Spent the whole day and evening at the ER, a total waste of time because I got nothing accomplished.
After
weeks of trying to get in to the LSU Interim Public Hospital by calling
the number I was given for "primary care", and being told "sorry, we
don't have appointments available for primary care" and "call back next
week to check", I finally got fed up with it and decided to try going to
the walk-in urgent care clinic I was referred to by the small clinic
that "carded me" for Ember.
Had to park at a garage blocks away
from the building which was a pain to begin with. It's warm out and I am
in pain and overheating. Thank the gods I had Ember and my ankle brace
on. Ended up wandering from place to place because nothing was clearly
marked and there was road work preventing ease of access. Only to be
told "not the right place, go here instead" three times... and finally
the last one was where it should have been... and they tell me to go
across the street to the ER.....yeah, right then I knew it was going to
be a nightmare.
So trudge up the ramp, exhausted and sweating
like mad by this point from overheating. Grabbed the support handle on
Ember's harness and gave her a pull command so she could help me up the
incline. Noticed a security guard watching as we approached ( most
places in New Orleans have them these days ), smiled and nodded, waited
for a gentleman with a cane to go ahead of us, giving Ember clearly
audible commands to wait and follow and the security guard extends his
hand and says "Can I see papers for your dog?" and I am thinking - ( you
see her wearing a red vest that proclaims "service dog" and you just
watched her pull me up the slope/hill to the ER entrance )
I
responded as we were walking by saying "She's a service dog, she's
allowed to go anywhere I can go" and he asked again for "papers for the
dog". I told him by federal law I wasn't required to have any and he
wasn't permitted to ask, repeating she was a service dog. He got an
attitude with me saying "Oh, so anyone can just walk in here with a dog
and claim its a service dog if they want huh?" I'm sure the frown and
expression on my face probably said enough because someone who overheard
rolled their eyes at the security guy. I responded "No, because lying
about a pet dog being a service dog is against the law."
By this
time I was a little aggravated and already dizzy and nauseated and the
confrontation had drawn the attention of the entire ER waiting room with
people staring. I again repeated myself that she was a service dog and
by federal law I was not required to have any documentation for her, and
he shrugged and said "This is a hospital, do you have papers or not?"
taking a step closer in a way that made me think he was about to force
me to leave, so once again I was forced to present the card I have with
the ADA statute, stating I was doing it voluntarily and denying me or
anyone else with a service dog could get them in trouble, "papers" or
not. He glanced at the card briefly and handed it back, muttering
something about "not denying anyone treatment" and allowed us to
proceed. He wasn't even interested in hearing the actual law, like that
other clinic I went to was (the one that "carded" Ember). He was just
being a jerk. Which is why I am sorely tempted to get in contact with
the right people and report the incident so no one else experiences
worse harassment than what we experienced in the event they don't carry
anything ( or forget to bring it ) to identify as a service dog team.
Then
it was hurry up and wait. And wait. And wait. Hours later we moved to
another waiting room. Then hours later, finally got a patient room, and
finally saw the doctor and got xrays of my wrist. All the hospital staff
I interacted with were amazingly polite and helpful, no complaints
about any of them. They all had nice things to say about Ember and how
well we worked as a team, which was refreshing after the jerk security
guy and nightmare wait. The nurses and doctor were very nice and the
xray technicians were all full of laughs and everyone kept peeking in to
"see the dog" and go "aaaawwwwww" which was amusing.
So besides
the wrist xrays, total waste of time. They confirmed I don't have any
broken bones at least, but since this problem has not healed in the time
expected, they put in a referral to the hand surgery center for a
followup with a specialist to see if they can do anything else before
resorting to surgery. I asked the doctor about also getting a referral
to primary care since I had been waiting so long to see someone.
She
told me they don't have the ability to refer me to primary care,
because for whatever stupid reason, that privilege was removed from the
ER and many other departments. She told me I'd have to call in, to which
I sighed and mentioned I had already tried. There are only two numbers
to call, both directing to the same place. The same place I have been
calling. That keeps telling me they have no openings for primary care,
keep calling back. They don't have anything available till June or July.
I told her I had been trying to do this since November.
She was
sincerely apologetic and said she was glad to know that, because she
planned to bring it to the attention of whoever decided to change the
way they admit patients for primary care. Because the "new way" was
supposed to make things faster, and it clearly is not. I'd hate to know
how long it took *before* now.
Maybe I got spoiled by Mayo
Clinic, but after overhearing horror stories of how long others had
waited ( including one poor woman who had been shot multiple times some
time ago and had bullets lodged and surfacing and was clearly in pain
having been there since 8am-ish ), I get the impression their whole
system is screwed up.
The same is confirmed by a friend of mine
knowing someone who just recently went to one of the clinics, and was
waiting months for the appointment despite having diabetic complications
of some sort.
So right back to square one with no primary care
doctor or specialist under this temporary care thing, and since I was
denied medicaid and now have to appeal for a hearing and probably go to
court for that ( more on all that later ), I am at a loss.
With
the increasing possibility I have had a seronegative autoimmune
condition this entire time that was masked by the fibromyalgia, I really
need to get in to see a rheumatologist and hope the possible years of
it being missed haven't led to damage that could have been avoided if
all these doctors hadn't just settled for lab results when the clinical
symptoms were obvious and repeatedly questioned by me but brushed off by
them because the bloodwork didn't "match".
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