Medical Care

Since 2020 there’s been a lot of talk about the service industry slowing down, stores and restaurants not being as focused on customer service, a seeming lack of care about repeat customers and so on. Well, for me, this summer has been eye opening with regard to the health care system. I wondered at first if it was just my doctor, or my set of symptoms that maybe seemed bothersome to all of the many persons I interacted with during a prolonged illness in July. I sent messages on the portal like a “good patient.” I sent follow up messages because I assumed my doctor was busy and we’d all heard about the understaffing at medical centers so each day I dutifully sent in my latest bad night of sleep, the spiking fevers, constant chills and sweats along with a failing urge to eat, and overall fatigue. Each day I got progressively worse and much sicker. I finally gave in to my daughter’s request that I seek medical attention and went to a local walk-in in August. They took one look at my UA and told me they couldn’t help me and to get to the ER as quickly as possible. We went down the street to the newly built hospital and proceeded to wait until well after midnight, to be given Cipro and sent home. For the rest of the summer the fatigue remained, other symptoms popped up and were dismissed as “leftovers” from the illness… Until this past Tuesday morning at 2:00 AM when roused from sleep with shivers and body aches that sent pain waves all through me. The symptoms from July sprang to mind…I was not going through that again. The vomiting began shortly after wakening and I knew what I had to do despite feeling so bad..I had been out of town for a three day workshop on prolonged Exposure and was excited by the first day’s information and had booked a room for two nights. I restfully slept for the next few hours, showered, and headed back toward home but went straight past the first hospital for another 27 miles and drove to a local hospital in Waterville, which for now, will remain nameless. I was immediately ushered into the back of the ED and they began right away to treat my reported symptoms. When the doc said he was concerned and wanted to hospitalize me, based on the body samples taken, I agreed. I remained in the hospital until Friday afternoon. During that time a “war” raged inside me as the chills, fever, body and head aches fought the infection. My numbers looked bad and the doc raised the antibiotic and punched through to begin bringing the infection under control. I had an elderly roommate who required a lot of nursing staff throughout the night as her TV blared leaving me with little sleep. After the 2nd night of no sleep, (Keep in mind my last good night of sleep had been Sunday evening before leaving for the workshop) they moved me to a private room. That evening a CNA came on shift and told me that when she had seen me trying to sleep with a mask covering my eyes,(A Nurse had brought it in when I asked if they had sleep masks as I knew my roommate needed the TV on and the volume raised so she could sleep and the mask was all they had) she told me she knew right then I needed to be moved and thus began the discussion that next morning, resulting in my moving later that evening. This doctor was thorough. I will always be convinced that the first ER I had visited back in July was negligent in their treatment of me and they should have hospitalized me then, started me on an IV antibiotic and THEN sent me home with Cipro and then connected me with my PCP as a follow-up to hospitalization like this last hospital did. I don’t believe I ever fully recovered from the first infection and it festered all summer explaining the lack of energy, lack of motivation, continued state of stress, and ongoing physical symptoms that plagued me all summer…My faith has not been fully restored as I do not know if this illness is totally gone, but a small hospital in Waterville, Maine has brought back my belief in THEIR customer service and treatment of people when feeling their worst and that is a good thing…