Disappointment with ED visit

[jyoung39]

Hi, My husband has stage 4 Oesophageal cancer, diagnosed early 2023. He is on immuno therapy which so far is helping, but the last week he has been having high temps with recommendations to visit ED. Today we did visit ED, and we walked out. I know there are long waits in ED, but we arrived 8:45 and went through triage fairly quickly. We were called through to see a Dr at about 10am and left at 12:30 and not one doctor came to see us. Everyone who came after us were visited by a doctor, and it was like we were the lowest priority. We were patient and not complaining, and were told there were other emergencies. My husband was very uncomfortable on the beds, could not eat and felt he would be better off at home. I don't understand the hospital system anymore, I feel those that complain get a higher priority which makes me feel really sad and undervalued.

[LaurenThemself]

I'm new to this forum and this was the first post I saw, so I don't have heaps I can say other than that you have my sympathies. ED can be so hit and miss, especially depending on how busy it is. Also, my husband is an ED nurse and he says that there have been some ED closures lately meaning that the open EDs are busier. (We are in Victoria, not sure where you are, but it's likely to be the same Australia-wide.)

That said, I'm so sorry that happened to you. Feeling like you're being forgotten and ignored is awful even at the best of times, which this obviously is not. I hope your husband was able to feel better at home. My dad also has throat cancer (hypopharyngeal) so I know how hard it can be with the struggle to eat.

I'm sure you already have ideas on dealing with high temperatures and difficulty eating, plus you have a year more experience than me,  so I won't offer suggestions unless you ask. But you definitely deserved to be treated better than that, and I hope that if you have to go to ED again it is a better experience.

[Vicky70]

Has your husband been supplied with a letter to take to the emergency department whenever he experiences high fever etc?  My son needed to attend hospital last year for similar reasons and showed the letter to the triage nurse who then arranged for him to be taken to an isolation room straight away.  He was seen by a nurse immediately but it was a while before a doctor was in attendance.  Hopefully, if you need to go to the ED again you will have an easier time.

[TheMariner]

Howdy,

I'm a bit late to this post but my partner & I have experienced the same sort of issues multiple times at the local hospital's  ED. She was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in Oct 2023 but has had auto-immune disease issues (Rheumatoid Arthritis aka RA) for years.

As one other poster mentioned, we too have a 'golden ticket' card that we are supposed to be able to use in order to get express treatment... but on 2 out of 3 ED visits it didn't mean much.

Visit 1: She had extreme body pain & a high temp as a reaction to the Immune therapy. Showed the card we'd be given by Oncology & it meant nothing. Spent 45 anxious minutes in the general waiting area & it wasn't until after I complained twice to the nurses in triage that we were taken through.

Visit 2: Julies Sodium & Potassium levels dropped to concerning levels & our Oncologist told us to head straight to ED. He phoned ahead & we were expressed through without needing to show the card.... obviously he had some sway over the triage system. 

Visit 3: Julies blood O2 levels dropped sharply over 2 days, she was panting, felt heavy in the chest & had a temperature. Phoned the Radiotherapy clinic (a private clinic in the Hospital), an Oncologist said he'd ring the ED & we should go straight away. Arrived there, identified ourselves, showed our card, described the symptoms and mentioned someone should have called ahead. It made no difference ! . Grrrr. Called the Radiotherapy clinic for help & they said they's done all they could. Apparently a private clinic carries no weight in a public hospital. Grrrrrrr. Called our contact the Cancer nurse in the Hospital itself, she spoke to ED & got nowhere. Grrrrrrrrrr. We wait 20 minutes & by now I'm getting 'agitated' and the MSS security guy in the waiting room is starting to take notice. Calmly spoke to the nurse attending to the waiting room patients & brought the situation to her attention. She came over, took Julie's obs & within 5 minutes another nurse arrived to take us. That nurse took 1 look at Julie, said "Why did they make you wait out here" and "I don't need obs to tell me this is serious". 8 hours in an ED room, admitted for 5 days & had almost 3 litres of fluid drained from her lung.

In my opinion the Nurses are doing there best but have been seriously let down by successive State & Federal Governments of both persuasions. There's a chronic shortage of beds & equipment. On our 2nd visit there wasn't a IV pump available in ED to infuse a sodium solution, so the nurse had to go to another ward & pinch one ! Another nurse said she'd purchased her own equipment for her exclusive use 'coz sometimes there was nothing available.

We were advised by the outspoken nurse from our 3rd visit to use the magic phrases "difficulty breathing" and "chest tightness" as this will help get us through faster in future. Maybe it'd work for you too if you ever need to go to the ED again.