A Night(mare) in the Emergency Room

                                                                               

  

 First, I need to say that I am basically a very healthy person.  As one gets older a few screws disengage and some issues arise...and some of these issues have found their way to me.  I have a wonderful doctor who keeps any problems under control, but sometimes...just sometimes... a little glitch sneaks in. And this was the situation the other night...  It was about 10:30 pm and I began to feel ill.  Finally, I told my husband and he insisted we get to the ER because the first time this issue had arisen I was hospitalized for three days.  Remembering that time, I put a small bag together with my toothbrush, "good" robe, some cosmetics and things I might need if I was forced to stay.  I also took my pillow...my down, wonderful, sink-in pillow (that does not make me sweat like the vinyl covered hospital pillows do)...and off we went.

  Our hospital is a beautiful, well endowed facility and I had recieved the highest quality care here before, as had my husband (who could be considered a platinum member of their "frequent flyer" program).  Their ER is fully staffed and the wait, even during Flu Season, is not very long. My last experience there found compassionate and highly capable personnel and a tremendous efficency.

We arrived to find only one person before me in the Triage Area.  A second triage nurse was on the phone but motioned me to enter her cubicle. Still on the phone with someone who was obviously her boyfriend, she motioned me to stick out my finger to put the little gizmo on it for a reading.  That done, and still on the phone, she motioned that she was about to take my BP...she wrapped the cuff around my arm, pressed the button to automatically inflate it and take my pressure...still talking to the boyfriend...However, when my BP showed sky high she disengaged ...("gotta hang, Babe, problem here" uttered to reassure me, I suppose!) and this time she paid attention.  She retook the BP, this time off the phone, and it had miraculously gone down to a safer place!  She took some information and directed me to a seat in the waiting area, but I was called at once and proceeded to the examining room.  This inauspicious beginning did not bode well!


I was ushered into an examining room that was fitted out in state-of-the-art emergency room style.  It had doors and windows into the common area that become clear or opaque at the push of a button at the nurse's station, (no ordinary curtains dividing the beds in this classy joint!) Two comfy visitors chairs, a stretcher/bed with removable side rails and every life saving apparatus known to medicine.  There was an overhead TV and a hand held remote for it that was part of the nurse's call button apparatus.  A nurse arrived, started a fluid drip and took an ekg.  I was then tethered to a monitor while another nurse (I guess she was the one with the longest fangs) removed vial after vial of blood from my arm.  After a long wait a doctor arrived to examine me.  (My pre-pubescent grandsons look more mature than this young man!)  After a cursory stethescoping he said he would contact my own doctor, and disappeared!

 So, here I was tethered to a drip and a monitor, with my husband dozing in a chair beside me. And the clock is ticking...At about 3:30 AM a nurse arrives and says that they want me to be admitted but no room is available so I was to stay here until the morning when the check-outs begin.  I made my husband go home at this point and I wanted some sleep. There was no way I could fall asleep until my cell phone rang and I knew he had not fallen asleep at the wheel on the way home.  Once I got that call, try as I might, there was no sleep in me. Tick...tick...tick...I realized that I needed to use the bathroom but attached as I was, I could not just go, so I rang for a nurse...tick...tick...tick... no response...tick...tick...tick. The door wsas closed and the only way to get anyone's attention was the call button.  Was it broken? I had pressed it over and over but no one came.  I was beginning to panic.  Had they forgotten me? Even with my own pillow, the stretcher was grossly uncomfortable and my attachments precluded much position changing.  I felt claustrophobic and abandoned.  But I am determined!! After about an hour and a half I grabbed my cell phone, called information and got the number of the hospital...I called and asked for the Emergency room...when connected I informed them that I was a patient and had been ringing for a nurse for over an hour with no response and someone better get in here ASAP!  Almost immediately the door flew open and a nurse unhooked me.  I took care of the first problem and was then determined to tackle the second...sleep.  Back in my room the waiting nurse re attached the monitor and said she would leave the door opened in case I needed anything. Mistake!!! An ER is like an all night party in a college dorm. People calling out to each other in loud voices...laughter...crying...groaning...carts rolling...personnel loudly coming and going like it is anywhere but pre-dawn in a place where sick patients are. Sleep was out of the question at this point.  Thank goodness for my cell phone.  I played WWF...I read the NYTimes...went on Facebook...(all the while patting myself on the back for remembering to grab the charger as we left for the hospital!)...

Following shift change a new nurse arrived.  Theresa.  A throwback to an old-fashioned care-giver with a heart of gold and fine nursing skills.  She took more of my blood, gently and skillfully ...and brought me breakfast (the "egg thing" on my tray could surely be entire blog entry itself!)  and told me that my own doctor was making rounds and would be there soon. And he was.  He examined me...said I was asymptomatic and looked fine. He said to just wait until the new blood panels were read and I could probably go home.  And wait I did!  Peter arrived in time for lunch (which they called quiche, but looked like someone had thrown up into a pie crust... accompanied by synthetic looking mashed potatoes, vegetables that looked like they had been grown on Mars and a roll ...all these starches together on a hospital tray?  Where was the dietician?)...and we waited and waited and waited...bloods were normal...I could go home...and we waited and waited some more...finally I was untethered and discharged at 3:00pm!!!  

What a night.  I have therefore decided to remain healthy!!!

...and because I saw the  Quiche destroyed in such a terrible way, I want to share this excellent recipe for quiche...Quiche Lorraine

*From the New York Times...(Andre Soltner)

Quiche Lorraine 

1 tart dough recipe (*OK, I cheat...I use a pre packaged pie crust)

6 ounces bacon (preferably mild smoked), cut crosswise in 1/4-inch strips

1 tablespoon butter 3 eggs

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/4 pound Swiss Gruyère, grated

Salt

Pepper

Pinch nutmeg.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Roll out the dough and line a buttered 10-inch tart pan, bringing the edges of the pastry up to extend slightly beyond the edge.

3. Top the dough with parchment paper. Fill it with dried beans as a weight. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until just golden brown. Remove the beans (they can be reused for this purpose) and discard the parchment paper. Reduce the oven heat to 325 degrees.

4. Blanch the bacon for 5 minutes in boiling water, remove, and pat dry. Then sauté the bacon over low heat with the butter. Spread the bacon and the grated cheese in the prebaked tart. (*you can use regular bacon but get a good brand)

5. In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly and mix in the cream. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and pour this mixture gently over the bacon and cheese.

6. Bake the quiche for about 30 minutes, or until the filling is golden brown and set.

7. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving warm.

Serves 6 to 8.

*Lovely lunch dish...I serve it with a salad and a chilled Sauvingnon Blanc