Recently I had the “fun” to experience another near death. So far there’ve been a few times where I felt I came a little too close to the other side. This time in particular was wild because I thought the healthcare professionals in this case were anything but…professionals. Let me explain.
I pretty much was sick for a few days and things progressively got worse. I was no longer able to eat or drink anything. For days. Whenever I would try to at least rehydrate and drink water or anything else for that matter, my body rejected it immediately and I would projectile vomit the contents into the sink. It had happened to me before while pregnant…(NO I AM NOT PREGNANT NOW)…so I was somewhat experienced in trying to keep down whatever my body didn’t reject which was nothing. After a good day and a half of this I knew this was about the time for me to seek medical care. The times it had happened when I was pregnant I was hospitalized both times for a week each time. At the end of each stay I had yet to eat or drink anything but the facilities at the hospital were not equipped to feed me anything of adequate nutritional value. It was during the pandemic too so I was not allowed visitors nor was I allowed to order any outside food. Completely isolated. This time I had sent an email to my doctor asking her for IV fluid and she said that I had to go seek either the urgent care or ER because her office did not have the capability to treat me.
When did the medical field become full of bureaucrats and lack there of healers? Not sure, but I’m going to blame the “Victorians”. Anyways, I go to the ER at Providence Hospital here in LA County and that will be the last time I go there because WTF!!! I arrived there about 4 PM. My body at that point was severely dehydrated and my muscles were starting to lock up and spasm. I was afraid I was not going to make it. I really needed to replenish my fluids and after the good old run around, I ended up here at the ER. Now it was not my intention to go the the ER. I grew up a military brat and have been conditioned to think of the ER as a “great” place to HURRY UP AND WAIT. With that in mind, I attempted to go to the urgent care. Also to be noted, the copay for the urgent care was $35 so a lot easier on my pockets than the ER. Even with my own private medical insurance that I pay for out of pocket each month.
Upon arriving there, they also told me they were incapable of providing me care because they did not have the necessary facilities to handle giving me IV fluid. Great. They recommended the ER and since it was getting later in the evening and as I said before, my body was extremely dehydrated. I could feel myself literally slowing down but the vomiting would not cease. Fast forward and I finally check into the ER.
The staff was extremely rude. I was just a number to them. An inconvenience. I was placed in a queue to wait until they had an available bed so I could finally replenish some of the fluids I had lost. There was nothing I could do about it. They would not talk to me. The lab from my blood work was going to take at least an hour and so I just had to sit it out in the waiting room.
I sat there contemplating life. Walking back and forth to the bathroom to vomit every few minutes. They did not provide me any fluids so I had to try my luck at the vending machine. Glad I brought change… I started to get lightheaded. The gatorade would not stay down. I opted for it because I knew I need my electrolytes but it would not stay down. I may as well have been crying but no tears would come. No help would come either. I asked several people if they could just give me some fluids in the lobby. At this point the muscles in my hands, legs and midsection were starting to lock up. My fingers were stiff and I could not move them. My face was growing numb. The only people mildly concerned about me were the other patients waiting who honestly didn’t look that bad. No one asked me how I was though because people mind their business. I had the chills. My chest was tightening up. At least the hospital was kind enough to provide a stingy thin blanket for me to casually throw around my shoulders. I couldn’t get comfortable. My blood pressure was HIGH. I repeatedly asked the nurse for more information about the wait time which apparently was a major inconvenience to them. Couldn’t I see she was busy on her TikTok? See I was just a number. Just a person waiting for a bed. I told her I felt I was going to pass out. Her response floored me. She told me to sit down so at least I wouldn’t fall and get in the way. They would just come find my body whenever my number came up. I was speechless. How were these people healers? Like I was already paying an arm and a leg just to be admitted. The co-pay for the ER is at least $400 with my insurance. I was just a check at that point because whether I had been seen, they were still going to come collect.
It would be 9/10 PM before I was finally given a bed and after another half hour or so, 1 stingy bag of saline. I was still unable to eat/drink. The anti-nausea medicine was not effective and just as I was half-heartedly given a bed. 12 PM, I quickly was discarded before the last drop could hit my IV. They said to come back if I needed any more care. HA! I will never go back there. Never. 0 stars, do not recommend!!!
2 days later I had to go back to the ER because I had only received 1 bag of saline and still really needed to replenish my fluids… I was home for a day still trying to drink anything that would stay down to no luck. I hadn’t eaten or drank anything in days at this point. This time I went to ER at the UCLA Medical Center were I was finally given the adequate care I required. The staff there were attentive and treated me like an actual human. They got me in and out within a couple hours and I was given a better treatment plan with different medication. It’s been 2 days. I’ve been finally able to eat solids and drink fluids. I’m very grateful.
The things that bother me are as follows:
1: Why is it we have created so much red tape that when you visit your own primary physician, during the hours of 8-4PM, they can not attend to your needs? Like the offices most times aren’t even inside proper medical facilities or near enough where you could be easily transferred and attended to by your primary physician.
2: Even with insurance, why is it so hard to give adequate care to patients? I should never be in the ER dying of dehydration for 4-5 hours before even being admitted back to see a physician. WHERE DO THEY DO THAT AT? What if I had died in the lobby while they scoffed at me for the inconvenience of having to treat people as if they were not there to provide care? I can’t help but wonder if I’d been treated the same had I been WHITE.
3: “Colonizers” have created this ridiculous system, and I say colonizers because every indigenous group on Earth has their medicine men/healers that practice without this system, where you don’t have to wait for all the checks to line up and the paper to clear, etc., while we wait in a line to pay to die. In hopes that they may treat your illnesses. According to the policy at Providence, if there is no bed, have fun dying in the lobby but please keep seated so as not to disrupt the flow of foot traffic.
4: They feed us the poisons from the Big Pharma that are overpriced. (EX. I was prescribed capsaicin which is only like $8 over the counter. They tried to charge me $800.)
5: They forced the world into a drug trial for a vaccine they literally just made up which has not been tested long term. They don’t acknowledge any of the findings that would suggest this treatment is not sound for everyone because that would lose them a lot of money.
6: To science is to experiment, observe, test, retest, observe, analyze, repeat, etc. Science is not concrete. Everyone’s body’s are different so there is no one solution to fit all. Some people require solutions and more often than not they are just throwing ibuprofen or some other generic medication at people which is not addressing the needs of individual until sometimes it’s too late.
It’s like we stopped doing things that are right because someone, somewhere says it’s not profitable. They blame “a system” which is ridiculous. It’s not the system. It is PEOPLE. It’s poor leadership, innovation, and inefficiency to provide the care to others that’s necessary for the individual or even the health care providers. The medical field is suppose to heal people. How far backwards are we where the sick and old have become an inconvenience and paycheck for others? It’s not right. No, I don’t have the answers but to sit around ignoring any of the problems is not the way things will get better. I have a lot more personal examples of the entire shit show that is medical insurance/patient experience has been but I will save that for another blog. I hope to never have to write it because by some miracle, somewhere, someone will have actively started trying to find better more efficient ways to provide care, a better patient experience and a better working environment for the staff.
C Money London 