Bad emergency room visit

[Keller]

Terrible, actually.

Wednesday of last week I began to get a routine ear infection. Thursday I called a friend who prescribed a topical antibiotic. Routine. Friday it wasn't getting better. Saturday I considered going to the ER because I couldn't get into an ear/nose/throat specialist until Monday. Sunday night/Monday morning I finally went to the ER. Having been in DC for a whole 2 weeks; I wasn't really sure which hosipital to go to so I went to George Washington.

Routine procedure I'm assuming for admittance. I sign in, they send me to a triage, then to billing, then I wait for a doctor. Doctor takes a quick look into my ear and says it is a middle ear infection; just what I had assumed. He said he was going to switch my antibiotic and give me some percocet (because my 1000 mg/12 hrs of ibprofane wasn't working). The nurse came in and gave me my first percocet. Things were going swimmingly.

Then in came dwiddle-dee and dwiddle-dumb. The residents/interns/fucking-morons. One of them barely even looks into my ear before saying, "yup, I've seen enough." and then the other one SHOVES, litterally, SHOVES the scope down my infected and inflammed ear canal to "see" my eardrum and then says, "Yup, the TM is ruptured." If it wasn't before, it surely is now. Thank god the percocet had kicked in or I might have decked the kid right there.

Then they both come back in and tell me they're going to look down my throat and listen to my heart/lungs and one of them had the audacity to say it was "because he was billing for it." What a fuckbag.

Fast forward. I start taking two percocets every 4 hrs. Come 9am on Monday I am literally in tears from the pain. I start calling around to ENT specialists to get in to see one asap. I finally get an appointment at 2 pm and basically just grind my teeth in pain until then. When I get there the doctor proceeds to tell me that I've got a mild outer ear infection (not middle ear, as the ER said), but more importantly I've got a fungal infection which was highly impacted (due to the fucking-moron-2 shoving the scope down my canal). So he goes in and suctions out as much debris as he can. The rest was too impacted on the eardrum to get to; so I've been applying a topical treatment that breaks it up so he can suction the rest out on Thursday. Thank god for competent doctors. Fuck the ER.

[radamanthys]

I love the smell of malpractice in the morning.

[Some Rogue]

Wait, you mean it's not like on the TV shows?? LIES!

[Keller]

I love the smell of malpractice in the morning.

No injury really. And I'm not the litigious type.

But I will write a letter to the hospital. That was pathetic.

[radamanthys]

Probably for the best. If you didn't miss any work or have no permanent damage, it'd be much harder to hit'em.

[Allereli]

yeah GW hospital is a mess, but it's better than it used to be--you could have been stuck in the old building. Seems the med students still haven't learned to be more gentle.

I got sick on vacation (big suprise...) in Florida and got forgotten about in the ER.

[AnticorRifling]

If you washed your dick warmers before digging in your ears you wouldn't get these infections.

[CrystalTears]

Everyone is forgotten about in Florida's ER.

When I had a stomach virus as a kid, my grandmother went with me and my mother to the hospital. She did that whole Terms of Endearment yelling and screaming to get them to look at me threatening them that it may be an appendix problem and it would blow up while waiting for them. Needless to say they took care of me within minutes, but otherwise I would have sat there for hours more than I already had.

[Sean of the Thread]

Florida ER's SUCK.

You have to speak spanish or talk about details of specific episodes of the Odd Couple to even survive the waiting room.



Sorry about your ear infection as those always are uncomfortable. All this thread reminded me of however is that I'm due for my yearly strep throat as I just had the flu for 4 days thru the first.

Strep throat = percocet

YUM

[Gan]

So the fungal buildup on your ear drum was from the otoscope? That would indicate the 'resident' did not bother to change out the bit between patient examinations. If thats the case you're the victim of a nosocomial infection. Definately something you should bring up in your letter to the hopsital.

