What's an ER for anyway??

[anita]

What has happened to our medical system?

I was instructed by my PCP to head to the ER this morning due to this sizable sebaceous cyst on my head causing large scale lymphadenopathy on my head, neck, jaw, etc.  He thought it had gotten emergent after our attempts to treat failed and it's worse now.   Sadly, they turned me away!!!  Too serious for treatment in the ER, they said...I need a surgeon.  Well, no sh**!!  I thought an ER would have access to a surgeon!!!!!!   He told me that getting a surgical consult in the ER was done in the 80's, not now...except at a teaching hospital.

The lymph nodes on the neck have room to expand and are sore to the touch, but the ones on the head are trapped between the scalp and skull (tight quarters), so it's like pushing on them 24/7...extremely painful.

They (ER) were concerned that the extensive lymph node response could mean something else and may even need a biopsy before surgery can be done (but they won't do that either).  So what did they do...RX for percocet and sent me on my way.

We sat in the parking lot while I called a surgeon.  Thankfully they will work me in and evaluate this tomorrow.

Sorry for the rant...needed to vent.

[Epson]

How many days did you have to sit in the waiting room to see someone?

[Bucky]

Anita - sorry to hear you got turned away from the ER.  I've never heard of something like this - where they turn you away. 

I'm glad you will get in to see someone tomorrow.  Good luck with your appointment and I hope this surgeon can give you some answers.

Please keep us posted.

Hugs,
Bucky

[LizM]

I totally understand your frustration. About a year and a half ago, I had a large (ping pong ball sized) ovarian cyst rupture.  I knew it was that, but the ER wasn't positive.  The pain was unbearable, yet I waited almost 6 hours and never saw a doctor.  By the time a PA came in to evaluate me, the pain was receeding and I left.  I was shocked that they let me lay there in horrible pain for that long. 

And the best thing of all....a few weeks later, I got a huge bill from the ER and the ER doctors who never saw me.  I disputed the charges, but no one wanted to listen to me.  I paid it off $5 at a time.  I am very wary of hospitals now.


Liz

[kwolfsheimer]

Anita,

I am sorry to hear this. Good thing is wasn't life-threatening or you might have died right there in the waiting room! 

I was in the ER one time with my son and this man sitting across from us was having a heart attack.  His son insisted that he needed to be seen right away-- "wait your turn," the triage nurse told him.  So he called the ambulnce while they were sitting in the waiting room and explained that his father was having a heart attack. They drove up to the doors, brought a stretcher in, wheeled him out the front and in the ambulance entranceway. Talk about bureaucracy!!

I hope that you can get this thing taken off with no problems. I'll be thinking about you.

Kelly

[inga]

There are a few words that get them up off their butts:

"Chest pain radiating to my arm."

"Heavy bleeding".

"The bone is sticking out through my skin".

"The baby's head is coming out".

Things never to say...."History of Depression".   "Fibromyalgia".   "I just want something for the pain".  "I was rear ended".

Even, "I can't breathe' doesn't cut it any more.

I stay OUT of the ER if at all possible.  Once we drove home with me having chest pain due to a reaction to ivig, which could have very well been a heart attack....I hate ERs that much.  I admit, that was really dumb, and now it isn't documented.

I have learned to avoid them if I at all can.    Emergency now means imminently life threatening....in other words, if you don't treat this, within an hour, I will likely cease to be.   We have urgent care centers in my state.  Interestingly, across the state line, in the bordering state, they do not.  Urgent care would handle something like a sebaceous cyst, provided it wasn't full out surgery.  Urgent Care Centers handle a lot of stuff that the ERs used to do.  My small ER still does do some  things, like when I had severe ear pain, however, if I am really sick, like puking with a migraine they don't want to do a thing.....'too complex'.

[anita]

I usually stay away from ER's...at all cost.  I was surprised the PCP told me to go.  We both know I need a surgeon, but he thought I would get a surgical consult faster through the ER since the lymph nodes were going crazy and this needed immediate attention.  WRONG...didn't work.

This is not the first time to be turned away.  2 years ago, I had a softball size hematoma from my heparin injections.  The local ER said better to bleed then stroke (I have a history of strokes), so sent me away telling me to continue my injections knowing it would increase the hematoma.  By the time I got to Hopkins' ER tow days later I was rushed to emergency surgery because it was infected, then 2 weeks in the hospital, 3 months of open wound care and told I came very close to being completely septic. 

The doctors wonder why I don't run to the ER when other things get out of control...let me count the reasons.

What an awful system we have.

Keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow's appt.

[inga]

I hope you get some good care tomorrow.  It is hard being sick.

[lynnmarie219]

Well I never heard of being turned away from an ER! 

And Kelly...that is so very sad what that man had to do to get his father seen while he was having a heart attack! My gosh...what has this world come to??

[irish]

I have been turned away--basically---but was seen by a doctor who told me that I was not sick enough to be seen in ER. Apparantly one has to have a stroke, heart attack, car accident, etc to be seen. This phrase has been used to explain it to me. Your life has to be in jeopardy. Now how the heck do we all know for sure when that is?

Also, our medical system is broken because back in 1965 ( I think that is right) the government put the darn medicare system into effect. Our nation's health care has been on a slow boat to China down hill course since then. When government gets involved prices get higher and the laws and rules they make are just obnoxious and utterly ridiculous. Get all these non medical people trying to tell the medical community how to do things. Plus, the corruption in the medicare system is unreal.

We need to get rid of all the government and go back to the good old days and get rid of all the leeches that exist between the doctor and the patient and the medical facilities and the patient. Make sure you all check your bills from the docs, hospitals and clinics and compare them to what your insurance and medicare pays. It can get very interesting some times. Irish

[inga]

I disagree, but won't get political on here. 

A fact, not opinion, is that insurance companies are making RECORD profits.

Without Medicare, many Americans would have NO insurance and would not get any care.  Many on this forum also get Medicare for disability, and could never afford the COBRA or premiums, that lately have risen to outrageous heights.

I every American needs to use their brain, not believe all they hear on TV, and make sure they use this precious right to vote with utmost care.

[Scottietottie]

Hi Anita

I'm really sorry you were treated that way at ER especially as you had been advised to go there by your PCP. I'm surprised that if ER couldn't deal with it that they couldn't admit you and get it dealt with that way.

Any time I've had any of my family at our GP (PCP equivalent) and they have needed hospitalisation, the GP has arranged for the hopsital to take them prior to arrival. Of course we have a different system here.

I hope you have a good consultation with your surgeon.

Take care and keep us posted!   Scottie  (((( A ))))

[harlin]

Oh Anita I am so sorry.

I have never heard of this before. This is how the system fails us. I was in the ER last week for a possible Aortic Anorism. Gave me the work over.
I hope you have seen the surgeon by now. Good luck and God Bless
harlin

[bloodless]

I've never been turned away from the ER, but I don't go if I can help it either. I hate to even call my GP with a problem because she sends me when I do. I find the ER always see me though. How else are they gonna collect all that money? They don't ever seem to do much for you. If you you're not bleeding, burned, feeling chest pains or have a broken bone, they are at a loss. All they can do is serve as a referral consultant.

[Madderakka]

Does your town. county have an urgent care facility? These are different from ER's and see things like sprains/migraines/injuries that aren't emergent enough for an ER.  ER's are really just supposed to be for stabilizing people. Your doctor should have helped you call surgeons and get an immediate appointment, not sent you to the ER.