I had the most horrible ER experience Friday. AT this point I don’t know what to do. I am hoping that someoner here can give me some ideas.
A week ago Thursday I was my PrimaryPhysician. At that Time I had gained 11 pounds in 2 weeks (do you know how much someone would have to eat to gain that much weight in just 2 weeks?), my blood pressure was 168/93, and my ankles swollen. He did nothing but change by BP meds By Friday night my feet ankles, and legs were so swollen that I acould no longer get shoes on. By Saturday morning my feet and ankles looked like they were going to explode and I could bearly walk. As usual I poopooed it an d said it will go away. Well it hasn’t gone away. On Thusday I tried to gget ahold of my doc (he is only here on Tuesdays and Thursday. He never responded…I called the office several times and only got the answering machine. I lfet messages for the nurse and she never called. I decided that I would try his other office on Friday. Same results. So my sister drove me to an Urgent Care (about a 1 hour drive). The doc listened to my lungs and heart and took one look at my feet, ankles and legs (by this time my legs were swelling) and sent me to the ER with a diagnosis of right heart failure.
I sat in the waiting room for about 2 hous waiting to see the Triage Nurse. By now my BP was 169/113. I thought for sure with that kind of BP I would get in PDQ. Wrong! I waited another 2 hours to get into the ER it self. Nurses were changing shift so I got a new nurse. The doc finally came and gave me the once over, ordered some labs, a chest xray, lasix, and an ultrasound of my legs, That was the last time I saw a doc. My nurse started an IV, gave me the lasix, a a porta pot. I didn’t see her for another 2 hours. My pot was about ready to overflow but no nurse to be found. The chest xraynad labs were done but no sign of the ultrasound. The nurse finally showed up and my sister asked her how much longer it was going to before we got the test results. The nurse told us they were just waiting for ultrasound report. I told her that they hadn’t done the ultrasound yet and she said “Oh my gosh I thought they had done it already.” She walked out of the room and its was about an hour before we saw her again. She said, "We are just waiting for the ultrasound. report. I told her once again that it hadn’t been done yer. By this tinme I was really ticked… I reminded her that I was a diabetic ant that I had not had my BG checked and that I had not eaten or had even a drink of water for over 10 hours. She said "I’ll be right back. That was the last time In saw my nurse. I finally took my own BG (it was over 300 glad I wasn’t low!). I don’t know why it was so high. I waited another hour and then I started asking for my nurse. She sent in a different nurse. I told her I just wanted to forget the ultrasound and go home. I told her I was diabetic yada, yada, yada and I just wanted to go home and take care of my diabetes. She tried to talk me out of leaving but finally she said ok and left. A few minutes lqter another nurse came in with my discharge orders. I signed them and was out of there (at least they didn’t sign me out AMA). I never did see the doc again. Saw him just once.
My question is this, what should I do now? I live in a very small town with only the one doc. Everything else is at least an hours drive and because of my eyes I can’t drive and have to depend on someone else. Even my sister lives about 30 to 45 minutes from me. My feet, ankles and legs are still swollen, I can hardly walk, and they have become very painful. The swelling has caused my skin to split in several places. I am trying to keep them elevated. It doesn’t help but at least I feel like I am doing something. Any suggestions?
Sorry this was so long.