Does GW handle indigent patients in their ER? If so, I wont humor you as to where that otoscope bit might have been prior to getting to you.

ugh

[Allereli]

Does GW handle indigent patients in their ER? If so, I wont humor you as to where that otoscope bit might have been prior to getting to you.

ugh

They definitely do

[Ignot]

Wait, you mean it's not like on the TV shows?? LIES!

LOL. You're not kidding. My girlfriend was in the hospital about 2 years ago for a pretty serious lung problem. Poor thing was only 22 years old then. Anyways, im with her while she is in this pretty big room getting a CT scan done of her chest. Im actually outside the room with two other nurses.

Then she starts saying "am i suppose to feel my blood get hot?"

Okay, that's a weird thing to say and then her eyes roll up and she stops breathing. Someone yells cold Blue! and pushes some button and before i even know what is going there are like 12 people crammed into this small room.

Well, here is where it isn't like the movies. There was one nurse hovering in the corner crying, two cool headed doctors telling people what to do, one nurse goes to get something and smashes all sorts of medical stuff all over the place. Another nurse is screaming, "what should i do what should i do!". and all the other nurses were just holding their mouths hoping for the best.

Well, they ended up reviving her and it was all a horrible experience but her and I had a pretty good chuckle about how the hospital is NOT like the movies.

The ER is a scary place...

[DeV]

You have to speak spanish or talk about details of specific episodes of the Odd Couple to even survive the waiting room.

Substitute episodes of The Odd Couple with being homeless and/or poor and black/white and you'll have Chicago's premier ER hospital. It's nothing, NOTHING like the TV show ER, which is supposedly fashioned after Chicago's original ER hospital. Yeah fucking right.

Sorry to hear about that nasty infection, Keller. Hope you feel better soon. Ear infections of any kind are an absolute pain in the ass, or ear, you know what I mean.

[Allereli]

I guess Keller is out for Saturday, too?

[Keller]

So the fungal buildup on your ear drum was from the otoscope? That would indicate the 'resident' did not bother to change out the bit between patient examinations. If thats the case you're the victim of a nosocomial infection. Definately something you should bring up in your letter to the hopsital.

Does GW handle indigent patients in their ER? If so, I wont humor you as to where that otoscope bit might have been prior to getting to you.

ugh

No, the fungal build-up was there, but was impacted against the eardrum due to the otoscope.

I have no clue where the fungal build-up was from, but I can guarantee you that Anticor was wrong. I always disinfect my dick-warmers.

[Clove]

Well that explains the "only landed should vote" post. Obviously it's the vicadin talking.

[NocturnalRob]

keller, if you're out for saturday, i'm going to come to your shitty little apartment and cock punch you until you die.

[Keller]

Well that explains the "only landed should vote" post. Obviously it's the vicadin talking.

L2sarcasm noob.

[Keller]

keller, if you're out for saturday, i'm going to come to your shitty little apartment and cock punch you until you die.

I'm driving to NYC (can't fly according to Dr.) on Thursday, staying the night, and driving back Friday night. I will be there Saturday night; but no promises I'm getting housed, especially if I'm still on narcotics.

[NocturnalRob]

oh yeah? what're you doing thursday night? wanna get fucked up and act immature? i'm good at that.

[Daniel]

oh yeah? what're you doing thursday night? wanna get fucked up and act immature? i'm good at that.

My wingman is out of town. Can I count on you on saturday?

[Keller]

oh yeah? what're you doing thursday night? wanna get fucked up and act immature? i'm good at that.

Dinner with wifie (she's driving me) at Perilla. Maybe post-work happy hour at Terroir.

[Skeeter]

Back on topic, the only time I would go to the ER is if I was carted there in an ambulance. What's so hard about waiting till Monday?

[Clove]

Back on topic, the only time I would go to the ER is if I was carted there in an ambulance. What's so hard about waiting till Monday?Agony.

[Stanley Burrell]

I love the smell of malpractice in the morning.

Napalm is the cure-all, tho.

