Dad Feels Bad
Day trip to the emergency room
4 Apr 22
This morning I have dad at the ER. He experienced dizziness in the early hours and became worried. He had Marlena call me, instead of calling me himself.
When I picked him up he looked nervous but not ill. He opted to use the walker instead of his cane. I agreed with that choice. The walker provides more stability.
We decided to go to CAMC General. It treats strokes and trauma. The Memorial hospital is more heart and cancer. Unfortunately the General is in a bad part of town. Being a trauma hospital they get gunshot, and stabbing victims. They also get psych patients.
The waiting area is surprisingly quiet. In the first three hours there the highest number of people waiting was eight. The intern said the beds are full. They may be, but you can't tell.
There is a young man trying to sleep. You can't stretch across chairs so he is folded over with his arms on his legs, and his head on his arms. Only once since we arrived has anyone spoken with him. That person said she was a social worker.
There is another young man waiting. He is in a hospital wheelchair. He has been wheeled back twice for blood work.
A young woman is using the transport phone for something other than a transport call. A security guard is instructing her to get off the phone. She keeps insisting "they" told her she could shut her account down using the phone. I don't know what that means.
She said she would press charges for them harassing her. It is getting tense as they argue, raising voices.
She curses the guards, demanding they leave her alone. They tell her to watch her language and she says no.
After three and a half hours we sit, waiting for his blood work and test results. An older woman is wheeled in. I overheard her sister telling the admitting person they just came from the doctor’s office. The doctor instructed them to go straight to the emergency room, the woman must be admitted. Her legs are infected.
When they move the woman around in front of where we are seated I become kind of sick. One leg has been amputated below the knee, but that isn’t it. Her legs are covered in sores, and swollen. She moans in pain, and wipes tears away.
Two times she is wheeled back into the treatment area. Two times she is returned with the food rest in the up position. Two times she struggles to put the food rest down with a swollen, oozing leg. She can barely move the leg, and the pain must be awful based on her grimacing and moaning. I get up from my chair, move toward her asking, “Would you like me to do that for you?” She is grateful.
I try to use my foot to flip the foot rest down, but it is stiff. I reach down and use my hand. The foot rest is wet. Her legs are dripping. I calmly make my way to the restroom and scrub my hands, then use my personal hand sanitizer.
Another half hour and the doctor comes out to talk to us. The CT is negative for stroke. His blood work shows no sign of heart stress, or infection. In short there is no clear reason for his dizziness.
Dad gives one more explanation of when he feels dizzy. The doctor repeats that the test don’t show anything they can point to. He needs to follow-up with his physician. He is discharged.
