I had a health emergency in the middle of a snowstorm, so I had no choice but to go to the closest hospital, which was Progress West. When I arrived at 3am with my face swollen to twice its size on one side, the teenager at the intake radioed back that I had a "toothache". Since no one else was there, I was taken right back. The doctor spotted me and followed me into the room. The ER care was very good, but then they admitted me. Worst. Thing. EVER!!! Some of the nurses were nice (Moe, for example, was wonderful!),but there weren't enough of them. At one point, I pressed the call button so I could be disconnected from all the wires they had on me and use the restroom. It took a full two hours before a nurse came in, and then it was just to check on me. I'd pushed that button multiple times to get up and go. Ironically, that was the only time I'd used the call button.
The hospitalist was really the biggest problem I had. He would not LISTEN to me. He spent less than 30 seconds in the room so he could discharge me. I mentioned chest pains. He said it was fine and sent me home.
The snowstorm had been a really bad one and all of my kids ended up being out of school for several more days. Since the hospitalist told me I was fine, I ignored the chest pains and dizziness I was still having not wanting to bother anyone and since all the kids were home, I didn't have a sitter. The symptoms I was having continued, though, so I went to a walk-in clinic the minute they went back to school three days later. That clinic took one look and said to go straight to the ER. Progress West was the closest one, and by this point, things were going dark and dizzy so I went there.
Once again, the ER got me back quickly and the ER doctors and nurses were very good. They figured out that my heart rate was very low and admitted me to the telemetry unit. Somehow I ended up with the same hospitalist who really wanted nothing to do with me...which was fine. I didn't trust him after last time anyway.
Throughout the entire weekend I was there, I think I saw the man for less than 45 seconds. The chest pains and dizziness were crazy. I'd learned my lesson the previous stay about pushing the call button, so I didn't bother with that at all. What would be the point? My husband and friends who came to visit commented repeatedly and on separate occasions from one another that there was almost no one on the unit, except maybe one person sitting at the desk. At one point, an elderly woman came into my room thinking it was her room and was very confused. My husband escorted her out to the nurses, who apologized, but no one seemed to know who she belonged to for a few minutes.
Testing had been ordered, but couldn't be done until Monday because they didn't have the staff to do it. They did it first thing on Monday morning, and the hospitalist had already ordered me discharged before I even got back from the testing. This man listened to NOTHING I was telling him! The cardiologists looked at the telemetry strips and were able to see that something was clearly wrong (Um, I kind of knew that since I was passing out every time I tried to stand up, was completely dizzy, and had zero energy for anything). They finally figured out what was wrong and suggested I could look up the diagnosis online. They left the room never to be seen again and offering nothing to relieve my symptoms. They did offer codeine for the chest pains and told nurses I could be discharged.
I explained that I had my car there, but my husband was working. I was told it was okay to drive home. Um, you just gave me Codeine and you KNOW I'm so dizzy that someone has been walking with me to keep me from tipping over, but you're cool with me driving?!?! Awesome. I was heading out when a friend arrived and met me to drive me home.
For most of my visit, I had the charge nurse, Kathy. She was wonderful! I really liked her and appreciated how gentle she was. Selma, the tech who did vitals, was also very kind and gentle. Beyond that, I don't have much positive to say at all. Next time, I think I would rather run the risk of dying on the way to the next hospital. read more