...

[honeyrider]

a night spent in the ER. i am okay; impressed with myself for functioning my way through work yesterday, carrying on conversations, smiling on cue. i lived a week in those 7 hours. after work, i took a xanax and fell asleep in a pleasant haze. when i woke up at 9:15pm, i felt like i was having a heart attack all over again.

a. and alex came to watch

Comments

[thesaturdaygirl]

Yeeep. I hope you are okay. And YES -- you definitely have to know how to advocate for yourself in that setting. Which is unfortunate given that many people don't know how.

[lapsedmodernist]

OMG are you okay today? Do you need anything? If you need any extra help, with E or anything, we are just a phone call and a few blocks away.

[laika_came_home]

What were your specific symptoms? Do you know what your heart rate and blood pressure were? What tests did they run?

You're right about having to advocate for yourself. So many people use the ER as their primary care provider (meaning showing up and clogging up time and resources for non emergent reasons) that people who deserve prompt care and communication can be overlooked. I'm sorry that happened to you.

Here is something: if it is a teaching hospital, which that place is, you can cut down on your total duration of stay by stating you wish only to be cared for by the attending physician. Cut out the resident, and you speed up your visit. It won't get you into a room faster or put you ahead of anyone who should be seen first, but it will cut out a chunk of time overall.

Keep us updated.

[honeyrider]

chest pain, on and off and varying in severity from uncomfortable to unbearable for nearly 48 hours. extreme fatigue, weakness, and muscle pain. my bp was 98/59; pulse 65. they did a chest x-ray and an EKG -- both were normal.

i completely understand how hectic a busy ER in a metropolitan area can get for myriad reasons. i'm not talking just wait time though. after waiting in the front room for nearly an hour, i still haven't seen the triage nurse and everyone who was came in after me was admitted. i went to the back were they were like -- "you have been here for an hour?! have you seen a triage nurse? no!? but you have a band?! yes?!? let's look you up. oh, you were never put into the computer!" then, at every step of hierarchy, they kept talking about a finding the results of my urine sample so that i can get an x-ray, meanwhile hours prior the x-ray technician asked me if i submitted urine for analysis and i said, "no, i am definitely not pregnant so let's radiate me" which he did and apparently no one knew?
like i said, complete

[sistrmoon]

No cardiac enzymes/bloodwork?

[ewigweibliche]

I am so sorry. I hope you can get to the bottom of this - and stop hurting - very soon.

[ginevra_alessa]

So sorry to hear about this :(

Hope it all gets figured out and you feel mucho better.

<3