In The Emergency Room
I know we all know what goes on in an emergency room but writing about it makes easier for me to expel it from the loops of over-analysis that have seemed to plague me my whole life….so I’m gonna write about it here. 
Last weekend, my 14 year old son Simon was injured in a football game. He got hit hard right in the noggin while standing still by someone that was pretty much running at full speed, head down. He went in to make sure that his neck/head/back were ok just to make sure. The coach called (I couldn’t make it to that game that day) and I met them up at the ER. My son was shooken up but feeling better. The short of the story was we were there for 5 hours, got an initial x-ray and then a CAT Scan (CT). The entire time, he had to wear one of those collars until we got the final CT results before we could be cleared by the doctor and discharged. My son is all good now and while I was there to be with him and support him through this, the meat of the experience that evening was the human dynamic that passed through the ER while he and I sat there and waited for 5 hours next to the nurses station.
One of the interesting aspects of this is that while I wasn’t really shocked by much of what was going on around me, my son’s mind was blown by everything he was seeing as it all unfolded. I was reminded that the community we are currently raising him in is fairly uneventful when it comes to that gnarly side of life where people get seriously injured, die, get mugged, are on their death bed, etc. These are all fairly normal events in most cities but even when that stuff happens in my town, no one really hears about it much. I guess our town is just shy of Stepford in some ways, the opposite of what I grew up in. It was just interesting to to hear him describe what he just went through over the phone to his friends once he got home. He said it was the craziest thing he’s ever been through and wasn’t even talking about his own injury.
The Patients
I guess the only way to break down this experience is to methodically address each of the individual patient scenarios that came through there that night. I’ll do my best to not over-embellish what I saw without sacrificing the meaningful details. My son and I were against a wall, him laying on the gurney with his neck brace on, right next to the door where everyone enters the ER. Every time someone new came in, he and I would look over, almost feeling like we were in slow motion, making eye contact with every new patient that rolled in. Simon and I were the first “real people” (non-police, medical staff) that almost every patient made eye contact with when they first entered their final destination in the ER area. This was the place where they would be assessed and get the answers to alleviate the mystery of their current situation with answers from doctors. The ER is a strange place because everyone that enters is in shock, confused, or full of anxiety about everything they don’t know about either their own medical situation. The energy in there is always intense when someone enters, even if they end up being OK.
Patient #1: The Unseen
When we first got there and were waiting, one of the stations that was curtained off had a nurse and a couple doctors in it. They were trying to get information out of the patient, asking them repeatedly what their name was, do they have family close by, what are their phone numbers, etc. All you could hear were just mumbles through the curtain. By the tone of the patient’s voice, I could tell the burden of pure confusion was heavy. About 20 minutes later, a couple older guys showed that were probably in their mid to late 60′s. They were both really quiet average looking dudes. Their appearance was very plain. The nurses escorted them in to talk to this patient like they were relatives or immediate family. With the patient still unable to recognize what was going on, the odd thing is these two men went in there trying to connect with the patient verbally but they were extremely unemotional, unconcerned, almost as if they’ve either been through this before with this person. They almost looked like they weren’t even sure why they themselves were there. The surrounding nurses kept looking at each other and using body language with each other that led you to believe they were questioning the role of these men in this patient’s life, whether this was a healthy/sane situation or not. The men eventually left and they carted off this patient to another room. That whole thing was sort of a mysterious shroud leaving the nursing staff and doctors all feeling kind of awkward and unresolved about the whole thing while they were trying to do their jobs.
Patient #2: The Old Lady
When people are rolled into the ER they are assigned to a larger station with curtains that can be pulled if they are in a more severe or serious state. An older lady was rolled in, moaning in pain. She was probably in her 70′s. I think she had some condition of some sort that was part of her normal routine medical history. They pulled the curtains quickly around her but the way Simon and I were positioned in there, we could see through the corner crack of the curtains. We caught a glimpse of the main doctor that evening inserting a tube through a hole in her stomach and draining something. We couldn’t tell if it was a colostomy entry hole or what but there some blood and the woman was moaning louder as the doctor helped drain it. I look over at my son and I can tell he’s wondering what the hell planet we are on. It was surreal for me to watch him process this while we are in there. They pulled out the tube after about 10 mins, patched her up and moved her to another room, cleaned up the area and then some quiet for a couple minutes.
Patient #3: The Criminal
This by far was the most interesting (and journalistically appealing) highlight of the evening, and the patient that stuck in our minds the most, partly because of the extreme nature of the situation and also because this guy actually interacted with me and Simon personally while we were in there. This guy rolled when while I was in the waiting room and Simon’s mom was in there with him visiting so I missed the initial entrance. When I came back into the room this guy was about 6-8 away from us, handcuffed to both sides of his gurney, two cops standing there accomodating him.
