I can’t believe I have to write this, but I’m very scared and frustrated. I wonder if anyone has gone through something similar here.
On Saturday my leg was a bit funny, but I sucked it up and went about my chores. By Sunday morning I had full on stroke symptoms so I went to a hospital. They did an emergency MRI and found a large unknown mass in my brain. Seems like an emergency right? I was denied admission by 5 different hospitals and made to wait until Tuesday morning for admission. My symptoms are getting worse during this time.
Now I’m admitted at a large/prestigious hospital. However, they did only X-rays yesterday and no follow ups yet today. They keep telling me they want to do thorough testing because the wrong treatment could cause problems and they don’t know what it is. They said I may have to wait WEEKS to get these tests.
Is this at all normal? In my country they would have admitted immediately due to stroke symptoms and tests would completely finished in a day or two. I’m so scared I’m going to have permanent damage, worse damage, or even die while they just do nothing. I’m even considering maybe flying back to my old country because despite the day of travel it would still result in faster treatment than this…
Has anyone else gone through treatment of a severe illness or cancer here? Is it normal for it to take days or weeks to even get tests done? I’m very scared.
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I’m sorry that you have to go through this, you must feel so anxious with all the symptoms and not receiving the medical attention that you would require. I hate to tell you this, but due to the Omicron breakout, many hospitals are experiencing major staff shortage and cannot go through the procedures at normal pace and/or admit new patients. Some operations are postponed, ambulances cannot find hospitals where they can admit new patients and sometimes spend literally hours trying to find a hospital.
My sister is a doctor in Tokyo and she said that all the beds at her hospital are taken by covid patients. This will definitely impact the normal level of service to patients that do not have an infectious disease that is life threatening. I wish you well.
Perhaps you could check on the situation of hospitals in your home country as they may be experiencing similar COVID-related pressure, at which point it may not be any quicker there. If you have family or friends in a position to call around and get information from facilities you could go to, that would be the best way to make an informed decision about whether or not to stay where you are.
Best wishes to you whatever you choose, friend. I hope they can identify the problem and start treatment soon.
I’m sorry that this is happening to you. I can’t even begin to understand how you are feeling.
The mass is very unlikely to be something that appeared in a short period of time, which is why it’s not considered an *emergency* even though it’s severe. I think the choice to do additional tests before any drastic measures would be the same in many countries.
Hi, I’m around 8-10 days into what doctors seem to think is the stomach flu exacerbated by severe dehydration and heat exhaustion.
After I collapsed last, last Sunday from what I believed to be heat exhaustion and was given an IV drip and sent home, my condition worsened within two days and I started experiencing diarrhea and the most severe nausea and dizziness I’ve ever had in my life.
Like most people with stomach flu, I couldn’t eat and could barely drink, except I was also so dizzy that I legitimately could not walk. Despite not even being able to leave the hospital without help and living 100% on my own, no hospital would admit me because all the beds are taken by COVID-19 patients and people at death’s door.
Luckily, this never affected how long it took them to help me whenever I came to the ER (I went three times because my symptoms were so bad, especially at night), but daytime visits to the 一般内科 (general medicine/internal medicine) doctor took at least 1.5 hours even with an appointment (I noticed a lot of COVID-19 patients took precedence). I was, however, given a battery of tests pretty swiftly, including x-ray, MRI, ECG scan, blood tests, PCR tests. Strangely enough, no stool tests until very recently.
Another observation point: during my lowest points, I literally begged the hospital to admit me. They said it was near impossible given how tightly stretched they were, and that they literally had 5 ambulances waiting for their patients to be seen at that very moment in time. I don’t know the situation in your country, but if it’s anything like Japan, you might find it difficult to get fast care there as well.
Like I said, I’m still recovering and over a week of starvation has brought my energy levels to a low that, quite frankly, worries me. But that’s been my very, very, very recent experience here in Tokyo.
I’m sorry that you’re in such a rough situation. I was there. I’m still kind of there. You have to be your own advocate and really push to get what you want. Don’t stop trying.
(Also, if anyone has any tips on how to bring energy levels back up after a stomach flu with very easy-to-eat-prep-and-digest food, please give them to me. I’m so worried and so tired.)