My Emergency Room Visit & How I Feel My Health Care System Failed Me

I had a recent health scare during the first few weeks of September 2022. I was chugging along every day, like I always do when all of a sudden, I experienced this severe, kill-me-now pain that I’ve never before experienced in my life. Of course, being part of Generation X and having access to Google, I googled my symptoms and came up with the most logical conclusion: gall bladder stones.

My pain started at 12:30am one night. I had eaten a piece of French bread with some tea because I didn't have much of an appetite. That might have been five or six hours before this intense pain hit me. Not only did this sensation bring me to tears, but I found the only way to cope was to bend over the arm of my couch and press my upper stomach against it as hard as I possibly could.

I should also mention, at this time, I was five months pregnant. (Another reason I assumed I had gall stones, as women around my age who are pregnant tend to get symptoms of this nature.) I remember having two severe attacks that lasted almost two hours each that first night. The pain continued on into the night, although not as severe when I was laying down. It did keep me up for most of the night though. There were times that I felt like vomiting as well.

The next day, I woke up and I didn't hurt like the night before. I remember eating something and soon after, the pain started. At first, the pain felt like this intense, dull burning sensation that was directly in the centre of my abdomen, directly under my ribs. As the day wore on, the pain continued to worsen. It stretched to my right side, again underneath my ribs and felt like it was throbbing into my back. Finally, after many tears and wrenching pain, I told my husband I couldn't stand it anymore. I needed to go to emergency because I literally thought I was dying. This was the kind of pain that compares to child birth, and I would honestly rather give birth because I know it eventually ends, and you get rest breaks in between. This pain certainly did not feel natural at all.

So fast forward to 4:30pm, and I was driving us to the hopistal. (Quick tangent: My husbands car was in for repair, and I don’t like anyone driving my jeep other than me while I’m in it, so I insisted.) Also, my husband had to leave for work in the morning (he works out of town for weeks at a time, and we had a lot of prep work to do before he left) so going to the hospital at this time was very inconvenient.

I continued to have pain right up until the point of being admitted into the hospital. (Of course). We stood in line for 30 minutes and then we finally were admitted at 5:30p. We sat in the waiting room, having no idea or expectation of how long we were looking at. Turns out, I finally got into a room at 10:30pm that evening. I mean, there were people who looked like they were literally dying in that waiting room - one man had continuous blood pouring from his nose and not one medical staff offered assistance.

Once we were in the room, a nurse came in around 30 minutes later and asked me tons of questions, honestly mostly about covid which had no relevance at this point. We waited once more until 1:30am. I had to use the washroom so bad I went outside the curtained room and had to ask. Apparently the nurse on duty had changed shift but I had no idea. All I knew was that there were nurses and doctors outside laughing, and talking about what they ate that day and how funny things were.

Finally, hearing that, I snapped. I was exhausted, I was starving from not eating since the day before (remember, I’m pregnant) and I had to get up early in the morning to take my son to school. I went out to talk to the new nurse and asked her what was going on. She finally came in and took my blood work. I was ready to leave at that point, I was so frustrated and angry. Then she told me that I should just relax, that there were people dying and I was fine and I could leave if I wanted, but then what would be the point? All I heard was the laughter and merriment in my head from earlier. If people were dying, why weren't they doing something about it?

My husband and I talked and we decided to stay. I think I dozed off at that point, and the doctor finally came in at 2:30am or 3am. She asked me the same questions as the first nurse, and I told her my suspicions about the gall bladder stones. She scheduled me for an ultrasound which I later rescheduled so I could go somewhere closer to home. She concluded that I had a gall bladder issue and there was nothing that could be done for me. So, she sent me on my way.

Of course, I was livid. Number one, I had wasted how many hours of my life in a sickroom waiting for what? Absolutely nothing. I was starving and every time I ate, the pain came back so I couldn’t eat. I didn’t eat. I starved for an entire week. I felt bad for my kids because they were worried about me. I was exhausted from being tired, hungry, anxious and in pain.

