Hurry, It's an emergency room !!

One day I moved a little too far south trying to put on my sock and messed up some nerves or muscles in my back. I felt it when it happened, and it just kept getting worse. After several days I finally had to go to the ER for the Four-Hour-Special they always have going on. Kenny (son) took me and we commented that it might not take so long because we didn’t see very many people there.

First you check in and they tell you to have a seat and it will just be a few minutes. We sat down and observed the other casualties that were coming in. A big burly man with a pink bandana wrapped around his head, and his lady companion. A couple that looked like they may have skidded down a road a few miles on their backsides.

A lady called me to come into her little room so she could torture me with her automated blood pressure machine. After that was over she said it would just be a minute. It was at least an hour before they came and took us to another room with a bed and all that stuff they need. She said I could sit in a chair if would rather. I would rather so I sat in a chair, and she said it will just be a few minutes.
Finally a Nurse (person) came in and wanted to know what medicine I am taking. I told her I didn’t have the list with me, but they must have it in their computer from the last time I was there. She agreed with that and left, but before she left she said, it would just be a few minutes.
Then a Nurse came in and fired up the computer and said she needed to register me. Asked a bunch of questions and it took a long time, but she finished and left and her parting words were, "It will only be a couple minutes".
Another 40 minutes or so passed when another Nurse came in and activated the computer and announced that she had to register me. Kenny and I both said in unison, "Somebody already did that". She said, " I have to do it again".
She started the questions and suddenly stopped and announced that somebody had already registered me. I thought it best not to comment. She asked what the person looked like, maybe she wants to send her flowers. When she left she said, "It will just be a few minutes".

Finally somebody came in and gave me a pill and a shot for the pain. At last a man came in and took me to X-ray. He parked me in the waiting area and said, "It will just be a couple minutes." After about 30 minutes I was wheeled down to the X-ray machine. After that was over I was wheeled back to the waiting room and told that it would just be a couple more minutes. I said, "You guys all say that, "Just a few minutes". He laughed and changed it and said, "He will be in about an hour and a half". And he was right.
Then we had to go to their Pharmacy because our town does not have one single Pharmacy open on Saturday evening. It was so busy they said it would be 30 to 40 minutes. The couple just ahead of us had waited 20 minutes or so and was told they were unable to fill their prescription for 24 hours, because the emergency room had given them a packet with a couple pain pills and they were not allowed to give them more that soon. They didn’t get the packet from emergency and I am not sure how the rest of their story turned out.

This whole episode took four hours. I returned home with a bottle of muscle relaxant drugs. This is two days later and my back pain is much better, so I think it was worth it. If you were very sick and had to wait like that it would be awful. I shudder to think how much Medicare and my private insurance will pay for that little incident. I am thankful I'm covered.