I could hardly get out of bed because the Pain in my lower back was so severe. It came on all at once and for no apparent reason that I could put my finger on. The pain was so bad that I had to have assistance getting dressed.
My friend, Jim, drove me to the emergency room where I sat in a waiting room filled with all kinds of people, some of them barking and coughing -- I thought to myself, "Oh my God, I am exposed to the Flu! None of these sons of bitches are wearing masks and a lot of them are not covering their coughing!"
After a rather long wait (The ER was unusually busy) I finally got put into a wheelchair and rolled to the X-Ray room where a really nice technician took a series of pictures and sent me back to the waiting room to wait until I could see a doctor.
After about an hour (Maybe Two hours) a doctor, wearing his own protective green mask, appeared and informed me that he had read my X-Rays and that I had some kind of separation going on somewhere in my back and that I should practice the exercise of lying flat on my back on the floor with my legs up on a chair.
Have I mentioned that there was no prescription written for any kind of pain reliever?
So I was instructed, "If your pain worsens come back here to the emergency room."
There was no "Consult" ordered with any kind of specialist to follow up on my condition but I was told to inform my primary physician of my visit to the emergency room and see what he had to say about the whole situation.
I communicated my experiences to my primary care physician and was informed that the cause of my lower back torture was ... "Arthritis."
The doctor's nurse told me, "Keep on taking your over-the-counter pain relievers."
There was no suggestion that I come in and have a visit with my primary physician and there was no mention of any kind of further follow up and so I finally came to the conclusion that my newly-acquired "Arthritis" wasn't all that big of a deal with them and I proceeded to lay around the house and take my acetaminophen pills as needed.
It has been a couple of days now and the bed rest and the acetaminophen tablets seem to have had some positive effects because I can walk again so maybe the care I received at the emergency room was what was needed after all ----- or maybe I am a ticking time bomb waiting for something worse to come down the line.
I do have an inner gut feeling that the whole experience was a little bit dismissive toward me and my complaints but I have to realize that there are a whole lot of other people who are a lot worse off than I am and I should be grateful that I get my medical care for free at taxpayer expense.
| Image Is From PIXABAY And Is Creative Commons License |
After a rather long wait (The ER was unusually busy) I finally got put into a wheelchair and rolled to the X-Ray room where a really nice technician took a series of pictures and sent me back to the waiting room to wait until I could see a doctor.
After about an hour (Maybe Two hours) a doctor, wearing his own protective green mask, appeared and informed me that he had read my X-Rays and that I had some kind of separation going on somewhere in my back and that I should practice the exercise of lying flat on my back on the floor with my legs up on a chair.
Have I mentioned that there was no prescription written for any kind of pain reliever?
So I was instructed, "If your pain worsens come back here to the emergency room."
There was no "Consult" ordered with any kind of specialist to follow up on my condition but I was told to inform my primary physician of my visit to the emergency room and see what he had to say about the whole situation.
I communicated my experiences to my primary care physician and was informed that the cause of my lower back torture was ... "Arthritis."
The doctor's nurse told me, "Keep on taking your over-the-counter pain relievers."
There was no suggestion that I come in and have a visit with my primary physician and there was no mention of any kind of further follow up and so I finally came to the conclusion that my newly-acquired "Arthritis" wasn't all that big of a deal with them and I proceeded to lay around the house and take my acetaminophen pills as needed.
It has been a couple of days now and the bed rest and the acetaminophen tablets seem to have had some positive effects because I can walk again so maybe the care I received at the emergency room was what was needed after all ----- or maybe I am a ticking time bomb waiting for something worse to come down the line.
I do have an inner gut feeling that the whole experience was a little bit dismissive toward me and my complaints but I have to realize that there are a whole lot of other people who are a lot worse off than I am and I should be grateful that I get my medical care for free at taxpayer expense.
