Continuing the upward spiral & our ER saga.

We are officially more than 24 hours fever free!! Hurray!! B.B. is winding down his case of pink eye (in fact, he looks less bloodshot than most college freshman at the moment). Husband's kidney stone (I feel like a fraud calling it that...kidney pebble doesn't even cut it....how about kidney chip?) is safely ensconced in the lab at the hospital. Four head of cattle go to market in the morning leaving us with only the newest calf. QM, Daddy, and HT are at G'ma M&M's house with plans to be here in time to go with me when BabyGirl & #1 Son see the ENT on Thursday. And on top of all that, my ring will be back Thursday, new diamond & all. Things are looking good.

Please tell me I didn't just jinx it all.

Husband told me yesterday that Friday morning when Little BIL was here they were discussing doctor's visits. Husband told Little BIL he hadn't been to the doctor but once in about 15 years. That night he was writhing in the ER. Go figure.

I promised to tell you about our trip to the ER. It was not a pleasant experience. I know there were at least 8 people there at one point. Not a big deal for a larger hospital, but this is not a large hospital in any sense of the term. One young woman with major mental disabilities wandered the hall yelling unintelligibly. Her mother followed behind her trying to cajole her back into her room only to be screamed at by "Dee." Every few minutes we could hear a nurse say, "Dee, I need you to go back to your room. Pat will be here in a few minutes. We called her at home." Dee would stay in her room around 6 minutes, then start wandering again.

Another older woman was carrying on a very loud phone conversation at the nurses' station just outside our room. "I ain't crazy. This is the third time this year they've tried to pull this crap on me, and I still ain't crazy. I'm just hard headed. I'm just like ever (sic) one else 'round here. Don't see why they cain't just let me leave. I've 'bout had it with this place." This conversation went on for a good 15 minutes. By the time she was done, everyone in the ER knew she wasn't crazy, just hard headed.

Across the hall was a very large old woman (who I think had been transported from a local nursing home) crying & moaning VERY loudly & talking all the while. Most adults do not cry & talk at the same time. They hold off on one while doing the other. Not this woman. She sounded oddly like B.B. when he's in hysterics. No one could understand a word she said, but she wasn't giving up....or calming down. The only words I could make out were "die" and "no one" which she repeated over & over. I kept thinking for her own sake they should have shut her door, but no one seemed to think that was necessary. When we left her head was lulled back & she was snoring loudly in her wheel chair.

Add onto that the man accompanied by a police officer. The gentleman didn't seem to think he needed to be in the hospital or need to be watched over by the officer.

Then the young man who wrecked his motorcycle & looked like he'd landed on his face. His head was bloodied, his face swollen, but he was talking & laughing with the buddy that brought him in.

With all this going on, the doctor on duty was in no hurry to deal with us. He did a lousy job of listening to Husband. At one point, Husband was in too much pain to talk, so I started answering questions. The doctor looked at me like I was a major inconvenience & of no use to him at all. Husband had to repeat the same thing to him three times when asked about his pain. Doc would hear part of it, then stop listening again. He didn't seem concerned at all with the amount of pain, and gave us no indication about what he suspected was causing it.

When the lab tech came in to draw blood, she immediately understood how much pain Husband was in & did her best to make him feel more comfortable. She told us it would take 12 minutes for the lab work to come back (and at the time there were only 2 other patients in the ER with us), and for us to hang tight. About 10 minutes later a nurse came in with a shot of Demerol for Husband & said he'd feel better in 20-30 minutes.

FORTY-FIVE minutes later, Doc wandered into our room & said, "Well, it doesn't look surgical, so we'll get you some fluids so we can get a urine sample. Is your pain better?" Husband said, "Not really." "It's not? Huh. So, you're still in pain?" "Yes. A lot." "Not any better at all?" "NO!" "OK." And he walked out of our curtained area & into the one next to us. As he was leaving our bed side, Husband started asking him questions, but he never even paused. Husband asked again louder & he was completely ignored. Doc started talking to the man in the next bed only stopping to tell us he would be turning off the light to check the man's eye.

About 45 minutes later, a nurse came back in with another shot for Husband. At some point in all this he managed to get a small urine sample (he'd gone just as we got to the ER...when no one was showing much interest in us. No one said anything to us about needing a urine sample & at the time I was too freaked out to think about it). I caught Doc walking down the hall & made him stop & wait while I got the lid for the sample cup. He looked a bit irritated that I was giving it to him, but nurses were scarce & I was tired of waiting.

Doc came back in after probably 45 more minutes to tell us the urine sample was "ok" and he was going to order an Ultrasound on Husband's gall bladder. "It may be gall stones...but first the tech has to finish up with the patient she's with then x-ray another woman's ankle." I said, "OK, if it is gall stones, what will happen next?" Husband is still in so much pain, he's hardly following the conversation & cannot lay flat. "Uh, well, eventually it will have to be taken care of." And he left again. I should add that the ANKLE X-RAY that was taking precedence over my husband writhing in pain for hours after 2 shots of Demerol, came in after we did & was happily chatting with her husband down the hall....and walked in to the ER on her own.

Unfortunately I was not in the room when doc came back in to tell Husband what he thought of the ultrasound (then again, maybe it was a good thing...I may have gotten us kicked out of the ER). I was getting Bitsy settled in her car seat carrier since she'd finally decided to go to sleep. Uncle Gick was with Husband. He told me, "The doctor said there's fluid around his kidney & he wants FarmBoy to call a urologist on Monday since the one that works here only comes once a month." What? How much fluid? How is that causing such sudden & sever pain? Is this serious? What are they going to do now?

I waited with Husband thinking Doc would be back in to talk to us some more...nope. The nurse came in with scripts, a urine strainer, & discharge papers. I was incredulous. "He's sending him home?!" "It appears so." "It would have been nice if he'd have mentioned that."

I understand medicine is not an exact science. I understand they were short staffed & over crowded. I also know I have been treated with much more compassion there in the past on equally busy nights. I have never had another doctor walk out on me as I was trying to ask him questions. This doctor has done so repeatedly on numerous occasions. I have also never had a doctor offer so little explanation on anything. This is the same doctor that made me panic when he told me about BabyGirl's blister on her ear drum. I used to rack his behavior up to nervousness & an inability to relate to people. That may be the case, but if it is, he really needs to find another profession...like working in the morgue.

I have decided the next time I get there & he's the one I have to deal with, we'll be leaving.