NOT the happiest place on earth

I wish I could just invite all of my blog readers over for some pie and coffee and sit around on couches and pillows while I tell you the tale of my hospital visit.  In this scenario we're all wearing pajamas too.  I think that two men read my blog (my husband and my father-in-law) so everyone here will be a woman and after the gory hospital story we can give each other make-overs.

Anyway.  It would be easier to just chat.  But I will force myself to type.  Ugh.

By Wednesday night, after 12 hours at Disneyland, most of that in unbearable heat, I was crippled.  I could barely walk.  Michael and Spencer walked back to the hotel, got the car and came back to pick me up.  It was all I could do to walk down main street and out the exit to the 15 minute parking lot.

The plan was to take showers and go straight to bed.  We were going to sleep in in the morning.  Disneyland was open until 11 pm on Thursday so we didn't need to get there right when they opened.

It was back at the hotel that I realized I was bleeding.  Not a lot, but enough that I wasn't just going to lay in a hotel room in Anaheim worrying about it.  I used my phone to look up ER's in Anaheim and made my decision on where to go based on patient reviews.  The hospital was 4 miles away.  I drove myself because the last thing in the world I was going to do was drag Michael and Spencer along with me.

I got to the ER and was immediately taken to the OB ward.  They admitted me before they even checked me over.  I was hooked to monitors where they discovered I was having very mild contractions, about 1 an hour.

The nurses decided to start an IV because they assumed I was dehydrated.  The nurse dug around in my hand for 10 minutes (it's very hard to start an IV on me) before getting a vain.  It hurt.  A lot.  After about an hour of IV fluids the contractions stopped.  They never started again.  By 5 am the bleeding stopped.  It never started again.

I was also given IV antibiotics because there was bacteria in my urine, although the nurses admitted that it was very unlikely I had a bladder infection and the bacteria was most likely from a tainted urine sample.  That's what I call good medical care.

   My room was right by the nurse's station and my IV was really noisy.  It made a grinding noise every 6 seconds.  Despite being quite exhausted  I only slept for about 50 minutes, from 5:15 until just after 6. The night shift nurse had told me I was scheduled for an ultrasound at 7 am and I think I woke myself up so I could be ready.

7 o'clock rolled around.  I was told it was moved to 8.  Then it was 10.  Then it was 11.  Then it was 1.  At 12:30 I asked about how the ultrasound people were progressing and was told that they were seeing patients that had been given orders the day before.  This is when they dropped the bomb that it would be at least 24 hours and more like 36 before they got me in.  Then the cafeteria people came in to take my order for the next 6 meals.

Then I started freaking out.  I had talked to my doctor's office twice.  There was nothing they could do to speed things along.  So I called my insurance company to ask if they could refuse to pay for my visit unless I got my ultrasound in a timely manner.  The lady I talked to was incredibly nice and supportive.  She explained that they could not refuse to pay (although she liked the idea) and she suggested that instead of continuing to play the patient, understanding patient that I become mean and demanding and to put my clothes on and threaten to leave.

So, I asked for the head nurse to come in.  I didn't like any of the nurses that had been helping me, except for the head nurse.  She was lovely.  One nurse was a downright b-i-t-c-h and was telling me about how they see all these crazy ladies coming to Disneyland and their water breaks and they end up delivering and we're all so irresponsible.  I pointed out to her that I got permission from my doctor to go on this trip, I drank more than 100 ounces of liquid that day and didn't go on any "forbidden" rides.  I could have just smacked her,.

Moving on.  The head nurse came in and I laid out my case.  No contractions for 12 hours.  No bleeding for 7 hours.  The doctor had never come to see me.  If anybody on that medical staff was actually concerned about me having a serious problem I would have been in for that ultrasound hours ago.

We talked for a long time and she agreed that the ultrasound was not necessary and that I was making an informed decision to leave.  So she took out my IV.  And then I bled massive amounts of blood out of my hand all over the floor, my gown and the bed.  So she cleaned that up and re-bandaged me.  Then I got dressed.  Then they told me that someone from ultrasound was there right that minute to take me.  I decided not to do it.  I didn't want to have to wait for the report and the doctor to discharge me.  That would have taken hours.

While all of this was going on Michael and Spencer were at Disneyland having a blast.  We stayed in touch all day and kept coming up with new plans based on when I might be out of there.

I finally left at 2.  The head nurse walked me to my car and gave me a hug and (jokingly, I think) told me to lie when people asked me what hospital I had been at.  She gave me the name of another hospital in the area because she was mortified that her hospital had provided such bad care.  I drove back to the hotel, took a shower, drank 32 ounces of water and rested a bit.  Then I parked the car in the paid parking lot at Disneyland and took the tram to the entrance.  I met up with Michael and Spencer at about 4. 

I'll give the details about Thursday evening in my next post.  I think this has gone on long enough.

I'll leave you with the dreary images of my hospital visit.

The view of my room to the left from the bed.  I looked at that clock every 15 seconds.

The view to the right.  Behind that curtain was the door from where mean and not very informed nurses would appear.  Oh, and the TV?  I couldn't change the channel from my bed (it was broken) so I got to watch 1 channel unless I got up, unhooked my monitors and dragged my IV with me.  I was already doing that about once an hour to go to the bathroom.

My crappy breakfast.

My very annoying IV.

The next post will be much more fun.  No more hospital.  Just Disneyland.