My latest trip to the E.R.

The day before yesterday I was relegated to the couch.  again.  Everything hurt.  Yesterday it wasn't much better, and I kept getting dizzy everytime I tried to do anything, so off to the E.R. I went.

I decided to try a different hospital than the last one I went to for this same thing where they just threw some pain meds at me and sent me home 9 hours later.

This hospital is the only one in Pensacola that posts a sign saying don't worry if you can't pay, we will help you.  Unfortunately it's not in the greatest neighborhood so it's not the nicest of facilities.

By the time I got there, I was having trouble breathing and my arms and legs kept losing circulation and I could barely walk. 

Naturally I parked on the wrong side of the building and had to walk across it to the E.R.  I told them what was wrong and sat down to wait.

Someone in there had tracked dog poop across the floor right by where I was sitting.  As I was waiting, I kept waivering in and out of conciousness and started having chest pains.  So I told the girl at the window that, barely able to stand, and they told me to have a seat they will get to me as soon as they can.

An hour later I get taken into Triage, and they want me to pee in a cup.  As they were leading me to the bathroom, I collapsed on the floor.  They picked me up and shoved me in the bathroom and forced me onto the toilet and said if I don't pee in the cup they would have to catheterize me.  And then the nurse just stood there with the door open.  I'm unable to pee with someone watching when I'm feeling fine, let alone when I'm not able to breathe and in massive pain, so I just handed her back the cup and said FINE.

Back to triage I go.  there were 4 other people sitting in triage waiting for a bed while more people were coming up to the desk and complaining.  Apparently while I was hitting the ground, one of the patients in the ER got violent and they had to lock the place down for security reasons, so we all had to wait.

Finally I get taken in for an EKG (?) so they can monitor my heart and put on a breathing treatment that tasted aweful.  This is also when they did the catheter thing.  Shortly after, they became a lot nicer.  I think they were thinking I was either drunk or on drugs when I got there, like so many of their patients.  Once they realized I wasn't, they were very nice and helpful.

I loved the doctor I had.  He was really nice and caring.  At first they said they didn't find anything and I could go home, but then he came back in and said that he caught a small flutter on my EKG and wanted a cardiologist to take a look at it.  So back to waiting I go.

The now want me to go for more testing to find out if it was just an anomaly or if it's what's causing my dizzy spells and blackouts.  There is a history of heart problems on both sides of my family, with both my maternal grandmother and uncle having arithmias (sp?)

The registration department was shocked to find out I have been turned down for medicaid and I think they are going to try to help me get that.

Overall I was very happy with Baptist Hospital.