All week Ashley has been "diagnosising" herself along with her bestie friends in nursing class... she has some pain in the groin, sore, and some other unmentionable stuff. Wednesday or Thursday morning I got a text message that said "I think I have an ovarian cyst", that's it and I'm wondering what I am supposed to do with that information.. so I respond "who is diagnosing you" and she gives me the answer I thought I'd get.. "Ashleigh, Brianna and I".... I text her back "as much as your friends are great, maybe DrRand would be a good second opinion just in case it's not" But of course he doesn't see patients on the Friday she doesn't have class.. At this point I've not seen her much this week so I have nothing to work with. But she had been telling me that if it still hurt next week, she'd go the dr.. Okay than. Thursday night while I'm at Alpha and she is just getting home from her 12 hr cardiac care clinical AT ST. JOSEPH HOSPITAL I get a text that "she needs to go to ER the pain is really bad".
uh, well, where is her dad exactly is what I am wondering since I'm a little bit occupied at the moment... so I text her back just as our small group is gathering that "I will be home in a half hour". Fortunately I had a small group of the women show and so we kind of finished up early (or quickly) and I headed home at 8:50pm. I walk in and ask her what are the symptoms, what is going on and she says it is so very painful, swollen etc.... So I told her, head to the car, I will be right out there. I head upstairs to change my contacts for glasses as this is not going to be a short night, and to grab a book.
I dropped her off at the entrance cause she would not have enjoyed the walk from a distance where I was probably going to have to park... Not long after she signed in a few of the throngs of people were being called to one triage or another.. It's amazing that some families come in tribes of 4-5 people.. Kids are crying and walking around in the lobby.. it resembled an old tv show I watched once upon a time.. Ashley gets called and she heads off to triage 2 and sit guarding her homework books, purse and my stuff and our seats! 1/2 hour later she is poking her head out with the IV tube in her arm, close to where I'm stationed and asking me to take her wallet and give her the cell phone so she can call me when the next thing happens which was the ultra sound test. Not long after a nurse comes out and calls my name, I for some reason point at myself and she says "yes" and so I gather up the "stuff" and follow her back to where Ashley is sitting in chair.. Ahhh they needed the "responsible payor" to let them know if we want to be billed or pay up front.. which is only reasonable, I was a rarity to actually give them money up front and they were willing to receive it! They start her on some pain meds, which seem to affect her in becoming hazy with minimal pain relief, so later they gave her something else and that worked much better.
So they offered me a seat to just stay back there with her, and Ashley said that it was okay. (don't want to crowd in when they are 24) One of the tech's in this area reminded me so much of Mike Gilman with a bald head and the beard and his happy go lucky personality... I don't know how long we waited for one thing or another, but it's a wait non-the-less.
There were two young girls sitting next to Ashley who appeared to be treated for nausea and were curled up in there chairs in a blanket. About as comfortable as it sounds. Ashley writes in her tablet, that "she has HIV"... Now they were young in age. One was pregnant and she has HIV and the other had had an abortion the week before and was cramping and bleeding still. Both instructed to go to the clinic in a week in the go home orders.. NO PRIVACY whatsoever if you needed any.
Ashley goes to ultrasound and soon returns.. and we wait........ her lab work comes back, slight bladder infection and the ultra sound shows a couple of lymph nodes were swollen.. heres your prescription for three days of antibiotic and a pain med if you need it.. I requested that they start now in giving her an antibiotic to get her started rather than waiting til the pharmacy opens and so they gave it to her.. they unhook her and away we go at 1:30 in the morning.. yawn..
note to self: bringing a book to an ER is useless, too noisy!
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