Comments | recursivepizza: My ER adventure

recursivepizza

My ER adventure

Oct 15, 2007 11:49

On Friday morning, I woke up at about 5am with pain in the middle right side of my back. At first it didn't seem like that big of a deal; it felt as if I had pulled a muscle deep in my back which had tightened up while I slept. It was uncomfortable and annoying, though, since it hurt more when I breathed in. I got up to go to the bathroom, but ( Read more... )

Comments 10

miraielle October 15 2007, 20:33:01 UTC

I am glad you are okay!

And, uh, for future knowledge? You can always call us and we'll come drive you, okay? I mean, for Emergencies of any sort. Okay? I'd rather get up and spend the night in the ER with you and Joyia than have you wait for a taxi for an hour!

recursivepizza October 15 2007, 20:41:05 UTC

Thanks! And yeah, I knew there were various people, including you, that we could have called to drive me to the hospital, but we thought getting a taxi would be easy. If they had said upfront that it would be an hour, we probably would have said "forget it" and called you.

recursivepizza October 15 2007, 20:41:46 UTC

btw, is the GW ER the same one Steve went to last month?

miraielle October 15 2007, 20:43:12 UTC

nooo, we went to Washington Hospital Center. But we wished we'd gone to GW?

deckardcanine October 15 2007, 21:17:11 UTC

Strange, this is the second time today I read about someone having mystery pains in the night.

Most unfortunately, I'm not surprised by how it went. Things frequently go very slowly, at least from the patient's perspective, and it's not all that uncommon for doctors to exhaust the known serious possibilities and send you away billed yet unaided. (I read a "News of the Weird" item about a man who reacted to his doctors' claims of nothing wrong with him by mailing childish insults and threats until he got in legal trouble. The story's title: "The Doctors Were Wrong.")

Here's praying that your incident was a fluke and you won't feel a recurrence.

zaza613 October 15 2007, 21:29:29 UTC

I am glad you are doing better!! That is rather scary!!! I have had experience with doctors not being able to figure something out too, and I was at an actual doctor rather than an emergency room! It is rather strange when it happens, but I guess not that shocking.

moonlit_me October 15 2007, 22:16:25 UTC

Dear Brent,

I'm not certain as to your current plans, but this sounds like something that should be solved--my first thought is something neurological, but I'm not sure exactly where the pain is and don't have a medical degree--but it's definitely not something you want to leave with the ER dismissal. You probably already know that, given that you're Brent, but it seems important to say, nonetheless: even at a good hospital, you don't always get the same level of care or quality of care, especially coming in from the ER. Neuro issues (of the sort that might cause the symptoms you describe) are often missed in that kind of a setting even after the symptoms have appeared, and that's only one possibility. At the least you'll want to discuss this with your doctor, and depending on more details than I have you likely want to see a relevant specialist (And the right person in that specialty.) An uncle of mine is one of the better GI people in the country--if you'd like, I can see if he's available to talk with you at some point soon ( ... )

recursivepizza October 16 2007, 00:37:41 UTC

Thanks Tom. I am indeed planning to schedule an appointment to see my primary care doctor soon (I'm going to call tomorrow), so I think I'll start there and see where it goes.

ppaladin October 15 2007, 22:22:13 UTC

I'm glad you're ok, though it is unnerving to hear about pretty severe symptoms, without any insight from doctors. Medicine is much less precise than we'd like to think, perhaps ( ... )