Lately, it appears I only watch sports from the bed in a hospital room

I was referred to the ER today for testing due to chest discomfort and shortness of breath, again. My 3td ER visit since early Nov 2024.  My first revealed cardiac tamponade followed by a 6-day hospital stay to drain fluid from around my heart.  My second visit took so long, that I started to feel better after 5 hours of waiting to be seen beyond vital signs every hour, Consequently, I left them know I was feeling better, was leaving, and did so.  Today, after vital signs, an EKG, two blood tests 2 hours apart without different results, I was ushered to the Emergency Department room 46.  The very polite ER DR commented on my MBC diagnosis, the lack of significant EKG & lab results and he was about to send me home, when he noticed my shortness of breath after walking from the bathroom down the hallway to meet my room.  He said, "The tests are not revealing anything of significance, but if a walk from the bathroom leaves you this breathless, you have won a CT scan."  The CT Transport wasn't arriving after 30 minutes or so, so the polite MD wheeled me via gurney to the CT scan by himself.  By doing so, he turned a few heads of techs and staff.  He said he has done this on occasion, and it reminded him of his tech days years ago. He spoke a bit of his busy day.  He had not seen many patients, but the ones he treated were very ill.  (Note: this was not a comment to imply that my concerns were any less worthy of his time. I think he just needed a break from the demands of the Emergency Department for a few moments.)

When the CT scan did not reveal a blood clot, spit spot, I was discharged. No new information, just paperwork to take to my follow up visit.  My chest continues to express mild discomfort in the area of my left breast (what was once a breast, now a mound of tissue.)  No apparent reason or continued concern as to why it is uncomfortable.  Perhaps it is a new baseline.

The Emergency room provides some interesting people watching experiences.  I was in the waiting area between vitals and blood draws.  Folks came and went but mostly we all waited for our turn.  One woman, I would say age 75-80, appeared seated in a hospital wheelchair, was asked by the tech to take her vital signs.  She grabbed the blood pressure cuff from the hand of the tech and flung it behind him while she shouted that she "refused!".  It was the last place she wanted to be, and she wanted to "leave now!" She spent the next 90 minutes calling from her cell phone to demand a ride home, and to file a complaint against the hospital for preventing her from access to the exit.  She called the bus company, the para-transit company, the Spokane Police, and a few other persons, demanding a ride home "immediately", and threatened to reach out to her lawyer in protest.

With her cell phone on speaker, the conversation was loud enough and distinct enough to clearly understand most of the conversation without any effort.  It was also pretty clear that the nursing staff had encountered her before, and we not inclined to push her to the exit door without a plan for a return home.  The woman appeared mostly agitated, with moments of gentility when someone prompted her for the name of the hospital and the ER address that she could not recall.  After about 2 1/2 hours of calls, prompts, and re-directing a handful of persons willing to wheel her to the exit, her transportation arrived.  Another issue ensued when she claimed that the hospital removed her motorized wheelchair, and she would be taking the ER wheelchair home in its place.  Most of that conversation, I did not hear, as she had been wheeled to the exit.  

Before that, a man dressed in much too large jeans was connected to an IV pole, which he held with one hand, and with the other hand he constantly adjusted the waist of his large blue jeans that kept sliding toward his mid-thigh, A person seated near me was moaning.  I asked what was bothering her.  She said she injured a rib and doesn't know if it was cracked, broken, or bruised.  When I inquired how it happened, she informed me that it was self-induced in a way when she was alone with two men at a time. Before I could imagine her being beaten, she slyly let me know that she had been having sex with two men at once, and they were very firm.  Then she giggled.  "It was so worth it."  Okay, that was an unexpected addition to her story.

Also, during my lengthy wait in the Emergency Room, a disheveled looking man seated in a wheelchair propelled himself into the waiting room from the direction of the emergency department.  He wore a pair of tan work boot with socks, a black leather-like jacket, bare waist up except for EKG stickers, and some non-descript pants. Suddenly he removed his right work-boot and sock, and his jacket depositing them in a pile to the left of his wheelchair. Another waiting patient, 30ish female, who was seated in an adjacent angle near me also appear to be people watching.  She looked at me as if to say, "Do you think this will escalate?"  No sooner had we exchange looks, then he abruptly rose off the chair, and flopped into a chair near the window where the tech was taking the vital signs of another patient and loudly asked "Can I have a room, now?".  That question was repeated many times over in the next hour, and each time he was told a room for him was not available right now, and he would have to wait in line like the others who were waiting."  That answer didn't satisfy him, and he usually responded with a phrase such as "oh, crap."   I quickly assumed based on the uneven movement of his limbs, and apparent fresh expectation of a different response each time, that he likely had a short-term memory, and perhaps at some point a TBI.  He moved from place to place in the waiting room, intrusively trying to enter nursing "staff-only" spaces while staff re-directed him from entering and even locked the door twice to prevent his entry. When he sat topless in the seat next to me, I asked him where his jacket might be.  He said, "oh great, someone just took my new leather jacket." A nurse who was consulting with another patient noticed and offered to locate his leather jacket, which she did, and extended it to hm saying" we wouldn't want you to be cold".  He thanked her, put on the jacket, and relaxed onto his seat.  Shortly afterward I was called to follow a staff to ED room 46, where I met the afore mentioned Dr. Anthony Meuller.  

Other tidbits while overheard from the hallway of room 46.... this is the largest hospital between Seattle and Minneapolis.  In a room near me was a male who had been shot (later I learned he was shot in the foot and there was both an entrance and an exit wound. Two security men were guarding the room while another officer was investigating the incident that involved a man, an ex-girlfriend, another man who is allegedly with the ex-girlfriend.  The ex-girlfriend allegedly may have had connections with a local "biker group" and "would not be inclined" to participate in the investigation. I learned the approximate location of the incident and overheard a description of two vehicles involved.  I also learned that while one investigator was speaking to the injured person down the hall, another was speaking to another involved party in a separate location, and the stories were not entirely matching.  

After a while, I decided to exchange the Emergency Department drama for watching the Nicholls vs Gonzaga basketball game on the TV in room 46.  I was into the 2nd half when I was told I could return home.  The 1st quarter, Gonzaga appeared "off their game" and one of the Nickels players displayed a knack for stealing the ball from Gonzaga players.  However, Gonzaga turned it around and picked up quite a few points by the 3rd quarter.  According to the news I browsed later, Gonzaga won tonight.  Go Zags! 

And that my friends is a summary of how I spent many hours from 12:30 pm to 7:30 pm today, aside from texting my husband with updates accompanied with "I love you".