Started at 10 am. I knew, nothing truly wrong. Pain in stomach and left side (Later changed to right side).
Absolutely perfect day before, up sitting, ate huge breakfast, working on puzzle at puzzle table all day.
Called ambulance. Oscar performance how awful she felt.
In ER from 11:30-4pm.
I got to ER, nurse told me she said, has had pain for a week!!! I said, this morning, first I heard of it.
EKG fine, blood work fine, CT of abdomen fine. Discharged.
This situation has happened many times. Not abdominal pain per se…..” I HAVE TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL!”.
Is it fear of death? Like the hospital could prevent death?
Its totally about attention, I know that.
Last admission, December 2021, they kept her ONE day!!!!
Several hours and some imaging later: diagnosis was constipation.
How can a seasoned nurse be fooled? Not to mention that her older sister went through the exact same thing last summer while we were all together visiting in FL. I think in some instances when someone is very elderly, they are worried that every little pain can be "The Big One Elizabeth" (Sandford and Son reference for you non-Boomers). And nurses just know "too much".
I bet this tactic would work for many people, for other areas of life, too. Being aware of X price, you suddenly start doing well in life; some problems miraculously disappear because you don't want to pay X.
I'm going to experiment on myself. Dear Venting, if you continue doing Y, the price will be X. Hope this abruptly stops you. Sincerely, Venting
Some of use wish with ours that they actually ask to go to the hospital. We could then actually help them better with the wait of them having a really bad emergency to get them evaluated.
You might also tell her medicare has limited the number of visits to the ER unless she is unconscious. :-)
So hard to know...
If happening a lot.. I suppose I would do a few home tests & make a call to Emergency/Nurse on Call type service first?
I think certain heart issues & extreme BP can cause panic. I know low oxygen can.
BP monitor & those finger O2 monitors with heart rate could be handy.
I'd ask the Doctor what you could check at home, what is normal range for her & what evokes an ER visit.
After spending all day in the ER complaining about how long everything as taking and completing a battery of tests, he would be released. It occurred at least once a month, usually every couple of weeks. He became known as a frequent flyer in the ER.
She thinks that he liked the extra attention he got there, or he just wanted a change of scenery for awhile. It got so common that she would go to the ER with him, help him get checked in, make sure they had her contact information and then leave. If she stayed there, she would just have to listen to his incessant complaining and he would get nasty to her. The hospital or her husband would call her when he was discharged.
There were maybe 2 or 3 instances where he had a legitimate medical reason to go there.
Edit to add - I should state that her husband was in his 70's and didn't have dementia, so it may not apply to your situation.