Don't EVER get sick

[Paul in NZ]

Warning - there is some serious VENTING here - and most of you know I love my wife more than life itself so girdle up and read on....


The wonderful Mr Zevon wrote

Don't let us get sick
Don't let us get old
Don't let us get stupid, all right?
Just make us be brave
And make us play nice
And let us be together tonight


Well - Vicki got sick and frankly, if it gets worse before 9am shes fucked!

Some of you know I'm a steady user of our health system (type 1 diabetic, recent cancer survivor etc etc) and I'm afraid anyone who has had regular contact with the public health system in Wellington will probably agree, unless its REALLY serious, your fucked!

Fortunately I work hard and can have insurance (ho ho, imagine what MY premiums are like)

But that does NOT help you at 9:20 on a monday night does it? Now living in Kapiti does have its good side but a crap afterhours medical service post 9:45 is just something you expect so - you tend to be a little self reliant...

Now lets paint in the background. We should have stayed for the classic club dinner on saturday but Vicki was feeling 'squiffy' so we headed home and she brightened up a bit.

Sundays was average but the weather ended up so nice and the famly called in for my sunday bean surprise and then we sat in the garden with the tuis and she felt 'better'...

Vicki was up with me at 5:45 and headed for work feeling better but under the weather... She got home early to 'rest' (rather unlike her)

I got home at 7pm and could see she was not well... Oh well, tuesdays her day off...

By 9pm shes in trouble so I start asking lots of medical questions - feeling sick, pain in the guts, dull ache moving to sharp blinding pain lower right side - hmm - you don't need to be a doctor to figure that out...

The medical centre has called last orders and reckons the best thing is to go straight to wellington hospital... So we do...

3 hours later we come home having discharged ourselves so we can die in comfort or at least get some fucking pain relief (told you we are prepared).

Um - I had to park the car (it was pissing down) so I dropped Vicki right at the door, propped her up, parked the car, she had collapsed inside and they had 2 staff taking details etc when I ran in...... After that - nothing. Not ONE person in that waiting room was seen in the 2 hours we waited. Not ONE! They told us an hour, they told the last person (a fucking loonie) 3 and there were still 3 people in front of us - there were children FFS... YES there were drunks crazies and dumb fat bastards as well but FFS.... There were at LEAST 4 kids in obvious distress apart from my wife.... (who would never take an appointment in front of a child)

Eventually, sick of being oggled by web surfing receptionists we discharged ourselves - the nurse said - hows her pain? (guess she had a glimmer of humanity left) I said, worse, thats why we are going home, she offered paracetamol, I said I had some codine in the car and the nurse said 'I'm very sorry sir' and I looked at her 100kg body and thought 'no your fucking not' .... You are just happy we are gone and your numbers look better...

PLEASE don't tell me the staff are great and it's the system that sucks - the staff ARE the system and frankly my beautiful lady could have died there and they wouldn't have blinked!

Still - I choked it back and did what Vicki wanted. Drove home in the storm and she is sleeping now - and I will stay up all night watching over her. If it gets really bad we will call an ambulance.... A FREE ambulance (that I donated a fucking shit load to when I needed them) and I'll hijack the fucking thing to take us ANYWHERE but wellington. Tomorrow we will go see our doc, get a referal and get some real treatment.

Look - I feel sorry for the accident and emergency folks - they have to deal with some real shitheads, half the people there were just in it for some free doctor shit but my wife fucking collapsed in front of them and all they gave her was a fucking clipboard - SORRY SIR??? Get fucked! Some cunts gunna fry for this - I'm seriously PISSED!!!

And people wonder why I have anger issues....

OUT

[SARGE]

Warning - there is some serious VENTING here - and most of you know I love my wife more than life itself so girdle up and read on....
**snip**
And people wonder why I have anger issues....

OUT

my inlaws have private insurance also..my mother in law needed a hip replacement recently and she was told she was looking at a long wait in a public hospital, so the went to the new Southern Cross hospital in Taurunga where she got extraordinary care.. even i was impressed at the attention she received... her doc even took a few minutes out of moving house on a Sunday to come see her..

the public health system in nz is fairly sad, agreed..

in the states..soon as you hit the door.. first question they ask is " do you have insurance?"

if the answer is yes.. you get treated like royalty..best docs.. the machine that goes *DING* etc.. insured people with a splinter queue jumping more serious injuries (see below)

if its no..(most of the people i know because its so expensive).. the only obligation the hospital has is to stabilize your condition.. they have the right to refuse treatment for minor injuries/ illnesses if you are not covered

i've seen Auckland Hospital used as a drunk tank.. taking up beds in the ER while people wait.. maybe the DHB's need a different Triage routine

[Number One]

Oh Paul I hope your lady is feeling a bit better by now. Wellington A&E sucks the big fat kumara. I arrived one day at 10am and didn't get seen until 3:30pm...and the whole time there was this jumped up little miss sitting in the waiting room to see a doctor because she had a sore throat!!! Sore my arse! She spent the whole time gas bagging on her fricken cell phone. It was all I could do to not tell her to shut the fuck up as it wouldn't be doing her 'sore throat' any good and I was soooo tempted to ram the fucking phone down her snotty little neck - freeloaders

I hope you have better luck today

[Edbear]

How is she now? I am very sorry to hear of your situation. Take it further! We have a new Minister of Health and the News media would love to hear of it!

It is a sad reflection on the staffing situation and the pressure the hospitals are under on weekends. Statistics are fine, but they need to understand that people suffer and die in situations like this. I've been there and survived more by good luck than anything else!

PLease tell us she's okay!

[Paul in NZ]

Crap night but waaay more comfy than those poxy seats at A & E. Pain managed easily with a couple of codines.

Folks at work are helping cover for some important stuff today - seems you can rely on everyone except your medical team (edit - GP is GREAT).

Will hit the docs at 8am and go for a direct admission or hopefully I'll just call a specialist and see if we can get into a real hospital. A & E is a pathetic joke, more a holding tank for the mentally ill and substance abusers - god help us all when we retire and can't afford insurance.

I'm genuinely shocked... Those adds re civil defence? Ha - baby you are on your own even before disaster strikes...

[Cajun]

That sucks Paul

Hope ever thing pans out today.

[henry]

Call an Ambulance. You'll go straight in. If you well enough to get yourself there then your well enough to sit around a bit.

[BOGAR]

Very sorry to hear all that and I also hope your lady is doing well. I hate to think that if it is this bad now; if we ever get an epidemic then we really are "up the creek". My sister is an A&E nurse (BUT not in wellington) and she usually tells me the best times to go and when not to. The stories she tells me sometimes is amazing, yes there are a lot of freeloaders with plenty of time on their hands making the whole system come to a standstill. And then there are the drunks…….
Fingers crossed for you mate.

[davereid]

Sorry to hear it Paul, I sincerely hope things are going to get better for you.

This mornings paper ( pg.2 of DOM POST) has a story that the new Minister Tony Ryall will be targeting hospital emergency room waiting times.

He said that according to research "as many people die as a result of hospital overcrowding and delays in treatment as in road crashes"

I personally am not holding my breath, I think the problem won't go away until the entire system is changed.

We fund health boards by giving them a stack of money, and saying "fix as many people as you can".

Then we are surprised when they pay themselves handsomely but don't actually deliver much care.

Imagine trying the same trick at your local garage - heres $1000,000 ; fix as many cars as you can, come back and beg if you run out of money.

The alternative is to give health providers a acceptable schedule of charges, and they get to invoice the health department AFTER they have provided your treatment.

And guess what - no work no money. The health boards will suddenly have to treat people, instead of guarding the money stash like bull dogs.

[JMemonic]

I am sorry you have had such a bad time but there are factors to consider, and no I am not trying to defend the hospitals system, globally there is a shortage of qualified nurses so staffing numbers are lower than desired in any hospital, this does not make the news as often as the global shortage of doctors, there is just not the staff so they have a triage system, arrival in an ambulance does not guarantee you will get attended first, being a child likewise, even going to a 24 hour doctors and getting referred to the emergency department does not, there just aren't the staff.

You think you get frustrated spare a thought for those who work in those professions, they do give a dam but their hands are tied by the systems in place, set up by the mangers to the health ministry's standards, I know its hard when you are in pain, or worse its your loved one's in pain but the folks behind the desk and the staff for the most part genuinely care.

You don't say how many ambulances arrived, or for that matter what status of gridlock the hospital was in, there are a load of factors that go into it, and this is not just Wellington hospital, all emergency departments have this problem, who in their right mind would want to do that job, abusive drunks, p addicts, mva victims etc to deal with everyday and sod all thanks from the media, government and public of this country. This is the attitude that make medical professionals give up and drive taxi's.

[vifferman]

Sorry to hear of your woes, Paul. I hope things work out for the best for you and Vicki.
Personally, I've found public healthcare a mixed bag. My father-in-law (now deceased) had very good care in the hospitals, probably as good as in Australia and Holland, but my mother had a real shit time of it. Despite the Gummint spending a mint on employing lots of extra bureaucrats in the health system (supposedly 2.5 bureaucrats for every patient), she would've died were it not for my sister recording everything that happened to her, all the treatment received, drugs administered, etc etc. She had major surgery, was discharged too soon, got a serious infection, and ended up spending a few DAYS in A&E because they couldn't find a bed for her in a ward. Meanwhile, A&E, Surgical and general staff couldn't anage to swap information betwee themselves. Maybe it was sitting in a pile on some drone's desk.

