A positive and Negative experience with Forrest General.

[mi_nombre_es]

My wife made me go to the hospital yesterday because I had some food stuck at the bottom of my espoaghus (can't spell sry). I could breathe and all, but couldn't hold down any liquids, or any other food. I have had this problem before but not as bad as it was yesterday. When I was born I was diagnosed with a blockage between my esp. and stomach that prevented ANYTHING from getting into my stomach. I was afraid it was coming back and figured i'd be macho and ignore it the past several years. Anyways, So the piece of a sandwich gets stuck at 1pm sunday and my wife finally forces me to go to Immediate care around 7pm. From there, they sent me straight to FGH. When I got there, the lady up front was nice and all but she needs to find something other than "are you here to see a doctor?"......no i'm here for the awesome food.....yes i am here to see a doctor. soo we go thru the whole process. Then we get to the waitting room, and we waitted until around 11pm to be seen. Finally get seen by a Dr. Miles. He seemed like a nice guy and a good doctor. Him and Dr. Bushar (from immediate care) confirmed what I figured was going on, an Espoaghusal Stricture. This is where the bottom of the esp. that connects into the stomach narrows which allows for food and liquid to have diffculty going down and they can get caught preventing other food and liquid from going into the stomach or can just slow drain into the stomach. Thru all this i'm just as goofy and mentally active as normal, I can breathe fine. Well Dr. Miles gives me an IV and some medicine, that didn't work. Gave me a glass of water and since some of it went down (even though that little bit went down VERY hard and almost came back up), he figured I'd be ok to wait a week before I could get in to see a GI for an Endoscope-something (run the tube down your throat to see what is going on). So I get home, and try to do as he says, drink lots of water and other liquids, like slimfast. HA. I was right back up there within an hour, absolutely nothing was going down. So he finally got ahold of the GI doc and setup the scope for monday morning and kept me hooked up to IV overnight to make sure I don't get de-haydrated. The GI team was awesome, very friendly and very professional. But I guess to sum it up:


*Positive: The RNs and some of the doctors were awesome even though they were super busy. if any MHers work for FGH, my prayers are with you. That is a hard but rewarding place to work for and I appreciate the job that ya'll do.

*Negative: I don't understand why you'd send a patient home if they can't hold down liquids or food. Maybe it is because I am not in the medicial field, but I see that as super dangerous. It could lead to De-hyradatration (can't spell sry) and a host of other problems; I also do not appreciate the billing people in the ER, they are VERY pushy (Why not do the pay now!? if we take that $100 up front, you only owe .......). Sry Maybe it is just me, but if I am not feeling well, I don't give a damn about being pushed around about damn money. And if I decline something, don't keep on, because that is only gonna piss me off more.

[eyescene]

*Negative: I don't understand why you'd send a patient home if they can't hold down liquids or food. Maybe it is because I am not in the medicial field, but I see that as super dangerous. It could lead to De-hyradatration (can't spell sry) and a host of other problems;

An over night stay in the hospital is regulated by your insurance...and/or physical emergency.

Glad you are OK though. Are things back to norm?

[mi_nombre_es]

Thanks. yes, after they finally got me into see the Endo-something doctor, they scoped me, found it was the stricture coming back. they opened it back up and gonna do it again in 2 weeks (a more effective opening), so for now it is a liquid and soft food diet! no more fried stuff :cry:

[eyescene]

oh boy that sucks, no pun intended!!!

[mi_nombre_es]

oh boy that sucks, no pun intended!!!


:laugh:

[XC9]

Wesley called my room the day after surgery when I was still on demerol and wanted me to sign paper about paying the bill off in full. I was not released for 3 days after that call. I was to business like and informed the lady I was on medication and shouldn't sign anything. After being released I realized I should have signed the papers and then made them pay the bill for having me sign something under the influence of narcotics. I am just to DANG honest. I have insurance too, I would think that money should have at least been assurance enough they would get the largest amount of the bill paid. They are like vulchers. Yes, I do understand that I need to pay all of my hospital bills so that others can go by ambulance for a tooth ache who don't have to pay anything to anybody. Yes, it is VERY irritating to be bothered about a bill when you are ill.

[mike_honcho]

*Negative: I don't understand why you'd send a patient home if they can't hold down liquids or food. Maybe it is because I am not in the medicial field, but I see that as super dangerous. It could lead to De-hyradatration (can't spell sry) and a host of other problems;
your still alive so they must know what they are doing.
glad your ok.

[wilebill]

Have you tried Draino yet?

Here's my experience with the GI people:

Them: "Okay, this is going to feel funny"

Me: "No, f**k, it's not funny cause I'm not f**king laughing!"

[jmb]

My wife made me go to the hospital yesterday because... Doesn't that sound just like a man? :)



mi_nombre...glad you got it taken care of. Do they know what causes the stricture?

[bpitt]

Tried a plunger? Hope you do well.

[Honey]

I hope you feel better soon.

[eyescene]

When I worked gastro. I just loved threading a water hose down folks's throats!! Can you swallow now? no? lets do it again....gotta stretch that esophagus a wee bit bigger. Can you swallow now? :kekeke: :laugh:

[pooker]

The only negative experience I had was the price, next time I get a broken hand I am sawing that thing off.

[mi_nombre_es]

Doesn't that sound just like a man? :)



mi_nombre...glad you got it taken care of. Do they know what causes the stricture?


Thanks =) They have no idea, they thought it was acid reflux since i'm a nice big boy but there wasn't any more acid damage than normal. They believe it is just what I had at birth trying to come back. I don't understand any of this lol.

[eyescene]

ummmmmmmmm sorry!

[Remington]

Wesley called my room the day after surgery when I was still on demerol and wanted me to sign paper about paying the bill off in full. I was not released for 3 days after that call. I was to business like and informed the lady I was on medication and shouldn't sign anything. After being released I realized I should have signed the papers and then made them pay the bill for having me sign something under the influence of narcotics. I am just to DANG honest. I have insurance too, I would think that money should have at least been assurance enough they would get the largest amount of the bill paid. They are like vulchers. Yes, I do understand that I need to pay all of my hospital bills so that others can go by ambulance for a tooth ache who don't have to pay anything to anybody. Yes, it is VERY irritating to be bothered about a bill when you are ill.

I had a similar experience at Wesley. Well, it was a couple of days after my surgery. They came by the room and I was half under it. So I asked them to come back the next day to take care of it. I had someone there the next day to take care of that business for me while I half listened and half slept. But I ended up saving a substantial amount because of being able to pay my part up front. If you can pay the full amount that you owe up front, then they give you a pretty good discount. Insurance paid for most of mine but I still had to pay my share and getting someone to take care of it for me helped me out. But they did wait until the next day like I requested and were helpful.

I hated being in the hospital, but have no complaints whatsoever about how I was treated at Wesley. They treated me real good and wishing I could get a phone number to one particular nurse I had one day! ;)

[Kddn]

Last time I was at the emergency room with one of my kids we went to leave and they stopped us on the way out to pay our co-pay...I had no purse with me and explained that to them at which time I got a response of "yea, we hear that alot" At which time I placed both hands on her desk, leaned over and explained that "my daughter came over here having seizures, we were kinda in a hurry, do you think I gave a damn about grabbing my purse!?!"