Technology never ceases to amaze me. Last night I took a friend to the ER here in Marion. She was having chest pains which is nothing to mess with in my opinion. Our wait to be seen was not long and I was impressed with that; I have been allowed to wait for what seemed like days on personal tirps to the ER. Anyway, they got her in a room and the doctor was there is short order with the 20 questions that must be asked.
He recommended a few basic tests to check her heart and lungs. A nurse came in and began to hook little electords of some sort to her chest and legs and by the time she got done she clicked one button on her laptop looking machine and began to take all the little electrods off again. She sai okay, all done. And I actually said, outloud, "That's it?!" to which her complete reply was, "yep". I guess I was hoping for something more like, Oh yeah I forgot something, or well now I have to.... But she was done and gone faster than what seemed possible. It was amazing to me. What great strides technology has taken in the medical field! It was truely impressive.
The trip also consited of a nurse drawing 4 vials of blood, a ct scan, and a good deal of wait time for test results. When the doctor finally reappeared he said that all was normal with her heart and lungs, all her tests looked okay. He had a couple of thoughts on what might be causing her intense pain, but wasn't yet sure.
At that point, no not much more than we had upon entering the ER he gave her a perscription for some pain pills and sent her home! What happened to the technology? Where were the answers? Why had we bothered to come? He didn't even figure out what was wrong! I thought that was the point of a trip to the ER.
It was such a let down. After they impressed me with the machines the humans still managed to disappoint!
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2 comments:
I'm glad your friend is okay!
The point of the ER is not necessarily to figure out exactly what's wrong. It's to make sure there's nothing going on that's going to kill you until you can get to your primary care doctor's office, who can then assess what's going on now that the deadly diagnoses have been ruled out. All those tests were not in vain . . . or should I say not in VEIN!?
You did the EXACT right thing by taking her in!
The results are in. They're saying "early-onset Parkinson's". Not fun, but not a death sentence, either. You can check my blog, if you want, and we'll talk more when I'm home. Thanks for your help on Wed.!
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