Friends caring for me, Mercy's ER sucks
Where was I? I've been sick (more on this later), so I actually have an excuse for not journaling lately. Let me see if I can get this into some semblance of order for you.
That should be a neat trick, as I am soooooo dizzy at the moment I feel perfectly DRUNK. It's not yet 8am, and I am not yet drunk. In fact, I've just been up for half an hour or so. Took mini-me to school and have some time before the unemployment office opens, and (LUCKY LUCKY YOU) I will spend that time slaving away at my keyboard for you (no pun intended).
I believe the last I posted was that I was laid off. Thank you, Everyone, for your kind words here, via email, and through IMs. It means a lot to me. I took that weekend to clear my head and regroup. Did me some good, I think. Started hitting the virtual pavement hard Monday morning, looking for job ops in OKC or in Dallas. My week went swimmingly well up to a point. Wednesday, the girls at my old office took me to lunch (Pepperoni Grill, YUMMMMM) and we... erm... shared. I made a solemn promise not to reveal what was shared, but there is a very good reason why we only do these lunches once every six months or so. Too much sharing is NOT good for the soul, and damnit we have some UGLY skeletons!!! I know things about these women that their families don't know. Yikes!
Well, afterwards I did too much grocery shopping. Wednesday night's sore throat turned into general dizziness and funky feeling on Thursday afternoon.
I kept trying rather lamely to rouse myself out of a half-infection/half-medicine induced stupor, but I remember very little of Thursday night or any of Friday. I picked up mini-me, then came home and went to bed until Sunday.
I think I tried to get up once or twice on Saturday. I'm sure mini-me came in to check on me a few times. Bless her tiny little heart. She's too young to play nurse! At one point I got up Saturday to send an email out to my coven apologizing that I'd have to miss the meeting on Sunday. And like the gifts they are, they descended on my home en masse Sunday afternoon. They tackled my week's dirty dishes, my laundry, the countertops, the kitchen table, the kitchen floor, they vacuumed the living room, tidied the bathrooms... I pretty well had food taken care of since I hadn't really been able to cook since I went shopping. But they took stock and went to get me some juice, milk, and a few tv dinners for mini-me. Then they arranged a baby-sitter and drove me to the ER. That alarmed me a little, as this group is - as a whole - not predisposed to western medicine. I filled out the paperwork and had the triage nurse take my blood pressure. She then asked me about 20 questions - the first of which was answered in a whisper: "it really hurts to talk." Oh, well. I whispered, R interpreted for me. And just 15 minutes after arriving at the ER, we were back out in chairs waiting to be seen. I settled in for a long wait... I had no dangling limbs, no blood, etc. I was having difficulty breathing, but it wasn't impossible and I was conscious. I knew we'd be there a while. I laid down, an aid brought me a blanket, R read her book. The clock ticked.
The clock tocked.
The clock ticked and tocked.
And, as this was going through my mind at the time and I was a little lightheaded and loopy, I tried to remember as much of Fox In Socks as I could.
After another two and a half hours, I got up and walked out, mentally giving the staff a hearty "fuck off" and perhaps flipping them the finger for good measure... but just mentally. I knew it would be a long wait. Other people had priority. My gripe: there were no other people. There were no traumas, no emergencies, no train wrecks crashing through the door, no dying patients, no screaming families begging that their loved ones be saved. There was a woman with a pink cast who needed to see if her ankle was healing properly - it didn't feel like it. There was an elderly couple... the wife was feeling a little dizzy earlier in the day, and though she's fine now he wanted to get her checked out. Fair enough. Where does my sinus infection fit into this? End of the line, I'm sure. I have no beef with that. But not one patient was called in that two and a half hours. Not one.
Was the staff in training? No. Were they handling 6 emergencies that arrived just long enough before me that all trace of them could be obliterated, excepting the staff's refusal to see anyone else? No.
Was the staff discussing last week's episode of "The Bachelor"? YES, THEY WERE.
I am sure that there were legitimate reasons for running so slow. And kudos to the triage staff for being so on top of things that they, too, had to wait just like the patients for the rest of the staff to be ready to treat someone else. But when you have sick and injured and worried people around you, looking to you to make them well, don't discuss reality TV - as though it's more important to you than the patients. Take that conversation somewhere private.
The elderly couple, the broken ankle, and I all walked out together. We all ignored staff protests. We all refused to sign any forms. We just waved them off and kept walking. Felt good.
"That's the human side of healing."
Upon return to my apartment, I saw something that struck me as unusual. If I weren't sick, I'd probably have overlooked it... a boy of about 6 years old walking a rottweiller. Got tell ya, it made me a little edgy!
