My visit to the hospital ...

So, background information on the whole hospital situation....

My ears have a tendency to have a heavy wax build-up and then become impacted. (gross, I know) However, I just get them flushed every once in a while (which isn't the most comfortable procedure) and I'm good to go for another little while.

Saturday night I was at my parent's house out in Armena (by Camrose) and we were watching the hockey game. I went to bed shortly thereafter and laid down on my left side. Boom. Lost all hearing. It has happened before so I didn't panic too much, but it is really awkward and makes me dizzy if I'm walking around because of the different hearing in both ears. So, nothing helped and I reluctantly went to bed.

Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) I woke up and I was really dizzy from my ears and in some pain. It was an odd feeling. My mum looked at them and could not do anything, so the only thing close by was the hospital. I figured I'd go in and it wouldn't be a big deal as it is a quick 4-8 minute procedure and then they send me on my way. Technically, I think an LPN/RN could do the procedure as well, although I could be wrong on that.

This is where it gets interesting - I get to the hospital, deaf in one ear, dizzy and in pain and I ask information where I should be heading. She pointed me in the direction of the EMPTY emergency room. A nurse sticks her head out the door and asks what I need. I told her that I needed to get my ears flushed and that information sent me here. Her response was "we don't do that here (what?!), and this is an emergency room - this is not an emergency." She then told me that I could go to the clinic that opened up on Monday at 2PM. I looked at her and said "I understand that this is not urgent, but I can't hear anything. Are you telling me that there is not ONE doctor here that can help me?" She said to have a seat and that she would call a doctor.

I texted my mum at this point saying that an emergency room did not want to help me because this was not deemed an "emergency." She was pretty upset and asked if I wanted her to send my dad down. I said no and that I'd deal with it. I was currently watching 2 nurses flirt with the security guy that was standing at the desk. I could hear murmuring about me and could see them glance at me every now and then, almost as if to see if I was still there.

So by this point, I'm pissed. I waited forty minutes to even be spoken to by another nurse. I finally get to go back, they take my vitals, blah blah blah, and although the nurse did it with a smile (she was not the original nurse that refused to help me) I could tell that she was upset about either me being there, or her being there. Either way, this is her job. Not my fault that my ears decided to shut down and leave me in pain on Easter Sunday.

Another side note - had Camrose had any other option for clinics or help on Easter Sunday, I would have utilized them instead of going to an emergency room, a EMPTY emergency room.

So, I get put in a room and finally a doctor comes in. She lectures me for a few minutes saying "the nurses are not happy that you are here. This is NOT an emergency." I just restated my case that this was bad, it was making me dizzy, I was in pain, and that I understood it was not actually an emergency.

She worked for a few minutes flushing my ears, with the original nurse who refused to help me by her side. I was less than pleased. The doctor even said "this isn't going to be anything fancy, just a syringe and water." Clearly, I wanted the gold treatment with gold-plated shit. Give me a break. So, she states that both my ears are severely impacted. She gets through what I thought was the worse ear and states that there is an infection. She then gets to work on the other ear, which was also severely impacted.

Somehow the last part of my post didn't actually publish...

So here!

After she finishes cleaning the other ear, the one I could actually hear out of, she states that there is a HUGE infection and that my ear canal is actually bleeding. (I actually think the bleeding was caused by her use of the syringe and her impatience of me being there). So, now I'm really upset. She says that she is going to go get a prescription for me. Both nurses leave, and I can hear them LAUGHING in the hallway with the other nurses. Thank-you, thank-you for laughing at my pain and irritation with you. I appreciate it. *eye roll*

The doctor comes back with a Rx and I basically speed-walked all the way out of the hospital. I got out the doors and just burst into tears. I do not take kindly to being treated like an idiot, or being made fun of. I called my mum, bawling, she talked me through it and I went to Shoppers for my prescription. Pharmacist looks at my Rx and says "this is going to cost you about 90$, do you still want them?" .... Uh, WTF? Yes, I still want them. I hate that they're expensive, but you know, yes, I WANT MY MEDS.

That is the story of the unprofessional doctors and nurses at the hospital in Camrose, AB. Less than impressed.

Much love,

-S