This guy had obviously had an altercation with the police. The whole right side of his face was covered in dried blood and he had a goose egg the size of a golf ball above his right eye. Apparently he had to be apprehended with a tazer before even arriving so chances are this dude wasn’t in this situation for the first time in his life. Simon and I got to observe his venting out loud about the cops right to their faces and then he’d look over at Simon and I and vent more.
The moment that was the most colorful was when they wheeled him out for his toxicology tests, CAT scan and other x-rays. He was rolling right by Simon and I, and looking directly at us. He started saying stuff like, “Fuck the Hayward police…yeah they did this to me (pointing at the cops in the room), I hope my skull is all fucked up so I can sue their asses. I’m gonna drive outta here in a fucking Mercedes.” He was talking directly to Simon and I, making hand gestures that rattled his handcuffs aggressively making some commotion and kind of adding some extra intensity to that environment. Simon handled himself great dealing with this new situation.
Patient #4: The Heart Rate
The final patient we observed of the evening was pretty intense. This couple came in and the guy was all stressed out. The woman had this kind of dazed look on her face. Apparently her heart rate was high and she was feeling bizarre. They both looked healthy and couldn’t have been older than late 30′s. Both were clean cut, normal looking people. It was intense because they took her inital pulse and apparently it was gnarly enough for the nurse to go get an MD and two other nurses right away. All of a sudden they rushed to pull the curtain closed. Because of our location in the room as mentioned above, we could still see what was going on. Within minutes they had this woman hooked up to all kinda of scanners, sensors, and other equipment. All of a sudden half of the machines she was hooked up to started beeping loudly, signaling warnings that something was really wrong. Simon was feeling some anxiety from this right away and could tell it was bad. I could see the patients face through the curtain and she was terrified, but almost catatonic in her verbal responses to the doctors. I felt really bad for her as I could see the fear in her eyes, not knowing what the hell was going on with her body. We ended up getting discharged before that patient was done being dealt with so we weren’t around to see what happened or hear about the diagnosis. That was pretty intense to witness.
A Long Evening
It was a long evening and Simon was fine health-wise, diagnosed with a mild cervical sprain. We both had a new appreciation for our situation in there after witnessing the others. The In-N-Out burger after all that hit the spot late that evening.
I’m glad we went through it though. A little perspective for a teenager is never a bad thing.
5 Hrs, The ER, And All I Got Was This Life Experience
In The Emergency Room
I know we all know what goes on in an emergency room but writing about it makes easier for me to expel it from the loops of over-analysis that have seemed to plague me my whole life….so I’m gonna write about it here.
Last weekend, my 14 year old son Simon was injured in a football game. He got hit hard right in the noggin while standing still by someone that was pretty much running at full speed, head down. He went in to make sure that his neck/head/back were ok just to make sure. The coach called (I couldn’t make it to that game that day) and I met them up at the ER. My son was shooken up but feeling better. The short of the story was we were there for 5 hours, got an initial x-ray and then a CAT Scan (CT). The entire time, he had to wear one of those collars until we got the final CT results before we could be cleared by the doctor and discharged. My son is all good now and while I was there to be with him and support him through this, the meat of the experience that evening was the human dynamic that passed through the ER while he and I sat there and waited for 5 hours next to the nurses station.
One of the interesting aspects of this is that while I wasn’t really shocked by much of what was going on around me, my son’s mind was blown by everything he was seeing as it all unfolded. I was reminded that the community we are currently raising him in is fairly uneventful when it comes to that gnarly side of life where people get seriously injured, die, get mugged, are on their death bed, etc. These are all fairly normal events in most cities but even when that stuff happens in my town, no one really hears about it much. I guess our town is just shy of Stepford in some ways, the opposite of what I grew up in. It was just interesting to to hear him describe what he just went through over the phone to his friends once he got home. He said it was the craziest thing he’s ever been through and wasn’t even talking about his own injury.
The Patients
I guess the only way to break down this experience is to methodically address each of the individual patient scenarios that came through there that night. I’ll do my best to not over-embellish what I saw without sacrificing the meaningful details. My son and I were against a wall, him laying on the gurney with his neck brace on, right next to the door where everyone enters the ER. Every time someone new came in, he and I would look over, almost feeling like we were in slow motion, making eye contact with every new patient that rolled in. Simon and I were the first “real people” (non-police, medical staff) that almost every patient made eye contact with when they first entered their final destination in the ER area. This was the place where they would be assessed and get the answers to alleviate the mystery of their current situation with answers from doctors. The ER is a strange place because everyone that enters is in shock, confused, or full of anxiety about everything they don’t know about either their own medical situation. The energy in there is always intense when someone enters, even if they end up being OK.
