The ER...

I think I've actually commented on this before, but wow! My wife called me at work this AM, and was seemingly having possible complications from a surgery she had about 3 years ago. So of course I came home, and off to the ER we went... I guess we got there around 10:30AM... Then of course the waiting game begins. Want to confirm my theory about the stupidity of people? Go sit at the ER for a while, you'll find it hard to come up with an argument against my theory! I might add that we just got home about 30 minutes ago, and here it is after midnight!

I'm not sure if ALL ER's work the same, but I've been to a few in my life, and from my experience they are all similar. You sign in, then wait (although) the first wait isn't really all that long. (Tip: ALWAYS say, when they ask you, "On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad is the pain?", a 10! Then make a reinforcing comment about how you think you are about to pass out because you are not sure if you can tolerate the pain for a second longer! Then possibly a few swoons, if not just fall out of your chair and lay on the floor as if you ACTUALLY have just passed out. If you do that, from what I've seen, there is virtually no wait!) The next wait can be an hour or more, and the next 'station' is the "Where is your insurance card?" Even though you have been going to the same hospital for the past 8 years and nothing has changed, they want to see it all again. Not that I blame them on that one though. Then it's wait again. This wait can also be an hour or more. Then the nurse takes your vitals and verifies the information that you've already given. (This step doesn't surprise me either, after most people have waited for 3 hours already, the status could have changed, refer to the 'Tip' listed above, and act accordingly here as well). So once that step is done, then you wait YET again for someone to call you to go to the 'final' waiting room. This wait can also be an hour or more. You finally get back and the nightmare continues.

The ACTUAL time anyone sees you varies, but out of the 12 hours Carolyn waited today 'between' the steps, she was seen for maybe 45 minutes of that, and that included the MRI!

Of course I couldn't stay the whole time, I had to leave at 1:45PM to go collect the kids from school, then home. Taylor (luckily) decided to spend the night at Sarah's house, I guess when she got over there, the first words out of her mouth were, "My Mom is in the hospital!" So my neighbor called and asked if there was anything they could do. They did offer to watch Chance and Tanner as well, and looking back, I should have said yes, I didn't however.

So anyway, that's how I spent my day, watching the kids, and hanging out at the hospital (I HATE hospital food btw)... Luckily I had brought a book with me to read, I had picked up a copy of "Somebody's Gotta Say It" by Neal Boortz. I don't agree with everything the guy says, but I do agree with a lot of it. The reason I actually even bought the book was because of the first words that were printed on the front inside cover of the book, and I even disagreed with the first thing I read:

"I've come to the conclusion that roughly 50 percent of the adults in this country are simply too ignorant and functionally incompetent to be living in a free society." ~ Neal Boortz

I think it's actually around 90 - 95%, and in my opinion, THAT is a conservative estimate... The book has turned out to be a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone...