Friday, February 6, 2009

Hospital Trauma

I have a feeling that with my wife being pregnant (if you say preggers I will punch you in the mouth) that I will be doing a lot of complaining about doctors, and today's post will be no exception. My wife had an acute fever with not so acute congestion and other symptoms that made her miserable to be around......I mean miserable all around (ya, that's what I mean). She went to work against her better judgment where she was so weak she thought she was going to pass out while driving. She called the doctor to see if she could take anything more than the Tylenol Cold and Sinus that she had been taking. The nurse said that she had to come in immediately as fevers can be very dangerous for an unborn child.

Now my wife is worried. She gets to the office and they start asking about her symptoms. They press on her stomach and ask if it hurts (my wife has had chronic stomach problems and has no gallbladder. Her stomach hurts at least a couple minutes every day and has done so for the last 5 years. She says that some of the touching hurts and the doctor says that she probably has an appendicitis. She is wheel chaired from the doctors office to the hospital (the entire time my wife is trying to convince the doctors that she just have the flu, but they won't here it.) She gets to the hospital and calls me. I came from work to the hospital where she is having tests done. She was calm and kind of perturbed because she was sure that she just had the flu and just wanted a prescription to help her get over it. They did an ultrasound, x-rays, blood tests, and tried to do a cat-scan, but due to the inherent danger to the baby (the radiation) my wife refused to allow them to do the test. My wife was given an IV and told that she couldn't eat anything in case they needed to rush her in to surgery. The doctor then explained that they think that my wife may have an appendicitis in which case the baby would have to be removed.......... So it was at this time that my wife freaking flips. I don't mean that to sound bad; I personally believe that she was totally justified in her response. She had already sent me back to work when the doctor told her this, so she calls me and I rush to the hospital (on a spare tire mind you, I had popped a flat earlier that day (ya, it was a great day)). So I get there and calm her down (she wasn't hysterical, but one can imagine how a pregnant woman would be if a doctor said they may have to remove her 3 month along unborn child). We wait another 2 hours and finally 5 hours after entering the hospital, the doctor comes in, says my wife has the flu and she should continue to take the Tylenol that she has been taking. 5 hours, 100.00, and no prescription later we headed home to shake off the horrible experience that was the hospital (fear factory).

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