ER on Television vs ER in Real Life

It all began on a beautiful fall afternoon. My Sweetie had just awaken from his nap and was getting ready to help me move some plants.

Suddenly he experienced extreme vertigo. It was worse when he laid down. Then when he tried to sit up, he would lose his balance.

Against his protestations, I called 911. I learned my lesson the hard way in 1994. I was not going to experience that again.

By the time I drove to the hospital, parked, and wended my way through the labyrinth to the ER, he was in a bed and had had blood drawn. But he was also shaking uncontrollably.

Then there was the interminable wait until the lab work was done. Yep, just like on ER, waiting for lab results takes forever. Then and only then was he given fluids and medications.

Also the ER nurses do indeed keep the show going, whether on TV or in real life. The Doc had told us that all the tests came back fine so he would give him a prescription for meclizine. He also explained that it could have been a result of being dehydrated or getting older. It appears another blessing of aging is that one's ears become out of sync which causes vertigo. This can be corrected by retraining your brain to ignore your ears by using vestibular habituation exercises. Eventually the brain just says, "Fine, so this is what normal feels like."

He tells us to give him 15 minutes to write the scrip and finish the chart and then the nurse will come in to discharge my Sweetie. After about 30 minutes I go looking for Danielle, our angel. She has not received anything from the doctor and indeed, he still has my Sweetie's chart. Within moments she is in with the paperwork and proceeds to disconnect him from all the leads.

I ask her if she watched ER. With a big smile, she says, "I loved that show."

And just like on ER, we had the "regular" next to us. Not the Icicle Man but one my Sweetie dubbed Mike the Motormouth. OMG, he would not shut up. Danielle told us that she had had him five or six times since May. I remarked, "I don't know how you do it. I would want to shoot him." And then there was the one on a gurney parked next to the information desk who kept yelling, "Someone help me."

I prefer watching ER.