By Orchard - 16/07/2013 17:25 - United States - Seminole

Today, I suddenly started having excruciating pain. My husband took me to the ER, where I waited for three hours in agony to be seen. By the time a doctor got to me, the pain had mostly gone, but it was found to be a kidney stone. I was told, "Next time, don't wait so long." Really? FML
I agree, your life sucks 49 709
You deserved it 3 041

Orchard tells us more.

Orchard 33

Hi, this is the OP. I told them in triage with tears streaming down my face that I thought it was a kidney stone. I was in so much pain I could barely fill out the forms. There were only a couple of possibilities as to the source of pain to begin with since the pain was all down my left flank and upper left quadrant. I have medical training so I wasn't too shocked to find out it was a kidney stone. What was shocking was they thought I was faking to get a drug fix, put me on the back burner, then acted like it was somehow my fault for not being seen sooner so they could help manage the pain.

Labour Day: Rest or Disaster?
Find out how a day off can turn into a series of hilarious, unexpected events. More…
Previous FML Next FML

Top comments

cryptic26 12

That's when you start screaming in agony so loud until they're forced to see you. Honestly if the pain was seriously that bad that's exactly what I would do. I hate how the ER treats people with real emergencies. I'd make them suffer with me.

241 5
angiemarie96 25

This is why emergency rooms shouldn't keep people waiting for hours.. IT'S A ******* EMERCENCY Hypocrites

240 5

Comments

azwethinkweiz87 11

My sister once waited 12 hours to be seen for a severe kidney infection (she could barely walk with the pain). Then was told to go home and come back the next day... Where she waited a further 10 hours :( Unfortunate but it's how it is. Unless you absolutely need immediate attention, you don't get it. So stupid for that person to have said "don't leave it so long"... ignorant.

5 0
yeongji 31

I work in the ER and I am sorry to hear that you had to wait several hours to be seen. However, I do hope that you realize that you are not the only one waiting in pain and/or not feeling well. It is impossible for us, the workers, to make everyone our first priority. A lot of people fail to realize that when it comes to the ER department, we do not work on a first-come-first-serve standard. We treat the most critical patients first and mind you, the sickest patients take the longest time to save (more tests, more attention, more teams/workers, and sometimes transfers out). There is something called a triage and acuity scale. 95% of the patients we get day are classified as "urgent or minor cases", and only in those cases due we use the first-come-first-serve standard. A vast majority of them also can be treated easily by a FP or clinic. The problem with people is that they believe "emergency" means "I will be treated first". However, that is not the case. Unless the workers are just sitting around and not doing anything, don't hate on the workers, but the fact that the person next to you with a paper cut is taking up the room and time. There is only so much we can do as mere humans to attend to everyones wants and needs. It is not like we can turn people away either. We also have a limited amount of resources and depending on the hospital you go to, some of them have a lot more patients a day than expected. Just take the place I work as an example. It is uncommon for us to see 100+ patients a day than our ER was built to see. In the end, we are still the one to blame for the government fundings. So what I am trying to say is that we are doing our best to attend to everyone, but there is only so much we can do as a team to treat a few hundred people a day.

7 20
Inle 8

OP understands, OP was mostly making this to point out that the doctor scolded them. Doc made it OP's fault that OP had to wait P:

10 0
Cali_Italian 8

You typed all of that for no reason. The point of the post was that the doctor gave her flak for waiting so long to be seen when it wasn't even her fault.

3 0
soapmactavish82 8

That's when you reach across the room and bitch slap the doctor with everything you have, or guilt trip by telling him the blatant truth

0 1
miaoucore 13

i really hate when doctors or nurses do this because they left my friend's mom bleeding to death and they attended to hear after an hour or so. she later got diabetes. i dont really know the full story but thats the basic story. also my mom this small bump on her neck and they diagnosed her with cancer..and there was no way it is because she isnt suffering from the symptoms. but anyways for some medical schools need to make sure the students know there stuff !

2 8
MuseFan1991 14

so what would the symptoms of cancer be? and how can a woman bleed to death but later discover they have diabetes?

0 0
Quiet_one 22

Your first example makes no sense, because diabetes and trauma aren't related unless the trauma was to the insulin-producing cells in her pancreas. Just losing blood wouldn't have any effect on whether a person develops diabetes or not. And if the lump was biopsied and a trained pathologist diagnosed it as cancer, it's probably cancer and your mom should go through the recommended treatment for it. A lot of cancers don't cause any symptoms in early stages- that's why so many people don't get diagnosed until it's too late to help them. By all means get a second opinion if you want confirmation, but don't just ignore it because you think you know more than the doctor.

1 0
etishuman22 32

I just went to the ER about a month ago on day two an extremely severe migraine. I was dehydrated and unable to eat, and puking bile every 20 mins or so. I was waited about three hours as well, until they noticed me running outside to puke because someone locked themselves in the ER bathroom (it was a one person bathroom). I went there at three in the afternoon and didn't leave until about eight or nine. TL;DR: I feel your pain, OP. Hope you're doing much better. Kidney stones are awful.

4 0
firechicky 12

what did you think the er was going to do for your migraine? call your doctor, get a script for some acute pain management and stay home

1 5
etishuman22 32

That was not my first migraine, I've been suffering from them for years. That was what my doctor told me to do, and obviously she couldn't do as much as they could in the ER. If you read my post, you would have also realized that I had been suffering from severe dehydration as well as the migraine because I had not eaten in a couple days due to awful nausea. Also, the nurse attending me told me that people come in for migraines all the time. So should I have ignored my doctor and stayed home? No, I don't think so.

4 1
Martinez0285 28

kidney stones are no joke.. I thought it was gas at first... I even made my self puke till I saw blood... finally when a fart just wouldn't do it... i went to the e.r.... morphine sucks at life

2 1
Sputnikspak 13

Wow, three hours. That'd be insanely fast up here. Last time I went in with a pelvic infection from an IUD that caused insane pain I waited 28 hours. =/

2 0
ballerinaaub 17

I know what you mean. Been in that boat too. Not fun

0 0
azane_fml 1

My doctor works at the ER so when I have a scheduled checkup I need to go there instead of a clinic, and I got in for a silly checkup faster than someone who couldn't stop puking and someone with a broken nose.

0 1
firechicky 12

Its funny because a boatload of people commenting on this fml either admit to using the er for non-emergencies or know someone who does. Explains why you had to wait so damn long.

7 1
foute_la 1

I feel you, OP. Though I can't remember anything past hitting my head and a thick wad of paper towels pressed to my face, my mother has informed me that I waited in the emergency room for forty-five minutes while my face bled profusely. I have two really neat scars on my chin now.

0 1