Thoughts & Things

Hospitals Are For Healthy People

Yesterday I ended up having to go to the ER. It appears I sprained my thumb while I slept, most likely because of my double jointed fingers, thumb, wrist. Apparently being double jointed and not an athlete makes you more of a risk for sprains. This is probably the most annoying news I have gotten in awhile. I refuse to stop bending my hands in odd directions to gross other people out though. I may have to start sleeping with socks on my hands to keep them secure when I have no control over what I am doing to them. In any case, because of my other health issues, it could potentially take weeks to heal. Not being able to do much with my thumb without hurting it is incredibly difficult, and I am already annoyed.

One of the most frustrating things about my injury was my time spent in the hospital. It took eight and a half hours for me to get an answer. I spent the whole night there. While this sucks in general, what was particularly frustrating was the waiting room. With my other health concerns, I have a hard time waiting. Not on a mental level, I actually feel like I have become more patient in some ways. Physically, waiting in the ER was more taxing than I am really capable of managing.

The awkward waiting room chairs force a person to sit in an uncomfortable position, on an uncomfortable seat. I had a horrible sciatica flare up, and I genuinely had to resist the urge to lie down on the floor (50% because I didn't want to alarm them, 50% because I didn't want to piss them off). There isn't really any seating that is appropriate for a person with chronic pain. Even sitting in the waiting room for a couple hours is difficult, but managing it for the whole night was unbearable. They also have pretty glaring lighting situations going on, without any areas with a more dim lighting. As a light sensitive person, I always find that hospitals physically make me feel much worse from the lighting alone.

It isn't really news to me that hospitals are uncomfortable. I don't think anyone really finds them comfortable. I mean, these are hospitals. What really occurred to me is that hospital ERs are built to hold healthy people. People who normally feel fine, but they have come down with an illness, or have broken a bone. People who are there with sick babies or sick elderly parents. They aren't meant to hold people who have chronic illness, pain, or disability.

I am still recovering from my injury, and I am still recovery from my trip to the hospital. I am glad I have access to that kind of care, but it will always be frustrating to end up feeling worse in other ways because hospitals don't really accommodate for people who aren't capable of using their waiting rooms without pain. It's a silly complaint, but hospitals shouldn't be causing me searing pain from the waist down, they should be making sure my thumb isn't broken and advising me what to do once the sprain is confirmed.