At The ER on Christmas

The mister has been in pain since December 13. It was tolerable with over-the-counter pain medication for days. We even attended their company's Christmas Party on the 16th. But by the start of last week, his knee became so swollen that he had to see his knee doctor. She drained the fluid in his knee. It was about 2 1/2 vials of fluid.

Although he said he felt better on Thursday, he went to work in crutches. By Friday, he couldn't even fold his knee. He was on low dose pain medication, a prescription from his knee doctor. It seemed like his meds wasn't really working. I also noticed that he couldn't sleep due to the intense pain especially at night when he's in bed. The pain wasn't concentrated just on his knee by the weekend but on the whole leg this time.

I told him on Christmas day that I really think we need to go to the hospital. The knee doctor's office is close on weekends. I could hear him groaning and moaning in pain day and night. He hadn't been sleeping. There was not one comfortable position. Sit, slouch, lounge, recline and lie down --- all of the above, he was still in pain. Hot and cold compress? Not working.

He was resistant about the idea of going to the ER. He wanted to wait for his one week follow up check-up which was scheduled this coming Wednesday. There was no other way to relieve him of the intense pain but dragged him to the ER, and that was what I did.

6:53 p.m. Done with the patient registration. There were about three patient that was ahead of us in the registration. This was the start of the long waiting game.



7:51 p.m. I wheeled Jay inside the Emergency Department of Frederick Memorial Hospital. We were lead to ER #38

The mister was complaining of the pain already. It was the worst of all. He said it's a 10. There was no one at the nurse's station for awhile.



Then I caught the attention of the nurse with a spiral curled hair, and with red painted long nails.

8:35 p.m. She took Jay's blood pressure and temperature. She asked him of what happened to him. She was sorry that she couldn't give him pain medication because we had to wait for the doctor.



I was starting to get really impatient. It's just hard to see and hear the mister in pain. He rarely gets sick. I even asked him if he couldn't wait and bear the pain anymore because I was willing to get him out of there, and drive him to Shady Grove ER which was about half an hour away. He said we'll just wait. I was starting to get angry when...

9:37 p.m. The doctor came in.

((( HALLELUJAH!!! )))

The almost three hours of waiting to be seen by a doctor is finally over.

Me: THANK YOU GOD!!!

I just blurted that out so loudly when I saw a hand pushing the curtain sideways and the hand behind the curtain was wearing a white coat. I already saw him at the end of the hallway about over an hour ago. I told the mister that maybe the Asian doctor was the emergency doctor for the night, and he was.

Doctor: Hi! I'm Dr. Jay-Jay.
The patient: I'm Jay!

Hehehehe! Jay-Jay was the mister's nickname when he was a kid.

He ordered for the mister's sonogram, Xray and so on and so forth. He wanted to make sure that there is no blood clot in his knee or anywhere in his leg.

9:47 p.m. Daena (or maybe Dina) came to get Jay's insurance and other information. She sang Jingle Bells with the patient and her visitors in the adjacent room. There was no singing in ours. Hehehe. I guess the caroling is for rooms with kids only. There were two young girls in that room. Their mother got accidently wounded on her thumb.

9:59 p.m. The curly-haired nurse told us that somebody will take the mister for imaging tests.

10:01 p.m. Will took him to the lab. He was nice and very chatty.

While the mister was away, an Xray technician came by, but it was just me and Jay's birkenstock in the room.


10:25 p.m. Jay was wheeled in back from his imaging tests. Will told him that he was leaving for a Florida trip the next day. Good for him.

10:35 p.m. The curly-haired nurse came back again for his pain medication.

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!

10:39 p.m. After taking all his vital stat again, the mister was given two caps of strong pain medication.

THANK GOD!!! Four agonizing hours of waiting for that pain medication! Susmaryosep!

11:00 p.m. Dr. Jay-Jay came back to tell us that there is no blood clot in Jay's leg.

11:04 p.m. His meds started to do the work. The pain which was from a worst 10 is now about a 3 or 4.



11:09 p.m. He started to feel drowsy. I guess that was why from the moment we came in at the ER receiving area, I was asked if I'd be the one driving home. The doctor also asked me about it and the nurses as well. I was asked four times last night.

11:17 p.m. Jessica who was wearing a Santa hat trimmed with Leopard print faux fur came for his X-Ray again. I stepped out of the room. I thought that Jay will be wheeled out again to the X-Ray room. But it was done right there at ER #38. It was quickly done too.

11:36 p.m. Curly-haired nurse said buh-bye. She said she's moving to a different unit for the rest of her shift. She said, "Hope you feel better and happy new year!"

12:24 a.m. Dr. Jay-Jay came back again. He came with an imaging machine. I think it's a sonogram. He checked if there was fluid on Jay's knee. Thank God there was none. That also means no needle for the night. He also told us to have a follow up check up early this week with Jay's knee doctor. He said he'd give him pain medication prescription and he'd prepare his discharge papers.



Me: I wonder kung unsa jud 'tang orasa makagawas dinhi? (I wonder what time we would get out of here?)
Jay: Isa ka oras na pod atong paabuton! (Maybe another hour of waiting again!)

Hehehehe.

12:47 a.m. A lady came with the discharge papers. Some papers to read about Jay's knee condition and yada yada yada. She was apologetic of the long wait.

The waiting took sooooooo long especially when you are having the most intense pain of all. Sometimes I wondered if that is always the case for adult emergency. We didn't experience the long wait when we had to take the boy to the ER twice at this hospital.

1:16 a.m. We drove out of the hospital's parking lot. Thank you God. Our children at home were so worried. I couln't send an update to my siblings whom I asked for prayers while we were waiting earlier. There was no signal at that part of the world where we waited for about six hours.

Along with having to endure the worst of the worst leg pain was the waiting. The waiting for when we'd be able to get inside the ER; when the doctor would come in, and when they would give the mister pain medication that'd work. But I had to understand. I was certain there were cases that were worst than what the mister went through. Plus, when we passed by the ER lobby on our way out, the place was packed at past midnight.

*sigh!

I hope your Christmas was wonderful. The mister is not out of the woods yet. If it's not too much to ask, please keep him in your prayers.

I heart you for reading this post.


Update: What the mister had was two torn ligaments on his knee.