I Just Knew

I am exhausted.

Beyond exhausted actually.  But that's what happens when you spend the night in the ER.

Randall was sick yesterday.  It started early in the morning.  He took a nap and seemed OK when he woke up in the afternoon.  Then, at dinner, all hell broke loose.

We had Subway.  He didn't even finish his sandwich.  I could tell by looking at him that he was going to vomit.  We have been down this road so many times in the past, I just knew.

Sure enough, not five minutes later, he was in the bathroom.  And it just got worse from there.

By 11pm I was begging him to go to the hospital.  He kept telling me he was fine.

I just knew.

After the 10th time he went running to the bathroom, he was ready to go.

So we got dressed and headed off to the ER.  We got there just a little bit after midnight.

After waiting two and a half hours, with Randall stumbling to the bathroom to vomit and passing out in his chair from the stress of all the vomiting, he was taken back.

From here on out, I spent most of my time pretty pissed off.

Usually, when he is taken back they immediately give him an IV and get anti-nausea and pain meds going to try and make him comfortable.  Not this time.

The ER doc was the mousy brown haired, nerdy type and she would not give him an IV.  She instead offered him shots.  A shot of dilaudid in his arm and a shot of nausea medicine in his hip.  These did nothing for him.  As a matter of fact, he vomited more.

Two hours later {for a running total of 4 hours, 2 in the waiting room and 2 actually being seen} she gives in and orders an IV to be put in.  He gets Zofran for the nausea.  She refuses to give him pain meds through his IV.  She will only give him pills, which he keeps throwing up.  In a round about way, she is saying that he is seeking pain meds, she orders everything but IV pain meds.

Now I can understand where she is coming from.  But if the patient is in pain, and pills are not working, especially since said patient is vomiting, wouldn't it be better for everyone all around to give meds by IV?

Isn't their main goal to make the patient as comfortable as possible?

Unfortunately, after all his visits this summer, the ER has pretty much labeled him as a drug seeker.  They do not understand that he is in constant pain from the gastroparesis but that when he starts vomiting and it gets as severe as it did last night, his pain becomes unbearably worse.  The more pain he has the more he vomits.  It is a vicious, vicious cycle.

Back to the hospital...

After the DR came in and said she would order an IV for him, we didn't see her the rest of the night.  The nurse came and went a few times.  From about 6am to 7:15am, we seen no one.  Well I seen no one, Randall was sleeping here and there.  By 7:30 a new nurse popped in, saying that she was taking over from the night shift and informed us that Randall would be admitted.

Wait... What?

This was something that could have been told to us a long time ago.  By the night shift nurse.  Surely this knowledge was bestowed upon her before she clocked out and left...

Stupid, inconsiderate people.

"Do you want me to stay until they take you to your room, babe?", I ask.  Because as much as I want to remain there, I need to go home too.  I am sore.  I am tired.  I have had enough of the hospital.

"No Babydoll.  You can head on home.  You don't have to stay."  He is barely awake.

I am not sure he even really knows what is going on.

I grab my stuff and kiss him several times on the head.  I tear up because it hurts my heart to see him lying there so helpless and sick.

I tell him I love him and I leave.

It was a long night.  A long night that I ended up biting my tongue.

But I knew it would end like it did.

I just knew.

Share