Your A&E visits......funny or serious

[swee'pea99]

I think I owe my life to the good people of Chester A&E. Some years back I had tremendous chest pains so much so that I could hardly move. Mrs. Slow eventually thought enough of this and rang for an ambulance fearing a heart attack.

'eventually' is excellent!

 

[Nibor]

These things do happen and in my opinion A&E isn’t the place for this, The key to first aid is self aid primarily.
Unfortunately the dept is littered with people who rockup with minor ailments then wonder why they wait so long when they’re not prioritised and kick up a fuss.

He was already at the hospital!!! Where else would he go for help.

 

[MontyVeda]

About a decade ago my friend fell down the stairs and broke her right elbow, so I took her into A&E. She'd broken her left hand a few weeks previously, so with one hand already in plaster and the other arm about to go in plaster, the A&E staff were rightly concerned. They talked to us both separately about the incident(s) and I got the distinct feeling that they thought I was the abusive boyfriend rather than a friend who'd brought her in. I guess they must have believed her, otherwise I'd have been spoken to by the police... but talk about feeling guilty for doing a good deed

 

[fossyant]

Good family friends, both their lads have been in and out of A&E enough times for Social Services. Both were football mad and played everywhere and anywhere. Broke lots of bones. Thing is, mum is a Deputy Head.

 

[Bazzer]

Semi conscious with a sledgehammer.
My Dad was one of those people who bodged/hacked things after they break, rather than preventing the break in the first place. Aged about 15, I was helping him by holding a post as he stood on steps hammering said post it into the ground. As he swung the previously "repaired" sledgehammer downwards, the head came off and struck me on the top of my head.
According to my Mum, he thought he had killed me as he manhandled me into the house, with blood pouring from the wound.

 

[ColinJ]

'eventually' is excellent!

Ha ha - I understand 'eventually', only too well! I took 3 or 4 weeks to seek help when I was ill with my first Pulmonary Embolism (PE).

My story about the drunks in A&E was from the night I was diagnosed with my second PE. My sister came up a week ago and reminded me what happened that night...

I had been feeling ill for over a week but despite that had gone down to visit her for a family party at her house in Towcester. I got worse through the evening of the party and couldn't handle socialising so I went and sat on her stairs for some peace and quiet. She came to look for me and asked why I was being such an antisocial misery so I told her that I suspected that I was clotting up again. She asked what my doctor had said. I told her that I intended to go to my GP after I returned to Yorkshire a few days later but hadn't seen anyone yet - I got the WTF treatment! The guests left an hour later and she insisted on driving me over to Northampton General A&E...

A year later, the second PE came on. My sister drove me to her local hospital. I got to the reception desk and the woman there did the triage thing ('Go home', 'Join the queue', 'EMERGENCY!'). The conversation went something like this ...

Receptionist: Hello, how can I help you?

Me: Hi. Er, I think that I am becoming seriously ill with a pulmonary embolism.

Receptionist (clearly thinking 'Dr Google strikes again ...'): Oh, so you have medical training do you?

Me: No, but I do have a very vivid memory of almost dying of a pulmonary embolism a year ago and I have exactly the same symptoms now - extreme shortness of breath, heart racing for hours, alternating bouts of shivering and sweating, nausea, and feeling faint!

Receptionist: (Under breath - whoops ...) Please take a seat over there and I will make sure that you are seen very quickly!

Tested and admitted in less than 3 hours.

I am on warfarin for life now and need regular blood tests. I chatted to one nurse while she was taking the blood sample and it turned out that she is a fellow PE sufferer and warfarin user. She told me that she had been doing some gardening with her husband when she suddenly felt ill. She said something to him like "Darling, you need to get the car out and take me to A&E - NOW!!!" He asked her why and she replied that she was fairly sure that she had a pulmonary embolism and was in danger of dropping dead at any moment! [NB One third of emergency PE patients DO die from the clots!] She obviously knew what she was talking about, and as a result got treatment soon after falling ill.

Similar to what was mentioned in one of the posts above... There was a big sign up in A&E explaining to patients why some patients 'jump the queue'. I was one example - the happy drunks with the mangled legs were there when I arrived, still waiting when I was tested for clots, and were STILL waiting when I got my results and was admitted. It didn't seem to bother them, but if the staff felt the need to put a notice up explaining the system, then they obviously get a lot of abuse for it.

 

[Hicky]

@ColinJ an awful amount of abuse and constantly.

 

[ColinJ]

@ColinJ an awful amount of abuse and constantly.

 

[presta]

I took 3 or 4 weeks to seek help when I was ill with my first Pulmonary Embolism (PE).

It took me 2-3 years when I developed an arrhythmia, during which time I had no idea I was at risk of blood clots.

The first year I just thought my heart rate monitor was faulty, then in 2010 I had a big episode which left me crawling around the house on all fours for hours. I knew I needed an ambulance, but I didn't have the confidence to call one in case I got labelled a time waster. A year later I got pain in my calf which I think in hindsight may have been a blood clot, but I was 200 miles from home, and it had eased off by the time I got back.