Well, I think the ol' Unemployment Office will be opening before too long, and I want to be there early. More later!
That should be a neat trick, as I am soooooo dizzy at the moment I feel perfectly DRUNK. It's not yet 8am, and I am not yet drunk. In fact, I've just been up for half an hour or so. Took mini-me to school and have some time before the unemployment office opens, and (LUCKY LUCKY YOU) I will spend that time slaving away at my keyboard for you (no pun intended).
I believe the last I posted was that I was laid off. Thank you, Everyone, for your kind words here, via email, and through IMs. It means a lot to me. I took that weekend to clear my head and regroup. Did me some good, I think. Started hitting the virtual pavement hard Monday morning, looking for job ops in OKC or in Dallas. My week went swimmingly well up to a point. Wednesday, the girls at my old office took me to lunch (Pepperoni Grill, YUMMMMM) and we... erm... shared. I made a solemn promise not to reveal what was shared, but there is a very good reason why we only do these lunches once every six months or so. Too much sharing is NOT good for the soul, and damnit we have some UGLY skeletons!!! I know things about these women that their families don't know. Yikes!
Well, afterwards I did too much grocery shopping. Wednesday night's sore throat turned into general dizziness and funky feeling on Thursday afternoon.
I kept trying rather lamely to rouse myself out of a half-infection/half-medicine induced stupor, but I remember very little of Thursday night or any of Friday. I picked up mini-me, then came home and went to bed until Sunday.
I think I tried to get up once or twice on Saturday. I'm sure mini-me came in to check on me a few times. Bless her tiny little heart. She's too young to play nurse! At one point I got up Saturday to send an email out to my coven apologizing that I'd have to miss the meeting on Sunday. And like the gifts they are, they descended on my home en masse Sunday afternoon. They tackled my week's dirty dishes, my laundry, the countertops, the kitchen table, the kitchen floor, they vacuumed the living room, tidied the bathrooms... I pretty well had food taken care of since I hadn't really been able to cook since I went shopping. But they took stock and went to get me some juice, milk, and a few tv dinners for mini-me. Then they arranged a baby-sitter and drove me to the ER. That alarmed me a little, as this group is - as a whole - not predisposed to western medicine. I filled out the paperwork and had the triage nurse take my blood pressure. She then asked me about 20 questions - the first of which was answered in a whisper: "it really hurts to talk." Oh, well. I whispered, R interpreted for me. And just 15 minutes after arriving at the ER, we were back out in chairs waiting to be seen. I settled in for a long wait... I had no dangling limbs, no blood, etc. I was having difficulty breathing, but it wasn't impossible and I was conscious. I knew we'd be there a while. I laid down, an aid brought me a blanket, R read her book. The clock ticked.
The clock tocked.
The clock ticked and tocked.
And, as this was going through my mind at the time and I was a little lightheaded and loopy, I tried to remember as much of Fox In Socks as I could.
After another two and a half hours, I got up and walked out, mentally giving the staff a hearty "fuck off" and perhaps flipping them the finger for good measure... but just mentally. I knew it would be a long wait. Other people had priority. My gripe: there were no other people. There were no traumas, no emergencies, no train wrecks crashing through the door, no dying patients, no screaming families begging that their loved ones be saved. There was a woman with a pink cast who needed to see if her ankle was healing properly - it didn't feel like it. There was an elderly couple... the wife was feeling a little dizzy earlier in the day, and though she's fine now he wanted to get her checked out. Fair enough. Where does my sinus infection fit into this? End of the line, I'm sure. I have no beef with that. But not one patient was called in that two and a half hours. Not one.
Was the staff in training? No. Were they handling 6 emergencies that arrived just long enough before me that all trace of them could be obliterated, excepting the staff's refusal to see anyone else? No.
Was the staff discussing last week's episode of "The Bachelor"? YES, THEY WERE.
I am sure that there were legitimate reasons for running so slow. And kudos to the triage staff for being so on top of things that they, too, had to wait just like the patients for the rest of the staff to be ready to treat someone else. But when you have sick and injured and worried people around you, looking to you to make them well, don't discuss reality TV - as though it's more important to you than the patients. Take that conversation somewhere private.
The elderly couple, the broken ankle, and I all walked out together. We all ignored staff protests. We all refused to sign any forms. We just waved them off and kept walking. Felt good.
"That's the human side of healing."
Upon return to my apartment, I saw something that struck me as unusual. If I weren't sick, I'd probably have overlooked it... a boy of about 6 years old walking a rottweiller. Got tell ya, it made me a little edgy!
Well, I think the ol' Unemployment Office will be opening before too long, and I want to be there early. More later!