Nobody ever said I was graceful/ rant about the hosptial

[Deb2of9]

I have been really enjoying the fields and grass where I have moved to. So has my dog as she now can walk with me off the leash. We go for a walk every morning that weather permits or I don't have to go someplace early. We have taken to walk the hill behind my house or the path my neighbor has laid in his woods. ( It is a beautiful path with a bench at the halfway mark.) We get a lot of good exercise on that hill. At the bottom of the hill is a creek with an open field and a hill going up on the other side of the creek. I have been walking down to the creek almost every morning. Monday, I noticed the creek was lower. I decided to try to cross the creek on the rocks. There are rocks that go accross the creek, and partially daming it up there. I wanted to get a better look at what was on the other side. My neighbors have already given me permission to walk on their property, so Monday I decided it was the day to go further.

 

Carefully using my walking stick for balance, I started to walk accross the rocks. I was not using my good wooden walking stick, but my collapsable hiking stick, designed much like a ski pole. I was about half way accross when my walking stick decided to collaspe on me. Since it was slightly behind me to reach the ground under the creek, I was thrown off balanced. I feel backwards, twisting slightly sidewards on to the rocks. Here I was far away from everyone. Even my dog had wandered into the woods a little and I was stuck on my back, in the creek on top of several large rocks. I have trouble getting up due to my bad knees and back in the best of times. Here I had no solid footing. I couldnt' use my arms to help me up because I was on my back. There was nothing to hold on to. I though I was going to have to call for help. (I do have a little bit of sense and take my cell phone with me on these walks.) I finally managed to turn slightly on my side and found my walking stick. It wouldn't lock in to a higher position, but with it collasped I was able to use it to get up once I turned almost over onto my stomach. I should mention that I did not just fall onto the rocks and into the creek. ( I was soaked and covered with mud.) I also managed to fall into a multiflora rose bush and what I thnk by the looks of what I have all over me, posion sumac.

 

I managed after about 15 minutes of trying to get up and out of the creek. I was hurting pretty bad, but since I could walk, I decided to make it up the hill and go home without calling for assistance. That might not be the best of idea that I had, but I can be a little independent and stubborn. I wasn't even thinking that I could have broken anything until I was half way up the hill and the pain was getting worse. ( No I don't think I broke anything.) I am very bruised up. My daughter called me as I was walking up the hill and she came by to check me out when I made it back to the house. I had a huge lump on my hip along with a big bruise and could not sit. I couldn't move my right arm and my back was killing me, so she dragged me to the hospital.

 

I was not happy with the care I recieved at the hospital, which is part of the reason that I said I don't think anything is broken. When I got there, they asked what happened and where I hurt. I told them every place it hurt. By the time I got there I realized my shoulder was hurting a lot and it wasn't because of my back like I thought. The doctor came in, bent my knee, touched my back and told me I just had bruises because I couldn't have broken anything and still walked. He ignore the elbow that I couldn't straighted and was all scraped up and bruised. He ignored the terrible pain in my shoulder and barely acknowledged my back pain, putting it down to my history of chronic back pain. He did no xrays. He did not even look at all of the areas that had severe pain. Maybe I under estimated the level of my pain when I told them it was around a 7, but I know he should have paid more attention to where I hurt, especially knowing that I am 53. As for not walking with a break, he only considered a possible break in my hip and my pelvis. He didn't consider that my whole back and shoulder also slammed down on the rocks. Having worked long term care, I have seen at least three patients walking that turrned out to have fractured hips. If it isn't a complete break it is possible.

 

I know I am ranting, especially since I don't believe that I have broken anything, but I believe that he looked at my status ( having no insurance because I am unemployed right now) and decided that he had given enough effort towards my care. They did give me that wonderful shot Toradol for the muscle spasms/pain but sent me home on Naproxin which is not really stronger than ibuprofen. In fact he would have probably given me that except that due to hypertension I can't have that. He also ignored that my blood pressure was running 189/127. He released me with that blood pressure and I am not sure how many of you know acceptable blood pressures, but that is far from accessable. Even more alarming is that it was 20 points different from the blood pressure in my other arm. I was at serious risk for having a heart attack with that blood pressure and even though it was not what I came to the ER for, it should have been addressed. So I left that hospital not at all happy with the care I recieved. Except for the shot that did help with the immediate pain, my daughter and I did as good an assessment. Their only treatment was the naproxin, use ice and bedrest. All I could have and would have done without wasting my time, money and comfort from the 20 minute drive on bumpy country roads.