Patient #1: The Unseen
When we first got there and were waiting, one of the stations that was curtained off had a nurse and a couple doctors in it. They were trying to get information out of the patient, asking them repeatedly what their name was, do they have family close by, what are their phone numbers, etc. All you could hear were just mumbles through the curtain. By the tone of the patient’s voice, I could tell the burden of pure confusion was heavy. About 20 minutes later, a couple older guys showed that were probably in their mid to late 60′s. They were both really quiet average looking dudes. Their appearance was very plain. The nurses escorted them in to talk to this patient like they were relatives or immediate family. With the patient still unable to recognize what was going on, the odd thing is these two men went in there trying to connect with the patient verbally but they were extremely unemotional, unconcerned, almost as if they’ve either been through this before with this person. They almost looked like they weren’t even sure why they themselves were there. The surrounding nurses kept looking at each other and using body language with each other that led you to believe they were questioning the role of these men in this patient’s life, whether this was a healthy/sane situation or not. The men eventually left and they carted off this patient to another room. That whole thing was sort of a mysterious shroud leaving the nursing staff and doctors all feeling kind of awkward and unresolved about the whole thing while they were trying to do their jobs.
Patient #2: The Old Lady
When people are rolled into the ER they are assigned to a larger station with curtains that can be pulled if they are in a more severe or serious state. An older lady was rolled in, moaning in pain. She was probably in her 70′s. I think she had some condition of some sort that was part of her normal routine medical history. They pulled the curtains quickly around her but the way Simon and I were positioned in there, we could see through the corner crack of the curtains. We caught a glimpse of the main doctor that evening inserting a tube through a hole in her stomach and draining something. We couldn’t tell if it was a colostomy entry hole or what but there some blood and the woman was moaning louder as the doctor helped drain it. I look over at my son and I can tell he’s wondering what the hell planet we are on. It was surreal for me to watch him process this while we are in there. They pulled out the tube after about 10 mins, patched her up and moved her to another room, cleaned up the area and then some quiet for a couple minutes.
Patient #3: The Criminal
This by far was the most interesting (and journalistically appealing) highlight of the evening, and the patient that stuck in our minds the most, partly because of the extreme nature of the situation and also because this guy actually interacted with me and Simon personally while we were in there. This guy rolled when while I was in the waiting room and Simon’s mom was in there with him visiting so I missed the initial entrance. When I came back into the room this guy was about 6-8 away from us, handcuffed to both sides of his gurney, two cops standing there accomodating him.
This guy had obviously had an altercation with the police. The whole right side of his face was covered in dried blood and he had a goose egg the size of a golf ball above his right eye. Apparently he had to be apprehended with a tazer before even arriving so chances are this dude wasn’t in this situation for the first time in his life. Simon and I got to observe his venting out loud about the cops right to their faces and then he’d look over at Simon and I and vent more.
The moment that was the most colorful was when they wheeled him out for his toxicology tests, CAT scan and other x-rays. He was rolling right by Simon and I, and looking directly at us. He started saying stuff like, “Fuck the Hayward police…yeah they did this to me (pointing at the cops in the room), I hope my skull is all fucked up so I can sue their asses. I’m gonna drive outta here in a fucking Mercedes.” He was talking directly to Simon and I, making hand gestures that rattled his handcuffs aggressively making some commotion and kind of adding some extra intensity to that environment. Simon handled himself great dealing with this new situation.
Patient #4: The Heart Rate
The final patient we observed of the evening was pretty intense. This couple came in and the guy was all stressed out. The woman had this kind of dazed look on her face. Apparently her heart rate was high and she was feeling bizarre. They both looked healthy and couldn’t have been older than late 30′s. Both were clean cut, normal looking people. It was intense because they took her inital pulse and apparently it was gnarly enough for the nurse to go get an MD and two other nurses right away. All of a sudden they rushed to pull the curtain closed. Because of our location in the room as mentioned above, we could still see what was going on. Within minutes they had this woman hooked up to all kinda of scanners, sensors, and other equipment. All of a sudden half of the machines she was hooked up to started beeping loudly, signaling warnings that something was really wrong. Simon was feeling some anxiety from this right away and could tell it was bad. I could see the patients face through the curtain and she was terrified, but almost catatonic in her verbal responses to the doctors. I felt really bad for her as I could see the fear in her eyes, not knowing what the hell was going on with her body. We ended up getting discharged before that patient was done being dealt with so we weren’t around to see what happened or hear about the diagnosis. That was pretty intense to witness.
A Long Evening
It was a long evening and Simon was fine health-wise, diagnosed with a mild cervical sprain. We both had a new appreciation for our situation in there after witnessing the others. The In-N-Out burger after all that hit the spot late that evening.
I’m glad we went through it though. A little perspective for a teenager is never a bad thing.