Long Night In The ER

Well, we had a bit of a health scare this week. Mike has been having some chest pain off and on the last couple weeks, and being the man that he is, ignored it and went about his business. He, like most men, hates going to the doctor, and goes on a very rare occasion. But Tuesday he had all the typical signs of a heart attack (minus the cold sweats). He still refused to go to a doctor, until a nurse where he works checked his vitals and she detected an irregular heartbeat. So that set us off to the emergency room yesterday. We arrived at about 3:30, and it was a longgg night from there.

First they ditched me in the waiting room (since they are in the middle of constructing a new cancer ward, the ER is cramped). After more then two hours with no communication to me, I of course asked someone what the hell was going on! They immediately brought me back to a cramped little room where they were holding him, and several other people. While a doctor and several nurses sat around looking at one computer screen, oye! Then two hours after that, they call us, we thought, good..maybe we can see a doctor now, nope. They went to do a second EKG, until, they read the paperwork and discovered he already had one done, erg! I also pointed out to her that they already did an x-ray (as Mike had informed me earlier) so they didn't try and do that again also. Discovering that, they sent both of us back out to the main waiting room, again. Were we sat for 2 1/2 more hours. Being 3rd on the list, didn't mean much.

Finally at about 10 pm they bring us back to a bed, out in the hallway. Then after 3 more hours of seeing the doctor, then the nurse, then the doctor, and then again the nurse (I don't know how the two of them kept missing each other, but they did, and obviously were not communicating). Since the doctor said the EKG was good, and the x-ray was good. It didn't point to a heart attack (thank goodness, BIG relief! even though the triage nurse also detected an irregular heartbeat when we arrived), so they wouldn't need to take blood. Then a minute later the nurse has him hooked up to a heart monitor, and sticks him with an IV and takes 6 vials of blood. What the hell?

The important thing is, that Mike is ok. They aren't really sure what happened, but glad we are sure that he is alright. The chest pain is slowly getting better. We didn't get home until 1 am, and the poor dog was elated to see us! I realized last night, I wish family was closer, I hated being in the hospital alone, and I am sure Toby would of appreciated someone stopping by to take him potty and maybe give him some dinner.

I did meet alot of interesting people last night though, hehe. Very thankful Mike is ok, that scared me half to death.