Who needs trauma and ER shows when you can witness it in person?!

This post was actually supposed to be short and have one point, but as I was writing it, it got a little crazy and random. But that's how I'm feeling now. A little crazy and random! So here you go..

As I posted in my last post, I had the privilege of spending another night in the ER. As I'm sure you know by now, this is not uncommon. In the past 3 years I've been to the ER over 50 times. No, that is not an exaggeration. I could whip out all my hospital bracelets and show you if you really want to see proof. My current record for the longest I've gone without going to the ER, since I got sick 3 years ago, is 2 and a half months! It's a big accomplishment.

So, Tuesday night to Wednesday morning my grandparents and I were just hanging out in the ER (my parents were out of town, actually out the country doing mission work, so my grandparents got to go with me). I don't prefer to go to the hospital without my parents, but I think I did well. I didn't get in any fights with the doctors, so it was a success! You see, when you have Lyme disease, it is almost always a game when talking to a doctor. I told my grandparents not to say a WORD and to let me do the talking. I walk a fine line of what to say and what not to say. One wrong word, and the fight with the doctor begins. However, the hospital that I now go to has never really been a problem! The doctors there don't question that I have Lyme Disease. The other hospitals in this area do.

The fights almost always starts like this.
   "Um ma'am why do you have a port?"
   "I have Lyme Disease, but it's more under control now". Sometimes I actually lie about that. If I leave out the "it's under control" part, there will always be a fight.
   "Ma'am you cannot have Lyme Disease. We don't have that here."
I come up with smartalic things to say like,
   "then please tell me why you have your dog take medicine to protect them from ticks". Or, "I didn't even tell you where I was from! I could be from New York and just in Edmond visiting. I could have gotten Lyme Disease there." Or, "then how is it that Lyme is one of the most common infections seen in dogs here in Oklahoma? Do ticks that have Lyme JUST like dogs and not people? That makes a LOT of sense."

It makes me feel so good when they get this stupid look on their faces and either change the subject, or just walk out. But a lot of times they get so defensive and start saying very unkind things to me. Sometimes security has almost been called because it gets so bad. It's one of the worst things to deal with. Sometimes I'm so sick but am terrified to go to the doctor because I don't know what will happen. I should have my own tv show. My life is a lot more interesting than some of those reality shows.

I'm done with that tangent now. Thankfully that hasn't happened at the hospital I go to now! They are wonderful!

Moving on. I've always been fascinated with trauma and ER shows. I really don't know why. It's always so entertaining! One of the best parts about going to the ER is getting to be live in the action. This past trip to the ER was not lacking in excitement! A lady in labor came through through the doors yelling,
   "it's coming! Hurry! I can't stop it, it's coming!"
That was entertaining to watch her try to fill out paperwork while making sure everyone knew the baby was coming. There was a guy who needed stitches around his mouth. There were a couple people whose loved one was in critical condition, and they were not allowed to see them yet. There were several very hard phone calls. I spent a lot of time praying for those families. There was an older lady in a wheelchair in her robe and nothing but her robe. She was waiting for someone to pick her up and asked everyone who walked by her to call "them" to see when "they" would be there. I still don't know who "them" is. The 2 ladies who direct people when they come in the door are so sweet. One of them recognized me since I've been there so much. I thought they were going to strangle that lady. It was hilarious to watch. She was convinced that "they" were never coming to pick her up. Ten minutes seemed like an hour to her. There was ANOTHER lady in her robe and nothing but her robe. Apparently it was robe night. That was all in the ER waiting room!

This was the view from my room. It's one of my favorite rooms in that ER. Yes, I've been in all of them multiple times.

I like it because it's right by the nurses station and across the way from the trauma rooms. There's always lots going on in that area. You can't see it in this picture but to the left of the curtain is one of the trauma rooms. If the curtain was pulled to the right you could see right in the room. A couple hours after I had been in my room, EMSA was bringing in a guy on a stretcher. There were at least 5 EMSA guys with him. At this time, my curtain wasn't closed very much, so I had a perfect view into his room. Is that against the privacy policy to watch other patients and listen in? Why yes it is. But I couldn't help it. I was not allowed to get up because of my drugged state and all my monitors and IVs, and I didn't want to ask my grandparents to get up and close the curtain. So that means that I HAD to watch what was going on. The guy had on a neck brace and was immediately surrounded by nurses and doctors. They were talking to him and hooking him up to monitors. After they got him settled, he was in his room alone and was holding his cell phone up in the air above him. It looked like he was taking pictures of himself. Maybe he was texting, but it sure looked like he was taking pictures!

That was all that I remember about him because the nurse came in and gave me a hefty dose of IV Benedryll. Two doses of Dilauded (a form of morphine that is 10 times stronger than morphine) doesn't knock me out, but then bam Benedryll hits and I get so sleepy! I never fell asleep but I was very out of it.

It may sound like I enjoy people watching at the ER too much. I feel the need to say that I in no way wish for people to be hurt or sick and have to come to the ER. While it is entertaining, I wish that they wouldn't have to be there and be hurting.

But who needs Trauma and ER shows when you can witness it in person?!