In 2012 I had another big episode, but this time it didn't go away. By the following day I knew I needed to do something, but I still rang the surgery rather than call 999. The receptionist was a bit miffed when I said I couldn't get to the surgery, but I got a call from the GP two minutes later to say he'd called an ambulance. When I got to A&E, the consultant in resus ticked me off and told me to call an ambulance promptly next time.

That was fine for a while, but after a few trips I got sniped at by a doctor for being a frequent flyer, so the next time I was back to procrastinating, before calling the GP. She told me to get an ambulance, but when I arrived in A&E I was sent home untreated by doctors who just thought I was having a panic attack. I had to call a second ambulance again later that day, but I was put in a room and ignored for another day by more doctors who still thought I was panicking. This despite a the fact that I was diagnosed, medicated, and on the waiting list for an ablation (minor heart operation). The following month I was back in again, and this time I had to be kept in for a week instead of overnight, because I had waited too long before calling 999.

 

[Dave7]

@MontyVeda .....you brought back memories from nearly 50 years ago when we lived in a terraced house with very steep stairs. Our daughter tumbled down them and had a real duck egg lump. We took her to hospital where they asked us lot of deep, scary questions.
Next day social services turned up and gave us the 3rd degree. They had (maybe still have) so much power that we just had to be nice and polite. Not nice!!

 

[Threevok]

I fell down at a Country and Western night, whilst wearing cowboy boots (and the full outfit) and snapped my leg

I was hospitalised for 6 weeks (due to complications)

At the time, Toy Story was the new film out and all the rage

I had 6 weeks of nurses asking me "Where's Buzz ?"

 

[ColinJ]

In 2012 I had another big episode, but this time it didn't go away. By the following day I knew I needed to do something, but I still rang the surgery rather than call 999. The receptionist was a bit miffed when I said I couldn't get to the surgery, but I got a call from the GP two minutes later to say he'd called an ambulance. When I got to A&E, the consultant in resus ticked me off and told me to call an ambulance promptly next time.

First time round, I made an emergency appointment at my local surgery. I couldn't walk the 250 metres unaided so a friend propped me up and half-dragged me there. The GP said that I needed to go to A&E immediately and ...


... sent me home to phone for an ambulance!

That was fine for a while, but after a few trips I got sniped at by a doctor for being a frequent flyer, so the next time I was back to procrastinating, before calling the GP. She told me to get an ambulance, but when I arrived in A&E I was sent home untreated by doctors who just thought I was having a panic attack. I had to call a second ambulance again later that day, but I was put in a room and ignored for another day by more doctors who still thought I was panicking. This despite a the fact that I was diagnosed, medicated, and on the waiting list for an ablation (minor heart operation). The following month I was back in again, and this time I had to be kept in for a week instead of overnight, because I had waited too long before calling 999.

Yes, it's a tricky call!

My sister asked me why I had delayed so long before getting help the second time round. I told her that when you feel like you are dying for 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, just when do you decide that you are ill enough to see a doctor, when the only treatment is what you are already getting?

When you start to feel like you are dying for only about 5 or 6 hours a day and just feel crap the rest of the time, it feels like a big improvement, so you certainly wouldn't see a doctor then.

I had got to the stage where I only felt awful for 2 or 3 hours a day but then suddenly started feeling bad for 5 or 6 hours a day again. My mistake was not realising that this was a sinister new development, rather than a minor setback!

 

[Bazzer]

@ColinJ an awful amount of abuse and constantly.

I hadn't appreciated just how bad it was for drunks, as all of my Friday - Sunday visits to A&E had involved my children and at my local hospital, children's A&E is largely separate. That was until one Friday when one of my kidney stones decided to go walkabout. My patience with them was being tested and I was sedated, so huge kudos to anyone on here or their spouses who has to put up with them professionally..

 

[gavgav]

I had an unwelcome visit to A&E last night, after an injury to my little finger, playing cricket. 4 hour wait to be seen and I’ve broken it in 2 places Back to Fracture Clinic for another 2&1/2 hour wait this morning. Splint for 2 weeks and then re assessment. That’s my cycling curtailed for a bit

 

[simon the viking]

I went in years ago seriously ill.. vomiting and in pain.

I kept getting asked how much i drank and were nurses bordering on being rude they clearly didnt believe my single figure unit count per week... until the blood test proved i was telling the truth and the attitude of the staff changed immediately for the better.

My illness? Pancreatitis caused by either alcoholism or gaul stones which i apparently had which had been causing me gastric reflux for years.. i ended up spending nearly a week in hospital.. then another couple of days a month later for for the gaul bladder op


And then theres the two lengthy stays in hospital in 2017 and 18 for sepsis which started off in a and e as GP just kept saying it was a flu virus