Portrait Of A Failed Hospital Visit
My doctor asked me to call him with an update today, to let him know how I'm doing. So I called him, around 1:30pm, and left a message with his answering service (the only way you can communicate at all) telling him that I'm maaaaaybe 20-25% better, that my pain is still very positional, and that I'm still getting dizzy and falling down with any effort or exertion.
At 6pm he finally called me back; he's worried about my lack of improvement. In particular, he's worried about my heart. Enough that he felt that I need a cardiac ultrasound. Immediately. He ordered me to go to the ER tonight, and told me that he'd call ahead to let them know to expect me.
I had to run home (I was on my way back from a euthanasia, so I had to handle the aftercare), but I was at the ER by 7pm. Where I got hung up at intake because they had no record of my impending arrival.
After half an hour of hunting, paging doctors and offices, checking multiple departments and hospitals, digging through stacks of faxes, and generally failing, a note was finally found that my doctor had called, but that the day shift person had failed to write it down anywhere, and hadn't told anyone on the night shift about the call. No worries, though; I was promised that I could be admitted through the ER and get the ultrasound tonight.
So I was admitted to the ER. Where they.... started the entire triage from last week again. Wouldn't listen to a word I said. After half an hour, when I was informed that I would be getting bloodwork and chest x-rays and an EKG, and told them that I had had all of that done RIGHT THERE ONE WEEK AGO and all I needed was an ultrasound, I was told that they don't do that there.
Not at all. No after-hours ultrasound service at all, no urgent ultrasound service at all. All imaging must be scheduled, at least one week in advance.
It would have been super helpful if they had told my doctor this when he called. Or me, when I came in. As it was, I'm at risk now of being rejected for future procedures because the end result was that I now have a record of showing up with chest pain and then departing without being seen (because I see no reason in repeating the same tests that were non-diagnostic last time). And I still don't have the test I need.
The only option they gave me was to be admitted overnight in the hopes of a slot opening in the morning, if the ICU docs felt it was crucial. At which point I decided to just come home, because I can be here and be slightly less miserable. I've left a message with my doctor's answering service, letting them know that I wasn't able to get the test they requested; hopefully they'll be able to find someplace that can do it sometime over the next couple of days.
But.... big fail, Lawrence Memorial Hospital. And I'm tired of being broken.
At 6pm he finally called me back; he's worried about my lack of improvement. In particular, he's worried about my heart. Enough that he felt that I need a cardiac ultrasound. Immediately. He ordered me to go to the ER tonight, and told me that he'd call ahead to let them know to expect me.
I had to run home (I was on my way back from a euthanasia, so I had to handle the aftercare), but I was at the ER by 7pm. Where I got hung up at intake because they had no record of my impending arrival.
After half an hour of hunting, paging doctors and offices, checking multiple departments and hospitals, digging through stacks of faxes, and generally failing, a note was finally found that my doctor had called, but that the day shift person had failed to write it down anywhere, and hadn't told anyone on the night shift about the call. No worries, though; I was promised that I could be admitted through the ER and get the ultrasound tonight.
So I was admitted to the ER. Where they.... started the entire triage from last week again. Wouldn't listen to a word I said. After half an hour, when I was informed that I would be getting bloodwork and chest x-rays and an EKG, and told them that I had had all of that done RIGHT THERE ONE WEEK AGO and all I needed was an ultrasound, I was told that they don't do that there.
Not at all. No after-hours ultrasound service at all, no urgent ultrasound service at all. All imaging must be scheduled, at least one week in advance.
It would have been super helpful if they had told my doctor this when he called. Or me, when I came in. As it was, I'm at risk now of being rejected for future procedures because the end result was that I now have a record of showing up with chest pain and then departing without being seen (because I see no reason in repeating the same tests that were non-diagnostic last time). And I still don't have the test I need.
The only option they gave me was to be admitted overnight in the hopes of a slot opening in the morning, if the ICU docs felt it was crucial. At which point I decided to just come home, because I can be here and be slightly less miserable. I've left a message with my doctor's answering service, letting them know that I wasn't able to get the test they requested; hopefully they'll be able to find someplace that can do it sometime over the next couple of days.
But.... big fail, Lawrence Memorial Hospital. And I'm tired of being broken.