So I get out of the shower yesterday just in time to hear my friends (who are roommates and teammates on the Frisbee team) through my door, discussing whether or not they should go to the hospital. I opened to the door to hear my friend say, "I think I have a concussion." Cue Molly in "panicked mommy" mode...
After about five minutes of hemming and hawing about it, the three of us decided to hit the ER, just to be on the safe side. So we drove out there and arrived at around 7pm, whence began a strange (but in a weird way, nice, because it's community) evening.
Chris and I went in while Wes found a parking space (the poor guy ended up so far from the hospital...) and we sufficiently scared the crap out of the lady at triage. That's because Chris still has smudges of eye black on his face from the game. She thought it was really severe bruising. It was funny because she looked right at him and tried really hard not to react. We finally told her that they weren't bruises, but it was still funny.
Sitting in an ER reveals some of people's basest human characteristics. Personally I felt like the women across from where Wes and I waited (for three hours) incarnated every single flaw of the human condition and every problem with the American medical system. Two of these women were a mother and her grown daughter. The daughter was there to have a prescription filled. She was checked in with a bracelet on her arm and was seated in a room surrounded by people who really weren't feeling that well or people with physical injuries (I knelt down next to a guy to find a magazine and looked up and saw how profusely his hand was bleeding about four inches from my face. Yikes). Her behavior was inappropriate, at the very least. In an hour and a half I (and all of the injured and ill of Whatcom county) listened to her complain lodly about the patient care and other patients. The worst part was when she humiliated a woman who was there with her husband and her young son. The mom was clearly the one that was sick; her husband was there with her and they brought their son with them. This little boy had a lot of energy and was running around the room. He was energetic, but he wasn't hurting anyone and his parents were clearly preoccupied with trying to take care of the mom. The woman who needed the prescription (and her mother) told the mom really loudly to act like a mother and pay attention to her son. So the mom called him over, and it was so painful just to hear her talk because her voice was shot. Whatever was wrong with her clearly was affecting her throat, and she looked pretty sick, and because these women embarrassed her in front of the whole waiting room, she got up and chased the kid around. I felt badly for that family.
Prescription Lady then went on at length about how bad the service was in the hospital; apparently she had been there earlier in the day to get her medicine, but it was really busy and she had to leave because she needed to be somewhere. She kept complaining about how everyone else was being seen before her while she'd been there so much longer (which wasn't true; she got there after we did) Now, I don't know a whole lot about emergency medicine, but I think it's fair to say that doctors see patients in the order of priority (eg unconscious, bleeding, head injuries, broken bones, heart attacks, etc) before people who use the ER like a normal clinic or a private practice. And everyone could hear her. The mother of the twins who were vomiting alternately, Chris with his pounding headache, the guy who was bleeding. Please. Have some tact and respect for others. Especially when they feel like crap or are worried about someone that they care about. Especially when you yourself are abusing the system. You are not the most important person in the room, nor are you any more deserving of medical attention than everyone else. Shut your mouth and wait patiently like everyone else. Cripes.
Anyway, you may have guessed that since I took so much time to disparage the antagonistic, selfish people in the waiting room that there was nothing seriously wrong with Chris. You guessed correctly. While he wasn't feeling all that well right after the game, he picked up a bit in the waiting room and was doing much better. His scan was negative, but they still diagnosed him with a concussion (if he has one, it is very, very mild. He's back to his old self now). He can't play in his game today, but he should be back at it pretty soon.
Anyway, all three of us were pretty hungry by the time we left (10pm. I was so hungry I was getting stupid. It was embarrassing), so we hit the Olive Garden (the patient obigingly bought me dinner, in part because he was glad I was there and in larger part because I forgot my wallet). Now, right before we left for the hospital, Chris called his aunt to tell her what was going on so that she could relay it to his parents, who were visiting her. But he sounded kinda crappy over the phone, so his aunt was really concerned and probably thought the situation was worse than it really was. So his parents hastened up north to see if he was OK (I think they thought he might be admitted to the hospital, so I can understand why they came). They got here, but then had no place to stay other than the dorm (they probably wanted to be near their son. Again, I can sympathize with that). The boys each have a bed, and Chris keeps a mat in his room, but there was still not enough room for four in their room. I have an extra bed, so I offered it to whoever needed it. In the car, the plan was to have Wes sleep in my room so Chris' parents could be together and Chris could be with them. Then when I went to check on them later (after I cleaned off the bed), Chris' mom said she'd come sleep in my room (there was a frantic non-verbal communique from Chris to me right then, which said, in essence, "is that OK?" Which of course it was). So I put Chris' mom up in my room last night. She's a cool lady. No one made it to bed until at least 1am, and she and talked a while, so I know we sacked out later than that.
I set the alarm for 9am so that they could go to breakfast and the hit the rest of the tournament. I sat up at 9:05 and looked at the clock. Mrs. Vennum was up and moving and Chris was at the door. I sleepily mumbled, "Why didn't the alarm go off?" Mrs. Vennum said, "It did. You smacked it and fell back over." Chris thought it was hilarious. I don't remember a thing. He said he feels a little oddly but is much better and was profusely grateful.
Thinking about it now, it was a very strange (albeit even more strangely nice) evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment