by Erik Setser

Created on: May 20, 2009   Last Updated: May 21, 2009

I'm one of those people who doesn't go to any sort of doctor unless it absolutely is an emergency, and even then, I'm reluctant to go to the emergency room. I fully understand that emergency rooms are understaffed and often over-run, but that's no excuse for some of the atrocities I've experienced and witnessed therein. Here, I'll share two such stories with you. One happened to me, the other to someone very close to me.

Coming up on three years ago (June 2006), I was beginning to develop this sharp pain in my side, right around my kidney. It was dull enough to cope, so under the assumption that it was a cramp, I opted to endure the ache. I took about four Tylenol a day and this helped me to maintain for a time. My job, though, required quite a bit of bending and leaning. Thus, the pain was aggravated on a regular basis. On the day that my medical benefits were scheduled to take effect, it became too much to bear. I couldn't lean across the table as I needed to do several times per hour. I started to think that perhaps I had kidney stones.

So, off I went to the nearest emergency room. The wait wasn't terribly long and the paperwork was bearable. Squirming a bit periodically, I was able to find an acceptably comfortable position in my chair. The only problem was that I did not yet have my insurance card, but it was effective. After a while, a nurse lead me back to a bed, wherein a doctor asked what the problem was, as usual.

I explained the pain in my side and added that I thought maybe it was kidney stones. Offering an idea was my biggest mistake. The mirror opposite of Gregory House, this guy took that as his free pass from the differential. After drawing some blood, they wheeled me off to get a CT scan of my abdomen. I should also note that about an hour and half passed between the blood withdrawal and the scan, with nobody even so much as acknowledging my presence in the room. I was tempted to get up and walk out, and looking back, I wish I had.

Inside the chamber, I laid as still as possible, which was remarkably so. In spite of this, they took four snapshots. I can understand doing this with the heart or the brain, as they're in constant motion (one physically, the other in the waves that appear on the screen), but this is the lower abdomen. You don't get much more organ movement down there than the colon milking waste towards the bowels. I thought it odd, but I didn't bother to say anything.

Another hour and half passed, and I was taken in for x-rays.

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