TravelingChris Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I got sick last Firday with a bad sinus infection and was prescribed Augmentin. I get very bad infections very fast mostly because I am on immunosuppressants but also due to some of my underlying chronic illnesses. So the sinus infection got better by Saturday evening, I continued the antibiotic, but by Wednesday I had bronchitis. No, not viral bronchitis, just a bacterial one not killed by the first antibiotic. After almost no help from my internal medicine doctor (who I will now drop), I ended up going to the Er on Friday night after my third day with fevers and they were going higher The ER was a trip, all right. I expected sick and injured. I didn't expect party town in the ER since i had never ever seen anything like this in all my years of going to ERs either with my kids. myself, or my dh or my parents. I can understand if a relative is brought in with a bad injury or having a hreat attack or stroke or something else very severe that relatives might be in the waiting room. No, this wasn't it. People were coming in big groups with three or more generations around for someone who was just plain sick and not that gravely since these people were waiting the same length of time I was with my either bronchitis or pneumonia.One woman had sisters, sister's kids (little ones out at midnight), both sets of grandparents, and some other people I couldn't place. For the one person, there was 11 visitors. WHile they were wheeling me back from the Xray, another group of six or seven family members was trailing a women being wheeled back for an xray. As I said, these weren't the relatives of the GSW or auto crashes that came in last night. I could understand that. There was a very large group of what looked to be college students in one area having a jolly good time while I guess their one sick friend was seen. There were people who looked like maybe they came from the FLDS or something having a very quiet get together in the waiting area. I get the care I needed- made sure my lungs were alright (since I have also had a number of pneumonias in the past and a partially collapsed lung in the last few years), given a breathing treatment that helped, and given a new antibiotic that already seems to be helping 12 hours or so after I took the first dose. So is this party thing in the ER simply a fluke, a southern cultural thing, or what? Any comments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I'm glad that you're getting better. I don't know about all the visitors. Our ERs will only allow one person back into the ER proper. Anyone can wait out in the waiting room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 We lived in Alabama for several years. It's a southern cultural thing. You show your love by having every member of your extended family hold vigil at the hospital. It doesn't matter if it is something major or something very minor. Everyone and their cousins is going to traipse out to share in the drama. Just accept it and know that the nurses will feel sorry for you if you don't have a thousand relatives out to love and support you. I don't know about the religious folks you saw, though. They definitely weren't FLDS, but there are a number of super-conservative evangelicals who could look similar with their dresses and the way they style their uncut hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 Yes, that is how all ERs I have ever been at have been. One or maybe two people in with the patient, not seven who are not only with the patient in the little room but also following down the hall to the Xray room. I have never seen anything like this. And while all ERs had waiting rooms everyone could wait in, I just have never seen so many large groups of people coming to basically hand out at the ER. The three generation family had little children and elderly grandparents all hanging around while one middle aged woman was seen (and how I know she wasn't a heart patient was because she waited almost four hours to be seen and they bring heart patients back immediately if they think you are having a heart attack.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Yep. It is a normal thing. Strange imnsho. I cannot imagine anyone wanting to hang out in the ER waiting room, but it seems you do not love your extended family if you do not go along for the party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 I guess no one will ever love me or my family because this is one cultural thing I refuse to do. I hate ERs, having spent way too much time in them, and don't want to wait in any unless there is a dire reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Same with a car accident, some ding dong backed into my PARKED car while I was at work. She took off not realizing my customers had witnessed her hitting it, when the cops caught her, I swear everyone of her family members was there but not one of them apologized for her hitting my car. To top it off she didn't have insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraidycat Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Wow, that's ...uh...different, I guess. I've never heard of, or seen that before. Heck, when I had DD at the ER with her broken arm, DH came and picked DS up after work and the guys went to the baseball game for the evening, because who would want to hang out at the hospital if you didn't HAVE to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter's Moon Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I'm in the Northeast and that is quite common in the inner city hospitals, but no so in the rural hospitals. I avoid hospitals at all costs. If I do not NEED to be there, I am not going to sit in a germ covered chair breathing germy air and praying I don't catch what is going around. Can you tell I am a germaphobe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 And what really surprised me was how these people were all so awake. I was in that waiting room from 8:30 pm to 1;00 am when I was take back. Oh and those ladies I thought looked like FLDS- it was because they had those same strange hairstyles that I never see IRL before now- the attire I have seen similar in Mennonite and some other groups but those ladies don't have such strange hairstyles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 We had a similar experience a year ago in our ER. I couldn't believe the huge family groups that were present waiting for various patients. The other thing that we thought was a bit strange were conversations that seemed to indicate different groups knew each other from being in the ER the night before, or multiple nights before? It was like it was a social club. Also, there were policemen coming and going and always being greeted by different groups. Honestly, I felt like I was missing out on a whole part of our city by not "belonging". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Hmm...we live in the same city (and I'm actually from here) but I didn't know everyone going to the ER was a thing. I think the ladies you saw were from the Holiness religion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Thankfully, I've only ever had a few ER visits, in 2 different hospitals. Yes, it's party central at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. One time, I think the whole frat house brought their brother in when he mooned someone and broke the window with his hind end. Interestingly, I also saw large family contingents of Amish at UM's ER. I currently live in a rural area, with many Amish, but I've never seen them at our local ER :confused: . When my mom broke her hip last winter, it was about 3am and we were the only people at our small town hospital ER. Others came in later, but just 2-3 people together. Definitely not the throngs in Ann Arbor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 i was in the ER 2 weeks ago for my daughter, in VA (also, i guess, the south). I soon realized that I had sat opposite from a family - apparently there was a small child with . .. what is it, SCV, CVS .. some infection thats a common serious thing with infants? I think both of the baby's parents were there, at least one set of grandparents, an aunt, and some other guy around the parents age . . . they were all saying how glad they were that they'd decided to come to the ER, and just kinda giving each other atta-boys. I was pretty surprised . . . most of the groups in this waiting room were only 2-3 people. But it wasnt really that big a waiting room, i was pretty surprised. there were a number of small kids there, and it was 11 pm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cin Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 i was in the ER 2 weeks ago for my daughter, in VA (also, i guess, the south). I soon realized that I had sat opposite from a family - apparently there was a small child with . .. what is it, SCV, CVS .. some infection thats a common serious thing with infants? I think both of the baby's parents were there, at least one set of grandparents, an aunt, and some other guy around the parents age . . . they were all saying how glad they were that they'd decided to come to the ER, and just kinda giving each other atta-boys. I was pretty surprised . . . most of the groups in this waiting room were only 2-3 people. But it wasnt really that big a waiting room, i was pretty surprised. there were a number of small kids there, and it was 11 pm RSV? RSV is a serious, sometimes fatal respiratory infection that hits babies who are more vulnerable to begin with. My friend had a preemie and he was hospitalized with RSV several times in his first 2 or 3 years. They always had several family members at their house and thus, at the ER because they needed help with the older kids. The baby was always sick and going back and forth to the Dr./ER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnbacademy Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 If it is any consolation, we only allow 2 visitors into the ED for each pt. They are signed in by our security personnel and must wear a identifying sticker of the room # which they are associated with. Now, I suppose the whole family could campout in the waiting room, but I never see them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 RSV? RSV is a serious, sometimes fatal respiratory infection that hits babies who are more vulnerable to begin with. My friend had a preemie and he was hospitalized with RSV several times in his first 2 or 3 years. They always had several family members at their house and thus, at the ER because they needed help with the older kids. The baby was always sick and going back and forth to the Dr./ER. Yes, thats the one. i wasnt trying to say it wasnt serious, but still, i was not sure why they needed a half dozen family members hanging out in the waiting room. I guess to offer support to the parents? my family doesnt do that sort of thing, at all, let alone hanging out in the ER waiting room Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I usually have to take my kids back with me from necessity, but I dont't see extended family in the ER almost ever, as a patient or when I worked it a decade ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 See I can't understand the staff putting up with this. I found out after I came home that in the same time I was in that ER, so were four gun shot victims, at least two serious car accident victims, and of course all the regular badly ill people- heart attacks, strokes, people like me who weren't breathing well, etc. At least if they are in the waiting room, it isn't as bad. But the group I saw marching down after the gurney going to the xray room (and the patient was not a child since those are at a different ER), that is what I can't see them putting up with. These were about seven family members following the patient around. This hospital is the trauma center for a very large area and I just don't get why they allow this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticmom Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I have lived in the south all my life and have seen this. However, my family has never done this sort of thing(except when I was in labor) so it is not universal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 RSV? RSV is a serious, sometimes fatal respiratory infection that hits babies who are more vulnerable to begin with. My friend had a preemie and he was hospitalized with RSV several times in his first 2 or 3 years. They always had several family members at their house and thus, at the ER because they needed help with the older kids. The baby was always sick and going back and forth to the Dr./ER. But, the family members should stay HOME with the older kids. There is no point in everyone tagging along to the hospital when the baby has to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.