Being sick in London
I knew I was sick before we left. Yet I still insisted on staying out every night. On not sleeping for days at a time. On not eating much. And generally not taking care of myself.
So when we got back to London I figured it was only a matter of time before I had to do the dreaded: take a visit to the doctors office. I wanted to wait until my friend from Chicago left so I wouldn't make her sit in the doctors office waiting for me. So when we were rushing to the airport to get her on her flight home, I was already planning my trip to get this whole ugly cold taken care of. But then she missed her flight and so much was happening and I was rushing and tired and generally feeling ill. Then I started to feel dizzy and I knew I had put off the doctors office too long. But by then it was 8pm. So I took Aly with me and went to the Emergency Room at Northwick Park Hospital.
The doctor I saw was nearly incompetent. I went in feeling sick and weak. He just smiled and said it really wasn't that bad. And he kept SMILING. It is so irritating when you can barely breathe and theres a constant ringing in your ears and pressure in your head and the damn doctor SMILINGLY reassures you that you SIMPLY have a respiratory infection (or as he put - "you're sick *right here*" pointing to his chest). As icing on the cake, he tells me if I want to relieve the pressure in my ears I should hold my nose closed and blow. I explained that I thought that was unhealthy for my ears. To which he replied (I am not kidding) "No no, you can blow them out 100 times a day, its fine." He gave me some amoxycillin and sudafed and told me to take them with aspirin, and sent me on my way.
As I walked to the exit, I tried to blow the pressure out of my ears. Immediately I nearly fainted. I lost my balance, got very dizzy and fell into a wheelchair that was parked in the hallway. As I sat there trying to focus on the spinning room, my belongings scattered at my feet, no less than FIVE nurses walked right past me. FIVE. Not one asked if I was ok, if I needed a doctor, if I at LEAST needed help picking up my stuff. I remember thinking "I'm dying. In a hospital. And no one is going to help me." I couldn't hear out of my right ear, my head felt like it was going to explode and it felt like my eyes were spinning around in their sockets. I was extremely dizzy. Finally an older female nurse came up to me. I was so grateful. But then she said "Is that your bag. You can't leave it in the middle of the floor like that."
I went crazy in my head. I was so outraged. I just yelled "I need a doctor. I am going to throw up, I can't walk. I need a doctor NOW." So she got another nurse to wheel me back the the emergency room. 20 minutes later the same doctor who I had seen earlier came in. SMILING. "Oh look," he said, "it's you again. I treated you before!" I explained to him that I followed his instructions and nearly passed out. And he replied "well, maybe you shouldn't do that anymore." No shit sherlock! Dumbass doctor. It turns out in attempting to depressurize, I had forced "catarhh" into my inner ear, and into the region of my ear and that controls balance and orientation. He therefore diagnosed me with acute vertigo, gave me anti-dizzy medication and snet me home. I couldn't actually move for about 15 more minutes and the cab ride home was true torture. I have never felt so miserable. I honestly wished I could have just knock myself unconscious.
I am now recovering. I have been in bed for 2 days now. I left the house for the first time in days today - to go to class and make sure I can extend my final submission until next week and see everyone elses final submissions. This sickness really came at the worst time, when Ihad the most important work and when the semester was ending.
But one thing is for DAMN sure, I will do my best never to get life-threateningly ill in London. I feel lucky to have made it out of the hospital with just an infection. I cant even imagine anything worse. I would rather fly home.
So when we got back to London I figured it was only a matter of time before I had to do the dreaded: take a visit to the doctors office. I wanted to wait until my friend from Chicago left so I wouldn't make her sit in the doctors office waiting for me. So when we were rushing to the airport to get her on her flight home, I was already planning my trip to get this whole ugly cold taken care of. But then she missed her flight and so much was happening and I was rushing and tired and generally feeling ill. Then I started to feel dizzy and I knew I had put off the doctors office too long. But by then it was 8pm. So I took Aly with me and went to the Emergency Room at Northwick Park Hospital.
The doctor I saw was nearly incompetent. I went in feeling sick and weak. He just smiled and said it really wasn't that bad. And he kept SMILING. It is so irritating when you can barely breathe and theres a constant ringing in your ears and pressure in your head and the damn doctor SMILINGLY reassures you that you SIMPLY have a respiratory infection (or as he put - "you're sick *right here*" pointing to his chest). As icing on the cake, he tells me if I want to relieve the pressure in my ears I should hold my nose closed and blow. I explained that I thought that was unhealthy for my ears. To which he replied (I am not kidding) "No no, you can blow them out 100 times a day, its fine." He gave me some amoxycillin and sudafed and told me to take them with aspirin, and sent me on my way.
As I walked to the exit, I tried to blow the pressure out of my ears. Immediately I nearly fainted. I lost my balance, got very dizzy and fell into a wheelchair that was parked in the hallway. As I sat there trying to focus on the spinning room, my belongings scattered at my feet, no less than FIVE nurses walked right past me. FIVE. Not one asked if I was ok, if I needed a doctor, if I at LEAST needed help picking up my stuff. I remember thinking "I'm dying. In a hospital. And no one is going to help me." I couldn't hear out of my right ear, my head felt like it was going to explode and it felt like my eyes were spinning around in their sockets. I was extremely dizzy. Finally an older female nurse came up to me. I was so grateful. But then she said "Is that your bag. You can't leave it in the middle of the floor like that."
I went crazy in my head. I was so outraged. I just yelled "I need a doctor. I am going to throw up, I can't walk. I need a doctor NOW." So she got another nurse to wheel me back the the emergency room. 20 minutes later the same doctor who I had seen earlier came in. SMILING. "Oh look," he said, "it's you again. I treated you before!" I explained to him that I followed his instructions and nearly passed out. And he replied "well, maybe you shouldn't do that anymore." No shit sherlock! Dumbass doctor. It turns out in attempting to depressurize, I had forced "catarhh" into my inner ear, and into the region of my ear and that controls balance and orientation. He therefore diagnosed me with acute vertigo, gave me anti-dizzy medication and snet me home. I couldn't actually move for about 15 more minutes and the cab ride home was true torture. I have never felt so miserable. I honestly wished I could have just knock myself unconscious.
I am now recovering. I have been in bed for 2 days now. I left the house for the first time in days today - to go to class and make sure I can extend my final submission until next week and see everyone elses final submissions. This sickness really came at the worst time, when Ihad the most important work and when the semester was ending.
But one thing is for DAMN sure, I will do my best never to get life-threateningly ill in London. I feel lucky to have made it out of the hospital with just an infection. I cant even imagine anything worse. I would rather fly home.
i hate hospitals...
elementary dr stupids... they only know how to treat three ailments and they have no clue how to cure common cold...
Posted by
Sh'shank |
1:34 AM
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