The next day, my husband left for work. I was super anxious about that because I had no idea what was going on, and if I experienced another attack, I was on my own with the kids. I was petrified. The good news (or so I thought) was I had a regular family doctor appointment scheduled the day after my husband left for work. It was mainly to check up on the baby, but I placed a call and we managed to get an emergency ultrasound at the last minute on Tuesday, a day before my doctor visit.

The ultrasound revealed that I did have several small gall stones. However, my doctor told me that surgery wasn’t on the table, because the stones were too small. She simply said that in order for the pain to go away, I had to change my diet. At this point, I felt completely defeated. I felt like walking out and never going back to this doctor ever again. I’m not really self-serving or self righteous enough to believe that everything revolves me. It’s just when you experience severe pain, your world gets really small and that’s the only thing you can focus or concentrate on.

I tried explaining to her that I don’t eat exceptionally unhealthy in the first place. I tried telling her that anything I ate was killing me. I drink low fat milk, and not a lot of it. I eat greek yogurt, and sprouted grain toast and high fibre oatmeal. All she kept saying was that I had to change my diet. So, you can maybe see why I was so frustrated. Again, I was still tired and starving at this point. The only thing that didn't hurt too badly was drinking water (thank goodness).

I went home, back to the drawing board and continued to do what I was doing. I started eating again, putting up with the pain. (When I took Tylenol, it seemed to make my stomach ache more so I stopped). At this point, I was eating about 1/8th of what I normally eat in a day. I would have five raspberries, one tablespoon of yogurt and a saltine. I would be in pain ranging from a 3/10 to a 5/10.

Slowly, I started feeling less and less pain. I was still scared and anxious because I had no idea of the cause or if it would come back. The first pain seemed pretty instantaneous. My mom finally convinced me to go get a third opinion from her doctor. We made the appointment when I was still feeling pain on Thursday or Friday. The appointment was for Monday, and as of that Saturday, the pain went completely away.

The outcome of this third opinion was exactly the same; there was nothing that she could do for me, and I had to change my diet. But…the key was that she actually explained to me what was going on. Guess what? It had nothing to do with my gall bladder at all. It actually was gastritis, an inflammation of my stomach lining that can eventually lead to ulcers and lesions. This doctor explained what had happened with my bloodwork - if I had actually had a gall bladder blockage, not only would I still be in pain, but the results would show that the bile wasn't getting through. Also, the pain was only coming within 10-30 minutes of eating, so obviously the issue was coming from my stomach.

Before pregnancy, I used to drink a lot of energy drinks, Red Bulls to be exact. I also loved Coke and Pepsi and slushes from 7-11. So, I stopped drinking those. I did start taking a fibre supplement and Magnesium to help with my gall bladder in the future. I basically drink a lot of water, milk and the occasional tea and coffee throughout the day. I’ve had all different foods and nothing so far has brought the pain back.

I would like to understand why my first two experiences were so negative. Why are the doctors not doing their jobs properly? Taking my word for what I might have instead of actually looking at the results and explaining it to me? Forget laymen’s terms…not to toot my own horn, but I’m a pretty smart cookie and I can understand what the doctors are talking about, if they would only communicate properly.

My greatest lesson here is fear of the unknown, fear of pain, and that communication is key. If the nurse in the hospital had come in to at least update us on the situation or given us a time frame, or something, I think my frustration and anger wouldn’t have been so great. If my doctor had actually listened to me instead of talking to me, maybe that third opinion wouldn’t have been necessary. I might still have a little faith in her ability as a doctor.

I do know that a lot of our healthcare issues come from funding issues and legalities. I think that when doctors become doctors, they truly want to help and they’re not just in it for the money. But when they do it for awhile, they learn how to play the game just as good as any politician.

My experience and just relating it to you now has left a sour taste in my mouth. No wonder a lot of people don’t go to the doctor. Maybe they’ve lost faith in the health care system too. If the end result is the same, I would much rather suffer at home than suffer in a germ-infested room full of sick people for hours and hours.

That was my only experience in an emergency capacity, and I hope to never have it happen again. Thank you so much for reading today’s article. Remember, eat healthy!

❤️ Sandra