 

I am doing better. However, the next day we realized that my shoulder is partially dislocated. (That is where that pain is coming from. We are waiting for the swelling to go down to put it back in place.) I had several vertebrae out of place in my back and have bruised or possibly cracked a couple of ribs on my right side. The ribs are causing me to have difficulty breathing because my lungs can't fully expand. As a result I have developed a cough that only makes the ribs hurt more. I have been making sure to cough and to keep moving so I don't develop pnuemonia and luckily my daughter and I have enough knowledge between us to care for me despite the care the hospital provided. He may not have been able to do much about the ribs or shoulder, but he didn't even look at those areas even though I had complained of pain in that area. One of the problems my daughter noticed that he overlooked is I couldn't talk without being short of breath. That was prboably because of the damage to my ribs.

 

I have heard complaints against hospitals before. I am sure that as a nurse, some of the complaints were addressed against me. I have to admit that the nurses were excellent with me. They reported where I hurt. They looked me over. They did everything that they should have, but the doctor only seemed to be interested in geting me out of there.

 

My daughter has now told me that next time I want to cross the creek, make sure I have someone with me. They want to put a small walking bridge there, but I am not sure about that as the neighbors cross it with their four wheelers. Maybe we can put a bridge a little further down stream and leave them their crossing. No matter, I will not let this keep me from enjoying the beautiful country where i am now very happy to live.

 

 

[Momo]

Ouch!

 

You are lucky that you weren't injured worse.

 

The last time MIL fell we took her to the ER. They gave her a cursory look and told us she was good to go. I asked if they could please do an x-ray because she was rubbing her neck. She wasn't complaining, but it wasn't normal for her to rub her neck. They did and discovered she had broken her neck in 2 places. She should have been paralyzed. If I hadn't said anything we probably would have killed her on the drive home!

[Deb2of9]

To me it seems that simple logic should prevail. I came in complaining about pain in my shoulder, back, hip, elbow, hand and wrist. Everthing from the neck down to my hip was hurting but only on the right side. To me, as a nurse, that warrents a head to toe assessment. Especially knowing the person fell onto rocks and had multiple scratches on the arms and back. I was still covered in the mud from where I had fallen. (All I did was change into dry slip on shoes before leaving for the hospital.) To not look at all of the joints and not do xrays seemed foolish to me. I know that some times people go to the ER for nothing, but when you come in with multiple areas hurting and the evidence all over you that you must have fallen, it seems that you should be examined throughly. And as I said, when I had a blood pressure as high as mine was ( it is much better now,) that should have been followed up on. In any healthcare setting tunnel vision that only focuses on one area and not the whole patient is important. In the Emergency room it is a matter of life and death. With the exame that I recieved not only was there no way to know if I broke something, but I could have had intenal bleeding as well. The only assessment measure that they did was basic vital signs. It bugs me because I could have been hurt worse and what is more, I might not have been aware of what to look for myself or had family that did. I have learnt a vital lesson about my walks, and will be more careful in the furture, but they need to be more through as well. My daughter got yelled at by her husband because she didn't speak up for me. He told her that she has not let them get away with that type of exame for anyone else and should not have stood by and let them brush me off. I should have spoke up myself. My only defense is that I was hurting and not thinking clearly.

[Mt_Rider]

Yikes, Deb! I glad you were able to get back and VERY glad to hear you bring your cell phone on solo walks. We just never know when something unexpected will come our way. [actually, I pretty much expect the unexpected daily and go from there....I'm usually accurate... ]

 

As for current medical care...don't get me started. The injured/ill person must have an advocate. Being in pain or really sick makes wimps of us all. We get very focused on simply wanting to feel better and are not our usual selves. I wonder if your care would have been any differnt if you had called 911 and the paramedics reported that you needed to be seen? Would their assessment have been taken more seriously?

 

I've also noticed that some doctor's feel it is their duty to 'put nurses in their place'......by treating them extremely rudely. Did you mention that you are a nurse? I've been shocked by this toxic behavior and can't figure out what they think they're doing.

 

If you still feel like things might be more wrong than rest, ice and anti-inflamatories can eventually fix, try a different doctor. Bring an advocate. Ribs are REALLLLLY painful as DH found out.

 

 

MtRider [...oooooo, that sounds so painful! I pray that you can get good rest!]

[TurtleMama]

Oh, Deb, you poor thing!!!

 

I don't understand why some doctors are willing to put aside the Hippocratic Oath (in this one's case, the Hypocritic Oath, eh?) in the interest of money. It's disgusting. Bless you, sweetie...PLEASE take care with that shoulder. Is there a walk-in clinic nearby that you could go to to get it back in place? You can really injure the muscles and ligaments around it if you try to relocate it and pull it too hard/too far. Get some rest, take care, and go to a different doctor or hospital if you continue to be in pain, okay? HUGS!!!!!

[Becca_Anne]

Ouch! I am so sorry you weren't given a thorough exam. I hope you feel better soon!

[Annarchy]

Hope you are doing better.