As for me, I was 'lucky' enough to come down with appendicitis some years ago. I went to the after hours A&E (not the one at the hospital), and the doctor um'd and aah'd about what was wrong, then gave me some very strong painkillers and sent me home. The fookin car trip each was was awful, only about 15 minutes, but I was in so much pain I threw up.
The next morning, I was still in pain, number by taking three tables AND some aspirin ever four hours. I found a doctor who would do house calls, and he decided (based on the pain) that I should be admitted. No way was I going to travel in the car again, so we rang St Johns (I was a member) and had a reasonably comfy trip up there. Unfortunately, the hospital staff were on strike the week I was there, so I ended up in a ward that was mixed orthopedic, geriatric and surgical patients. My appendix burst somewhere along the line. The operation was OK, but the aftercare was execrable, with interns playing at nurses, volunteers, miscommunication, etc. Examples: I hada drain stitched to my abdomen, that had to be gradually withdrawn so the wound could heal up and close behind it. The first nurse to attend to it didn't have her glasses and tried to pull it out without unstitching it. Another: an intern had this brillinat idea he could be Mr SuperEfficient by cutting corners. E.g., to save time, he put an antibiotic drip (straight from the freezer) in my arm, and put it on fast drip. My arm got cold, then numb, then excrutiatingly sore, so I asked my sister to turn it off. It was supposed to be in for four or five days, but it ossified after two, so they pulled it out. Didn't have time to put another one in.
Another example: No-one told me anything! I didn't realise I was supposed to move around, but luckily I was so dying for a piss that I got out of bed rather than use a bottle. All this 'crap' came out of the drain (which at that time I was unaware of being there) and all over the floor. Due to that, and the pain, I thought I'd come apart.
Another example: apart from the first drugged-up night, I was awake the whole time I was in hospital (5 nights). It was hellish.
I ended up discharging myself early, and had another week or 10 days of a nurse coming to visit me at home.
The 'best' bit: during the nurses strike, the Minister of Health (Shipley, IIRC), was also admitted to hospital. Private, of course.

Anyway, sorry to derail the thread - it just brought back all the shit.
I REALLY hope things turn out OK for you, Paul and Vicki.

[Swoop]

Very sorry to hear this Paul. I hope Vicky is attended to swiftly today.

Totally agree regarding the nurses as well. Having spent a short (as possible) amount of time with a sick relative at North Shore Horsepiddle, they are spending staggering amounts of time on computers there. Surely their bloody TradeMe auction has closed and they could consider attending to a patient?

[bungbung]

Hi Paul, I hope things are working out for Vicki and yourself this morning. Ola

[Fatjim]

I was just talking to my wife about this the other day and she didn't believe me. My daughter fell off the trampoline and we were discussing what would have happened if it had turned out worse. I said to call an ambulance, better to make a donation than piss around with A&E.

My son some years ago sprayed some sort of house cleaner in his eyes. We flushed them and I tore him into Palmerston A&E. Same thing as Wellington. He's possibly got some shit in his eyes that are damaging them and they do nothing. I was fucking close to bashing down the door and riping into the bitch behind the counter. In hindsight, I should have called an ambulance. BTW, he was fine in the end, the flushing did the job, but I aged several years in the process.

Oh, btw, I hope Vicki is fine.

[roy.nz]

Dont worry Paul i know how you feel.
I had my bike accident at round 7 in the morning got the ambo to NORTH SHORE hospital and got there round 7:30am. Now this is where the shit started, i got the good old clipboard, filled it out got wheeled into the emergency waiting room and then round 11am after nagging the nurse got wheeled to the x-ray department waited another hour there got wheeled back to the waiting room till bout 3pm was told the x-rays wheren't clear, back to the x-rays and got forgotten about for 2 hours, asked nurses and nobody knew i was even there. Got wheeled back to the waiting room and around 6 or 7 was told im gonna be spending the night and i should have a bed in 10 to 15 mins time, yeah right come 22:30 and i finally got a bed and was only offered pain relief then???? and the they told me at 12 the next day im booked for a cat scan, guess what that only happened at 2pm, then i was finally put into cast and told to come back in 2 weeks, made my appointment went back and nobody knew about me even though i confirmed the day before.
So yes the health system is slack, O when i did get the bed the ward was only 1/3 full.
Pretty sad system.