In honor of someone we all know. Please describe your worst hospital experience.

[rzemanfl]

Mine was having a catheter yanked out at around two a.m.

[Different Drummer]

1. Being woken up in the middle of the night when I was trying to sleep.

Mostly for blood draws. Happened last week when I was hospitalized for a couple of days for a urinary tract infection and lung infection.

[EYESORE 9001]

2. Having what felt like 100 yards of packing material

pulled out of my azz by a burly orderly. Same guy threatened me with catheterization if I didn’t make water, so I ordered a beer, which saved me from further violation.

[cyclonefence]

3. This was in 1976

I had just had 2/3 of a lung removed, and my roommate and all her many visitors were heavy smokers. In the hospital room.

[woodsprite]

4. My roommate with dementia getting out of bed and standing at my bedside during the night. Totally creepy.

Medical procedure wise? It would have to be getting stuck 5 times in the chest to try to get a blood draw from my port. I had sepsis and they thought that might have been the site of the infection. I didn't know what size needle my onco team used to access the port. Rather than call, they just kept going up in needle size (length and gauge). I'm lucky they didn't ruin the port.

[malthaussen]

5. Never had one.

My only extended stay in a hospital was after my stroke, and the staff were excellent. Possibly I would have some horror stories if I spent more time hanging out at them.

-- Mal

[chowmama]

6. The day after my deviated septum was repaired

To stanch the bleeding, they shove a tampon up each nostril. The next day, they have to remove them.

They didn't warn me that all the blood had that sucker firmly attached to me. The first removal had me levitating with the pain. Then I had to have the second one out, knowing what it was going to be like.

If anything, it was even worse.

[womanofthehills]

8. Going in for ACL removal surgery

(This is from when I was younger & they didn’t replace ACL unless you were an athlete or overweight) And when they realized surgery was all set up for wrong knee - wheeled me quickly out of surgery till they reset equipment up.

[Iggo]

7. Having a femoral artery sheath removed.

And then the next day having it put back in.

And then the day after that having it removed again!

The first time hurt bad. But the second one was screaming torture.

[womanofthehills]

9. Yrs ago I worked at a children's rehab hospital

We had a homeless 5 yr old boy admitted as he had a missing bloody finger that had not been dealt with for weeks. The 5 yr old boy went into the next room where there was a severely handicapped little girl who could barely move and he beat the little girl up badly. (Lawsuit) Why I say - never leave a child alone in the hospital.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

10. Mine

was during a psychiatric stay in the late 70's (ahem...I'm o.k. now, a recovering alcoholic since that time )... and the gal in the next room claimed to have been a member of the Manson family and spooked the CRAP out of everyone.

She used to stand down a dark hallway and stare... whites completely showing all around her eyeballs.

[rzemanfl]

13. Good for you! I will hit 40 years sober in August.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

20. Wooo Woooo!!!!

Yeah, US!

[rzemanfl]

24. You rock too.

[LeftInTX]

11. As a patient: I had an episiotomy, roommate had twins. She window side and a parade of male visitors

Ugh...I lied about going #2, just to get out of there!

Nothing like covering up after having a baby due to a bunch of men coming and going.

[XanaDUer2]

12. 1979. In hospital for tendon issue

I was 14. Thank goodness I had a young lady in the room with me as a roommate. About 20 and we were getting along friendly.

One night, I see the same male orderly walking back and forth in the hallway to the room. I was easy to see bc I was further away. My sixth sense kicked in and I knew something wasnt right here. The room was semi-dark.

Suddenly, this weirdo walks into the room towards my bed when my roommate flicks on the lights and we both loudly exclaim what are you doing in here?! I truly believe he was going to attack me. I had a cast on. I can still see it to this day. I am not sure if I told anyone though. That young woman saved me. I would also have screamed, but she was older.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

21. Crap! There are so many assholes in this world...

(Ah, that reminds me of a Charles Bukowski book I own, "All The Assholes In The World And Mine". ) Glad you had a guardian angel that night, XanaDUer2!

[XanaDUer2]

22. Thanks

He wasn't expecting her in there. She was older too.

[red dog 1]

14. I was in the hospital for colon cancer surgery, and around midnight the night before the surgery was to take place,

a substitute nurse called in from the "registry" came into my room.

She was supposed to insert an IV into my arm.

Instead of sticking the needle into a vein, she stuck it into muscle and left the room.

Within about 20 minutes my arm was 3 times bigger than it was before and it hurt like hell.

I pushed the "help" button but since there wasn't anyone at the nurses' station, no one came in.

After about 45 minutes, a real nurse came in & took out the needle & inserted the IV the correct way.

(I thought my arm was going to explode)

[Clouds Passing]

15. Med students digging around trying to find the spinal tap spot

Brain MRI scan was fun, they put a block around your entire head and snap it shut for 30 minutes of loud banging. Neurological test by inserting needles into nerves, that felt awesome, not! Always trying to find my tiny rolly veins. And many many more pokey and confining experiences.

[Roxi]

29. My first and only spinal tap

Meningitis was suspected, so they did a spinal tap. First one for this young resident, and he kept moving the needle all over the place.

Thanks to the extra large hole, I got to experience spinal headaches, which were, for the record, far worse than the (diagnosed) meningitis! I literally could not keep my head in an upright position; I had to crawl or bend over to go anywhere.

[Clouds Passing]

32. I know your pain. Accupuncture finally ended the headaches.

[Roxi]

34. I'm glad you're feeling better

For me, a blood patch did the trick.

It took six visits to the ER for someone to realize that my headaches were not just due to the meningitis.

[Clouds Passing]

35. I didn't have meningitis. They never figured out what was the problem.

They did a bunch of nerve and other tests too.

Glad you're feeling better too 😀

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. About 25 years ago, I yawned and dislocated my jaw.

Went to the ER. It was a hot summer Saturday night, but they were surprisingly un-busy so took me fairly quickly. I was unable to talk and in pain.

First, either a med student or an intern tried to get me unstuck. And failed. Then they had a resident try it, another failure.

Finally, they brought in an attending doctor who straddled me and tugged. It was painful, but it worked. This doctor was pretty hot and having him straddle me, even for medical purposes, was enjoyable in a way.

I was thrilled that he succeeded because they were talking about breaking my jaw, then wiring it shut to heal.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Mine Is Pretty Minor

Bad ankle sprain playing basketball. Went to ER to have it looked at and about a minute after I got there they started bring in people from a bad multi-vehicle accident on one of the interstates. (3 dead, several injured, some badly).
So, they can't bother with an owie ankle.
We go across town to the other hospital. I get x-rayed and then in comes some kid who was working a fast food joint, cleaning the inside of the hoods; and he stepped into the deep fryer.
Now, they've got a very bad burn case at the smaller hospital. So, I still had to wait 2 hours to get my ankle wrapped.
I know there's a lot worse stories out there, but this was my worst.
My wife has had a couple doozies though.

[WestMichRad]

18. Mine was pretty minor, too...

Had a catheter inserted when I was in the ER for a kidney stone. As if the stone itself wasn’t bad enough. Double the pain, double the fun (I guess). Turned out I didn’t need the catheter.

I’ve been pretty fortunate and have very few brushes with the hospital (as a patient), so far. My day is probably coming, though.

[rzemanfl]

25. I jave had some experiences with kidney stones. None were fun.

[LogDog75]

19. 1975, AF Basic Training

I enlisted in the AF on an 31, 1975 and went to basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, TX. On Saturday, the sixth day of basic, I went to sick call with a 104 temperature. I was take to the base hospital and stayed there for two with infected sinuses. The drugs didn't know down the infection so it was decided they'd drain them.

What they did was to have me sit up straight and they put a tube with a long needle in it on the roof of my mouth. Then, they took a metal mallet and hit the bottom of the needle hard driving it through the roof of my mouth into my sinus cavity. Once in, they removed the metal tube and attached a rubber hose to the needle and shot sterile solution into my sinus cavity. I had to blow hard through my nose to expel the solution. Once they completed that sinus cavity, they did the same with the other sinus cavity. After a couple of days, I hadn't gotten better so the repeated the procedure. After the second time, I said never again. Fortunately. my sinus infection cleared up and I never had to repeat the experience.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

23. OUCH!!!

Now my sinuses are aching.

[rzemanfl]

26. Yikes!

[3catwoman3]

28. Jesus - that sounds like medieval torture.

[3catwoman3]

27. March 2023 I developed appendicitis. Usually, an appendectomy...

...is a relatively no big deal surgery with an uncomplicated recovery. Because I was on Eliquis (a blood thinner) for atrial fibrillation, the surgery had to wait until I was off the Eliquis for 36 hours so I wouldn't bleed out on the table. During that time, the appendix became gangrenous, which slowed down the recovery. Instead of 1-2 nights in the hospital, it was 5.

On either the 2nd or 3rd day, my gastrointestinal function had not picked up, so I had to have an NG (nasogastric) tube. For those who don't know, this is a plastic tube, about as big around as a cooked elbow macaroni, that is put thru your nose, down the back of your throat, down your esophagus and into your stomach to allow air and secretions to be sucked out by means of a vacuum unit attached to the wall. This is done while you are awake.

I felt every centimeter of this damn tube with every breath and every swallow, and it was a completely miserable experience. It was in place for about 24 hours. I told my husband not to visit me until it was out, because I knew I wouldn't be able to to minimize how awful I was feeling, and he would be frustrated by not being able to do anything to make me feel any better, and I'd be wanting to try to comfort him and I knew I didn't have the strength to do so.

I've had 2 C-sections and 2 hip replacements, and I would cheerfully repeat all of those experiences rather than have an NG tube ever again.

[AllaN01Bear]

30. catheter. ugh. the nurses were great , but the pain , oh the pain

wow. i didn know that romans had invented them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catheter

[LudwigPastorius]

31. Fortunately, I don't consciously remember it - pyloric stenosis surgery at a week old.

They didn't give infants anesthesia back then based on the mistaken belief that they couldn't feel pain.

So, I was intubated, given a paralytic, then they cut me open and fished around with my guts while I was awake and could feel everything.

[Vinca]

33. The food. After my first hip replacement I made the mistake of ordering a salad for lunch.

It looked like something that should be tossed in a compost pile.

[Niagara]

36. Induced pregnancy labor due to preeclampsia

Not once, but twice.


They acted like I was crazy when I stated that I wanted my tubes tied after baby #2.

[rzemanfl]

37. Had to look up preeclampsia.

Glad you made it through both times.

[Niagara]

38. Thank you, rzemanfl