Painkillers Morphing Into Something Else
California, Hospital, Nurses, Stupid, USA | Healthy | May 21, 2019
(During an annual summer trip to California, I start having abdominal pains. My dad brings me to a local clinic, and from there I get directed to the ER because of possible appendicitis. Once there, they hook me up to an IV. I’m a little paranoid around needles, so I ask them what exactly they’re putting in the IV. I also happen to have a fear of inebriation, as well as a fear of being forcibly injected with addictive drugs.)
Nurse: “Saline fluids and some morphine.”
Me: “Morphine? Why morphine?”
Nurse: “You said you were in pain.”
Me: “I am, but I don’t think it’s extreme enough to justify morphine!”
Nurse: “Okay, we can take the morphine out. You’re sure you don’t need any painkillers?”
Me: “I mean, some painkillers would be nice, but not something that extreme.”
Nurse: “Well, we can give you the morphine if you want.”
Me: “No morphine!”
Nurse: “So, you don’t need painkillers?”
(This conversation repeats a few times before I eventually tell her I don’t need painkillers and let her hook me up to the saline fluids. Some time passes, and eventually, another nurse comes to check on me.)
Nurse
#2 : “And have you had any painkillers?”
Me: “Well, they kept offering me morphine, but I didn’t want that. It seems a little extreme.”
Nurse
#2 : “Wait, so, no one offered you any Tylenol?”
Me: “No!”
(The second nurse brought me some Tylenol, and that did seem to help, but I will forever be confused about the first nurse who seemed to think that morphine was the only painkiller in existence.)
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Pregnant With An Angry Appendix
Hospital, Ignoring & Inattentive, Lazy/Unhelpful, Missouri, Nurses, USA | Healthy | May 21, 2019
(I am 19 years old and I’ve been experiencing intense pain and vomiting bile all night. I go to urgent care and am diagnosed with appendicitis and given pain meds before being transported to the hospital around 11:00 am.)
ER Nurse: “We need to give you an MRI. Take this pregnancy test, and then we can figure out what’s going on.”
Mom: “She has already been diagnosed with appendicitis at urgent care; they called and we are here for treatment.”
ER Nurse: “Well, they can only diagnose, not treat, so we need you to take the tests.”
Mom: “She will not take the tests again. You need to look in your files and find the test results they sent over.”
(I ended up going into surgery at almost 10:00 pm after being in even worse pain all day, with no meds because I wasn’t in a room but in the waiting room. I was released at 9:00 am the next day, went septic that night, and spent another three days in the hospital. We later learned that my appendix had ruptured while I was waiting and they still sent me home.)