Hurry Up and Wait... What??

Being young is usually associated with being healthy; or at least not having too many health problems. I am an exception. I've had ovarian cysts, ulcers, dizzy spells, and a few weeks after Stephen and I were married, I started having blackout spells.

Every few nights I would be laying next to my husband and suddenly everything would freeze. I couldn't hear anything, see anything, say anything, or feel anything. Just darkness. According to Stephen, I would black out for 30 seconds or more at a time, 4-5 times each night I had the episodes. He would shake me and yell my name with no response from me. 

Wednesday night, I had accompanied Stephen to Home Depot. We were looking for something to help him fix his bike when I suddenly felt VERY sick. The room was spinning and I felt that I needed to throw up. I had Stephen take me home and as soon as I opened the door, I ran to the bathroom and threw up everything my stomach could offer up. Exhausted, I crawled into bed and fell asleep.

Being on a different insurance than I had been on for my whole life, I was nervous to go to a different doctor. I assured Stephen that I was fine and that is was just all the stress of moving and the other big changes that come with getting married. For weeks I dismissed the dizzy spells, nausea, backaches, headaches, and blackout spells. When I got a Urinary Tract Infection and started vomiting  along with everything else, I decided it was time to see a doctor. 

Thursday morning, I threw up the water I had sipped after brushing my teeth. I couldn't go into work. I slept for a while and once I woke up, I looked up what doctors my new insurance covered. I saw that a previous doctor I had seen was covered. I called to make an appointment with her, only to find out that her soonest open appointment was in 3 weeks. I knew I shouldn't wait that long and explained my symptoms to the person on the phone. She set up an appointment for that evening and asked if she could have a nurse call me later to talk about my symptoms. I consented and verified my phone number.

The nurse called about an hour after I set up the appointment to talk to me about my symptoms. After describing them to the nurse and answering a few questions, the nurse told me that I should go to the Emergency Room. Right away I called Stephen and told him that he needed to get home, NOW! He was in North Salt Lake for work and could not be home for a while, even if he left right then, so I called my Mom to take me.

By the time my mom came and we got the the ER, Stephen's boss had dropped him off and he was waiting for us at the entrance. I went in, told the attendant my symptoms and let her know that I was instructed by a nurse at a clinic to go to the ER right away. They took my information, gave me my patient's bracelet, and showed me, Stephen, and my Mom to the waiting room. 

They don't call it a waiting room for nothing. We waited. And waited. About an hour after I had started waiting, three woman (who had all arrived separately around 45 minutes after I did) decided to form a gossip and complaint circle. They sat and loudly complained about the wait. They would call a nurse over and ask her why the wait was so long and if they could get put at the top of the list of people who were set to be called in.

I was severely annoyed. I wanted to yell over to them "Do we need to have you go back to preschool and learn how to wait your turn?? We are ALL waiting here, I have been here longer than you have and you don't see me asking for special treatment!"

The unofficial slogan of the ER is "Hurry Up and Wait." 

After two and a half hours in the waiting room, I was placed in a room and told to get into a robe. Thirty minutes after that, the doctor came in to ask me about my symptoms. I told her about the vomiting, dizziness, backaches, headaches, and blackout spells. I also told her that I knew I had a urinary tract infection and if I could get antibiotics prescribed that would be great. I mentioned that I had some slight pain in my chest, but it was nothing I was too concerned about.

The doctor ordered a urine test, blood tests, an EKG, and a chest x-ray. 

I came in for blackout spells, dizziness, and headaches and the doctor did not order anything that had to do with checking my head.

After all the tests, the nurse noticed I was dehydrated (because they would never have guessed that from the fact that I told them I hadn't been able to keep anything down for close to 24 hours.) The nurse hooked up a liter of fluid to my IV and told me it should feel cold, but not painful. Suddenly my arm was freezing and in immense pain. I sobbed. The nurse took a look at my arm and determined that the IV was infiltrated and that the fluid was going into my tissue rather than my veins. She stopped the IV, switched it to my other arm, and resumed hydrating my body.

After 8 hours of waiting, tests, pain, sleepless shut eye, and wondering what was going on, the doctor finally came in. 

"We have found that you have a UTI, that is a urinary tract infection. We will give you a prescription for some antibiotics for that. Otherwise, everything seems normal so you are good to go."
"What about the blackout spells." Stephen asked
"Oh, we can't find a reason for them, I would suggest going to a primary care doctor." The doctor answered.

I got dressed, grabbed the prescription and Stephen and I left.

A primary care doctor told me to go to the ER. The ER doctor told me to go to a primary care doctor. I don't know if I want to go to any doctors for a long time now.

I waited for 8 hours for a doctor to tell me something I already knew and say there was nothing she could do about what I came in for. My slogan for the hospital I went to is "Hurry up and wait... what did you say?"