Yesterday afternoon I couldn't take this intense pain any longer. Since Gyn problems had been ruled out the day before, the Gyn doc told me she believe it was other medical issues.

At the Dayton VA ER...I was put in an open bay with all men, had to skillfully change into a gown with not a lot of privacy. Now, this bay (as one of the nurses told me) was only made for 3 beds...but they had 5 in there....that's how crowded it was. Plus it was one of their storage rooms. And it was the room with the only patient bathroom in the entire ER. So got to see everyone trot back and forth to the bathroom....and see the nurses with all of the urine samples, bedpans, oh yes, that was pleasant.
I got there about 1330...told them my pain was a 9/10. Didn't see a doc for about 2 hours.
Now at the Dayton VA ER....they only have 10 or 12 beds, if that many. They said the docs were "busy".
Then they bring a student nurse to start my IV. I warn her I have very bad veins. I tell this to anyone trying to start an IV on me. Well, now she is visibly terrified. An RN is with her (thank goodness!); but it takes her 20 minutes to get the IV going.
Getting X-rays was hilarious. They called for an escort to take me to x-ray...no one ever showed up, so one of the nurses ended up taking me. Same thing after I was done, the x-ray tech ended up taking me back--he was pissed.
Then comes the CT scan. They get me there....but when I'm done, the lady parks me in the hall (I'm on a gurney) and no one picks me up!!! I am freaking out!!! Alone, in a halfway dark hallway...can't go anywhere, no way to get ahold of anyone...I'm losing my mind. Finally a nurse walks by and asks me if I'm supposed to go back to the ER and offers to take me there.

At some point I was finally given some pain meds....they only helped a little.

And if you're hungry, they will nuke you a frozen dinner.

One guy, 2 curtains down from me had brought his portable DVD player and was watching movies while there!! And they were letting him!! It was ridiculous.

Zero privacy...I don't like giving my medical history, including mental health history when other pts are within 2 ft of you on either side of me.

I was there for just about 12 hours for the docs to tell me they have no idea what is wrong....but they think it's Gyn-related and I should go back to the fee-based Gyn doc! OMG. They said to see my PCP this coming week and sent me on my way with Vicodin.

I just want to cry.

.......yup, I feels yer pain (well, I don't REALLY feel YOUR pain, but I do know from whence you speak).

Kinda like when I went to the VAMC ER in Dallas on a Sat. evening. Couldn't pee. Hadn't been able to pee in TWO days. Tell ya, I'm dyin' here. I'm getting this yellow outlook on life. In pain, bad. I've got BPH (enlarged prostate) and I'd been having really bad attack of allergic rhinitis (nose stopped up completely) and I'd taken some over-the-counter allergy stuff that had REALLY stirred up my prostate problem.

So, anyway, I, like you, am laying in the ER. This little kid, gal, was doing her rotation thru the ER for her residency program from UT Southwest Med School. She's THE ONLY "doctor" available.
She's from, like, India or Pakistan or somewhere where good girls don't see big boy's wee-wees, okay. Now, the "cure", the "relief" from my "condition" is a good-sized catheter to drain the bladder (an unpleasant experience, even on a good day, okay!). And, these things work best with a semi-enlarged wee-wee (it takes a little judicious manuvering, so to speak...).

The experience went swiftly downhill from there.....................

My wife finally wound up doing the dirty deed! Right there, with a crowd that had gathered to cheer on everyone involved. The little girl doc had long since disappeared.

I feels fer ya, I really do.

And the va says its medical system is second to none, sure as hell don't sound like it. I wish you the best of luck.

Ouch Larry.

I just sent a very detailed e-mail to the Prime Care Chief outlining things that went wrong during my ER visit. I asked him that if he wasn't the person in charge of the ER...to please forward it to whoever is. Either way, can't wait to see his response.
Last time I had to go to the ER had the same issue with lack of privacy...being put in an open bay...only woman with all male pts. I was told that would never happen again as they do have individual rooms and females should be put in those rooms. Well, that obviously didn't happen.

Also bet they aren't supposed to have all of the supplies...out in the open...plus dirty laundry and the trash about 3 feet from the foot of my bed. I could've had as many needles as I wanted if I was that type of person...they aren't locked up.

Last time I was in er it was very crowded and there was no privacy. They lied on my medical records and made me stay overnight.

I wanted to cry too just reading about the way you were NOT TREATED! No excuse at all for this type of mistreatment! They probably wrote something like this in your chart: Vet here complaining of Gyn pain...etiology unknown...then charted your symptoms, objectively and subjectively. Says she was previously treated at facility(wherever) on(date) with no relief of pain. Then charted labs, xray, mri, iv orders...made notations as to preliminary results...possibly inferred something related to ?here for pain medication, vicodin, making it almost look like you only came in for controlled meds.
Get copies of your records from the medical records/information area when you can. Do you have endometrosis? Cysts on ovaries? Have they done ultrasounds on your female organs? Ever done a CA-125 lab test to rule out felmale cancer? The situation went from bad to worse all the way for you...
ER is not an area for DVD watching...phoney sounding for someone to arrive there with some intentions of "movie watching" while the objective of ER is emergency/urgent care...suddenly ill, in pain, received injuries, etc...bogus behavior noted here.
If people don't inform the "higher up's" of the situation/care or lack of/privacy issues/neglectfulness(leaving you wait hrs for tx/pain medication/leaving you in hallway/what if you suddenly had a heart attack???No one was there to render care...all the what if's are disturbing too. The facility needs to have measures in place to adapt to care of females, and to be accountable to the care and well being of all patient's! Where is JCAHO when you need them? (Joint Commission on Accrediation of Healthcare Organization)