[NocturnalRob]

My wingman is out of town. Can I count on you on saturday?

missed this. thanks to V for pointing it out. i am often-times too selfish to be a productive wingman, but I will happily rein it in for an evening to get you some tail.

keller, PM me if you want to get completely stupid on thursday night.

[Xeromist]

LOL. You're not kidding. My girlfriend was in the hospital about 2 years ago for a pretty serious lung problem. Poor thing was only 22 years old then. Anyways, im with her while she is in this pretty big room getting a CT scan done of her chest. Im actually outside the room with two other nurses.

Then she starts saying "am i suppose to feel my blood get hot?"

Okay, that's a weird thing to say and then her eyes roll up and she stops breathing. Someone yells cold Blue! and pushes some button and before i even know what is going there are like 12 people crammed into this small room.

Well, here is where it isn't like the movies. There was one nurse hovering in the corner crying, two cool headed doctors telling people what to do, one nurse goes to get something and smashes all sorts of medical stuff all over the place. Another nurse is screaming, "what should i do what should i do!". and all the other nurses were just holding their mouths hoping for the best.

Well, they ended up reviving her and it was all a horrible experience but her and I had a pretty good chuckle about how the hospital is NOT like the movies.

The ER is a scary place...

That was nice of the nurses to explain the procedure to her. For a CT scan, patients are injected with an iodine-base...shortly after injection, people generally feel like they've either wet themselves or are heating up. That part was normal for your girlfriend. The code blue part, however, was not. Does your girlfriend have an iodine allergy? That would have been a pretty terrible error for the staff to overlook if it was some type of allergic reaction.

Coming from the other side of the coin, I too will attest that the ER is a scary place.

[Warriorbird]

I don't think any emergency room visit is good.

[Allereli]

I don't think any emergency room visit is good.

Well, when you're screaming in pain at least they get to you fast. My last ER nurse pumped me so full of drugs it was insane. 2 morphine, 3 dilauden and 2 percs.

[Xeromist]

Well, when you're screaming in pain at least they get to you fast. My last ER nurse pumped me so full of drugs it was insane. 2 morphine, 3 dilauden and 2 percs.

Good God almighty man, what happened to you?

[Allereli]

Good God almighty man, what happened to you?

snapped my upper humerous

[Mighty Nikkisaurus]

Well, when you're screaming in pain at least they get to you fast. My last ER nurse pumped me so full of drugs it was insane. 2 morphine, 3 dilauden and 2 percs.

Truth.

A year ago I was hemorrhaging and in the ER and I was screaming the place down. Of course the nurse was trying to yell over me that she was going to have to "give me a little poke with a needle, is that okay?" which prompted me to switch my general screaming to "GIVE ME THE FUCKING DRUGS".

Also:


snapped my upper humerous

Jesus Christ, I can't even begin to comprehend how painful that would be.

[NocturnalRob]

not very funny

[Daniel]

missed this. thanks to V for pointing it out. i am often-times too selfish to be a productive wingman, but I will happily rein it in for an evening to get you some tail.

keller, PM me if you want to get completely stupid on thursday night.

Lol. I meant to get drunk and act immature. I'm not one of those "can I get ya number??!?!?!" kind of guys.

[NocturnalRob]

Lol. I meant to get drunk and act immature. I'm not one of those "can I get ya number??!?!?!" kind of guys.

drunk and immature is my fucking MO, bruva. it's all i got.

[AnticorRifling]

snapped my upper humerous
They should have given you a straw and said suck it up. :)

[Bokertal]

OMG I could easily create the wall of text from hell here, but i'll spare you all.

I can so relate. You want to see a bunch of Docs and Nurses running around the ER like the Keystone Cops, bring your infant daughter in the throws of tachycardia into the ghetto ER in Richmond, CA. in the middle of the night.

I've been to the ER so many times....ahhh ummm errrr....never mind.

[Allereli]

OMG I could easily create the wall of text from hell here, but i'll spare you all.

I liked the last story, you just didn't format it right the first time around.