ER...

So I was taking the trash out and somehow stabbed myself in the leg with a piece of glass that was poking out of one of the trash bags... At first I just had Carolyn pour some peroxide on it and put a bandaid over it (much later in the evening, that's where it would have stopped had I been able to do it over... ) Then I thought, you know, maybe I should call my doctor and ask if I should get a couple of stitches (bad mistake), of course he said yes...

Well, there is nowhere to get stitches in Paulding County except at the ER... Tanner thought it would be fun to watch me get stitches, so he asked if he could go (a decision he regretted later), so I said sure, lets go... Off we went...

We checked in, an hour later a nurse took my vitals, 30 minutes later they took my insurance information, then about 45 minutes later I went back to a room, 15 minutes later some guy came in and gave me 3 stitches (which took all of about 5 minutes)... Then we waited, and waited, I was just about ready to walk out (I didn't, because I was thinking, what if I have to come back later with a REAL emergency, I might be flagged in the system as 'that problem patient', so we continued to wait)... About 30 minutes later the nurse came in and checked my vitals again and gave me the whole spiel about pain pills (I told her I wasn't in pain), she continued to drone on... If I felt like I needed antibiotics (I told her I didn't want any), on and on she went... Finally I was told I could check out... So I paid my $50 ER co-pay and we left...

Moral of the story? If it's not life threatening, NEVER go to the ER...

It would not have been so bad if the ER had actually been busy! I saw nurses chatting by the station, other people making coffee, others doing not much of anything, etc... (There were about 4 times that I came very close to just walking out, but back to my prior comment, I did not want to be flagged as 'that patient' in the system, because knowing my luck I would have had a heart attack or something on the way home and ended up back at the ER, but instead of being a heart attack victim, I would have been 'that problem patient', which is the only reason I continued to wait patiently or rather impatiently... ) I have been in busy ER's before, and it's understandable to have to wait... I think there must be some unwritten rule for all ER's though, make EVERYONE wait a minimum of 3 hours, NO exceptions!!