I can't wait to get my hands on those notes. I made it very clear to them that I was told by a civilian Gyn that it wasn't Gyn-related. Matter not. Having said that though....I'm still wondering if I have endometriosis because all of my symptoms fit that perfectly. It can't be an ovarian cyst....I don't have an ovary or tube on the right side. I don't know if I've ever been given that blood test.....I highly doubt it though.

I have had ultrasounds...they were done at WPAFB; they said they were normal. The VA ER surgeons said that my CT scan showed that my uterus "didn't look quite right" but since they weren't Gyn docs, they really didn't know much more than that. And since the VA wouldn't allow the civilian Gyn to do any tests or procedures...her hands were tied.

I gave the VA a chance. They proved, once again, they have no idea what they are doing.

x
x
x

Purple, I'm sorry that you (like me) are forced to depend on the VA as our primary (only) health insurance. We are pretty much "married" to the VA, and it sux!! Hope you feel better today. ~Wings

Thanks Wings,
Still can't stand upright today because of the pain...refuse to become a Vicodin junkie though, especially since no one knows what is causing the pain yet.
My next move might very well be a civilian ER....screw the VA.

Purple

Since you are having this severe pain get yourself to a real doctor who has time to look you over. Don't depend on the VA until someone throws dirt on you. My wife had an attack of diverticulitus. If the doctors had not caught it the intestine would have ruptured and she would have soon been on death's door. You have to get treatment for these things because you don't know what it could be. I can imagine the VA sending her home with heartburn meds, but she was hollering too loudly for me to sleep.

Not being able to stand up straight sounds like an appendicitus attack. That is one way they diagnose it.

It's not appendicitis....or at least that's what they keep telling me. Plus my symptoms don't really fit...no fever, no vomiting.
They mentioned diverticulitis...plus it runs in the family. But that's all they did was mention it. They "mentioned" alot....but were very clueless.
They mentioned kidney stones...
They mentioned endometriosis...
But still said they had no idea...at that point I just wanted to go home, I was so upset.

purple, i hope u get some relief soon!!!

I got a call from a very rude woman (didn't identify herself) in Prime Care this morning who said I had an appt with my PCP on Aug 10th..................Aug 10th??? I told her no. I was supposed to see my PCP this week! She said she'd call back and hung up.
She called back (still pissed off) and said the earliest I could see my PCP was next Tuesday!! OMG!! I reminded her this is extremely urgent..she said that was his next available appt, repeated the time and hung up on me.

--Also received a reply from Prime Care Chief this morning apologizing for my treatment in the ER on Friday. He said he would look into the things that I mentioned and take care of them. As for my pain issue, he told me to follow/up with my PCP, but also said that there is some pain that docs never find a reason for....what??? I don't think so. Sounds like he's already trying to CYA.--

Got the copy of my ER records today. Was as expected except for the X-ray report. It said that it was "abnormal and needed attention"......what? Of course, I was told all my tests were normal. There was mention of problems with my intestines and a guess at a dx...which I've looked up online and wow..............it fits!!!
Also there is mention of an abnormality with my major veins/arteries of my heart. I know they are reversed; but those docs don't know this....now; wouldn't you think that would be something they would ask about?? It's a very, very rare condition. But they never asked.
As far as the intestinal thing...it's caused by a recent high dose of a certain type of (usually) IV antibiotic...usually within the past 2-3 months. Well....I had that antibiotic 2 months ago when I had my pacemaker surgery. Apparently it breaks down something important in some ppls insides.
Now if I could find all of this on the Internet....why couldn't those ER docs actually do something???

Diagnosis-----bad intestinal flora, or no intestinal flora.
Rx, eat more Greek Gods yogurt.
4 ozs, twice daily.

signed:
Doc Paine

How are you feeling today, Purple? I've just read your "12 hours of Hell @ Dayton VAMC ER" thread. The experience you had was horrible. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it does. I hope you feel better soon. I wish you would not wait till next Tuesday to see a doctor. Please take care.

Regards,

Bob

I just finished my anti-biotics for my second-ever bout of diverticulitis (that's two in five years). Hurts like hell, when the cramps hit you, you cannot stand up, no way. Mine has started out with a little sore feeling place, just above my pubic bone (and, from there it gets steadily worse).
Doc says "next time", we'll have to think seriously about removing that section of my colon.
No nuts, no beer, no beer nuts. NUTS!
Heck, some of my most favorite foods......no poppy seed bagels, no carrot cake, no pecan brownies....fer the rest of my life.

Life sucks, then you die.

Larry,
No tomatoes or strawberries either !
The smaller the seed the easier for it to get stuck in there.
carlie

eeek...diverticulitis...that runs in my family; but the ER docs said i didn't have it. (not sure i truly believe them). my aunt just had to have part of her colon removed a couple of weeks ago from it. i hope you don't have to go that route.....