How you doing?



Hospital triage is such a weird thing, partially because of how people outwardly express pain. I've been told by a friend that I downplay my problems a lot and she's probably right because I usually don't speak up until things are out of control. Years ago I had blockage in my gall bladder and didn't go to the emergency room until two days later because the pain became uncontrollable (then again, I have a low tolerance for pain). I should have gone the first night. I feel like it's true that people with great qualities like patience, kindness, and modesty tend to suffer a bit needlessly because they don't want to trouble anyone with their problems.
That's true. The guy I shared the room with after surgery had cancer, but he didn't want to bother anyone too much even when he suffered through quite a lot. He took everything in a very dignified, admirable manner, but you could sense (well, he also told me) that he had to bottle up quite a lot, like doctors also not taking him seriously, going to a different hospital so they'd actually look at his liver and find that the cancer had spread there (the doctors from the previous one just wanted to let him wait a year and die, I guess?), getting surgery and chemotherapy for one half of the liver, then being told to leave, then being notified that they reconnected one of his arteries in the wrong place so he had to come back for a minor adjustment, and then another chemo and surgery procedure for the other half. That was quite brutal but he took it with grace. The gall bladder stuff sounds somewhat familiar, some of my friends have that issue, as well as my grandmother, who still needs convincing to go see a doctor to deal with it (her thinking is she's too old for surgery, which isn't a bad point).sinewav wrote: ↑Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:53 pmHospital triage is such a weird thing, partially because of how people outwardly express pain. I've been told by a friend that I downplay my problems a lot and she's probably right because I usually don't speak up until things are out of control. Years ago I had blockage in my gall bladder and didn't go to the emergency room until two days later because the pain became uncontrollable (then again, I have a low tolerance for pain). I should have gone the first night. I feel like it's true that people with great qualities like patience, kindness, and modesty tend to suffer a bit needlessly because they don't want to trouble anyone with their problems.
When my cousin's father died, we'd sit at my grandma's table and he (the cousin) just said something like "So my dad woke up dead yesterday..." and it was the saddest funny thing I ever heard someone say in that particular situation. Leukemia is horrible, it runs in some more distant parts of our family.sinewav wrote: ↑Sat Apr 15, 2023 6:53 pmGlad you are alive. A friend of mine had a medical scare several weeks ago due to intestinal blockage, he nearly died right there in the hospital in front of another friend of mine. You never know when one day you'll wake up, feel a little sick in the morning, and be dead by evening (something that happened to an acquaintance with un-diagnosed leukemia).
I knew you'd say that!
That is how mine started, too, except that I went by bike. And it went a lot better. While they initially dismissed me ("If it truly were a 'worm', you would not be walking in here") they were not allowed to turn me away and did an ultrasonic anyway... apparently it was so bad that a couple of hours later, I was down one appendix.
Thanks Z-Man, and sorry that you had to go through/glad you survived that crap as well! They told me virtually the same, I was already shouting that I won't survive another hour and some male nurse just said "Well, then you won't, haha."Z-Man wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:35 am What a horror trip, glad you're alive! Rest and get well soon.
That is how mine started, too, except that I went by bike. And it went a lot better. While they initially dismissed me ("If it truly were a 'worm', you would not be walking in here") they were not allowed to turn me away and did an ultrasonic anyway... apparently it was so bad that a couple of hours later, I was down one appendix.
Nah, it was mostly fine, apart from the inevitable suckiness of knowing that without antibiotics, I would probably have been a goner. Minimally invasive surgery worked in my case.
Erm, I might have been one of those the previous Christmas... Woke up in the middle of the night with intense chest pain and breathing difficulties, called an ambulance, had my heart checked out. They found nothing wrong, but could not tell me where the pain came from. Turned out, it was just my shoulderWord wrote:they have so many patients making much ado about nothing
Those proper CT or MRT machines are really expensiveWord wrote:I do wonder if they can't just get 4 or 5 more of these machines and a person to operate them, or something like an airport body scanner (but doing a ct) at the entrance of the emergency department, so you can get an instant diagnosis that is mostly accurate.
Well, I would've checked that out too, just common-sense. But I won't go there for Mosquito bites or an average headache...Z-Man wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:24 pmErm, I might have been one of those the previous Christmas... Woke up in the middle of the night with intense chest pain and breathing difficulties, called an ambulance, had my heart checked out. They found nothing wrong, but could not tell me where the pain came from. Turned out, it was just my shoulderWord wrote:they have so many patients making much ado about nothingI must have overstretched it the day before when I reached for carrots on the far side of the vegetable aisle in the supermarket, with delayed effect. Anyway, i did not make a ruckus in the hospital, and it did not look overcrowded, but did end up wasting resources.
Yes, I know about the strike (walked past them when I was actually there for something else at that time, got an antibody-infusion for the colitis, no emergency thing) and the crisis, but I do imagine that if they'd just prioritize things differently, they'd improve the conditions quite a lot even without hiring additional staff (not to say they aren't understaffed, they are). My thinking is, I could have spent one night there instead of 6 so all these nurses that cared for me (and other patients who were there for a longer time than necessary because of such priority complications) could have cared for someone else instead during that time.Z-Man wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:24 pmThose proper CT or MRT machines are really expensiveThere is not enough money and personel, that is the crisis. Did you notice that last year, hospital workers went on strike? Not for more money, but for better working conditions. The hostpitals are understaffed, that means people have to do double shifts and often have to skip taking breaks.
I do wonder why one was used in your case. The ancient PC/Mac game "Life and Death" taught me that a simple ultrasound imaging is the final confirmation step. Maybe your belly was too messed up for that at that point already.