….and make it out alive and with your sanity intact.  Because let me tell you, walking into a busy ER for you as the patient and even for the doctor can be like walking into a war zone.  Here’s what happened last weekend….

…It was another CRAZY weekend in the hospital……

The emergency department was jammed backed with people needing to get checked out…some with minor complaints and others with very severe life-threatening conditions…

Flu season was in full swing and causing the very young and the very old to come down with fever, malaise and even severe breathing problems….

Tensions were high and patience was low as some people had to wait hours to find out what was wrong with them…..

Out of frustration people were turning right back around and leaving without getting seen because they didn’t want to wait the long hours to get evaluated and placed their health and their lives in jeopardy by going back home…..

But for Mrs. X that trip to the emergency department saved her life….

Struggling to breath for the past several hours, Mrs. X’s family knew that she couldn’t wait much longer so they called 911 and paramedics brought her into the emergency department.  Mrs. X had recently suffered from a persistent cough that had triggered her chronic lung disease and she was having trouble breathing on her own. 

As she was fighting to take in air, the emergency department doctors sprang into action and placed her on a breathing machine to assist her breathing… On medications to treat her bronchitis and medications to treat the inflammation in her lungs, her breathing slowly recovered and after two days on life support, the breathing tube was removed.  Now she’s sitting up reading the paper and wanting to know when she’s going to get out the hospital.  

That quick turn around from being so close to death to now deciding what she’ll have for breakfast tomorrow morning is just short of amazing.  

What saved Mrs. X’s life was her family’s quick decision to take her to the hospital and the family’s ability to provide the doctors with Mrs. X’s medical history so that an accurate diagnosis could be made, which ultimately saved her life. 

So the next time you’re contemplating whether or not to head to the emergency department to get checked out….

Forget about the possible long waits….forget out the loud noise, the comotion….forget out the irritation of lying on a hard gurney in the middle of the hallway all night long….

and focus on getting accurate and professional treatment for your pain, your breathing problem, your sickness….because the most important thing that you (and even the doctors and nurses treating you) have to remember is that we’re all trying to reach a common goal….your improved health. 

So remember that goal next time you’re waiting to be seen in the ER….

Maybe just maybe, there’s a Mrs. X coming in ER…unable to breath…needing to be placed on life support..and needing immediate attention…so that she too, can walk out the hospital days later…ALIVE!

To your wellness,

The Health and Wellness Queen

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 1:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.