna get a Hatful of bills from different places , all for the same injury!!!I can smell the phone lines smokin', while you Splain yourself to the Insurance company! Good luck!!!
Hope the mend is not too long or painful, and that the drugs handle your needs.0 -
OOOOoooWWWWWwwwww....sorry to hear all that you are dealing with! I wonder if they would have sent you away if you had rode up in an ambulance. 0
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