Well probably not a full treatise per se but this upcoming rant sure as hell feels like it. There will be some language in this, fair warning. I wasn't even sure I was going to bother to rant but it's not very often that someone gives me the urge to call them up personally and tell them to shut the fuck up.
To start with someone I know, who is in their late 60's, has been having back problems for a few weeks. Not the most pleasant thing to deal with but not the end of the world either. They had suffered from a mild fall and it seemed that though it was hurting they were slowly getting better.
I found out earlier today that something changed for them on Friday, only those involved weren't sure what was happening, they only knew that it seemed like they were struggling more than they should be. And yet repeat questions as to how they were doing were met with the phrase of 'I'm fine, just tired' were given in reply.
So what happened? Today I got pulled into helping since it reached the stage of them getting up in the morning to do stuff, lying back down and then discovering that they couldn't even get out of bed. It quickly became apparent that they needed real help so an ambulance was called and they were taken down to the ER.
We find out that it's not really a back issue (though that is giving them grief still) but they've picked up a Cellulitis skin infection. To put it simply that's the type of thing that can quickly go bad and be life threatening if not treated. The infection was on their lower left leg and they had been wrapping it in an ace bandage and not telling anyone that it had turned so red and was bothering them so.
This was not surprising since they have a history of outright refusing to go in and get medical treatment since they hate doctors and needles. I mean they do go but they have a bad habit of ignoring stuff and waiting for it to go away. And to be fair, even though they are in their late 60's, for the most part they are fully capable of taking care of themselves. So there isn't any known issues with them being able to care for themself.
Anyway by the time the hospital got them it was just starting to spread and making them very sick. They couldn't get out of bed since they were too weak. High fever running around 107. Heartrate and blood pressure not being stable... We were literally told that given another 36 hours max without treatment and they could had died.
The good news was that it was caught just as it was turning nasty so by the time we left they were responding well to treatment and they expect them to make a full recovery. Which I'm glad about. Getting that sick is no fun at all.
Anyway, my rant isn't about the person not fessing up about how they were getting sick. It's not about the care at the hospital since they got right on it and put them in ICU to make sure they get closely watched while they recover.
Oh no, my rant is about relatives of this person who were called and informed about what is going on. Relatives of his that never visit, rarely call and aren't involved in his life in any meaningful way. Why am I angry? I'll explain.
You see anytime they are called and informed when someone is sick, they do what I call as the blame game. They immediately start bombarding the person who calls with 'why didn't you do this, why didn't you do that', bullshit. I'm not the one it's done to but I see the effects on the person they do it to.
I'll give you an example. They were told it was a back problem since that is what we thought it was. They were 'how hard is it for you to get him to get checked before it gets this bad?' As if that wasn't enough, later when they found out it was actually a serious infection, the first words out of their mouth was 'why didn't you check his leg?' ...
Really? You're going to tell this to the person letting you know your relative is very sick? Honestly? Do they have shit for brains? A person falls, hurts their back, is complaining that their back hurts... so why the fuck would you strip their socks off and check their leg?
So the entire conversation went along those lines and honestly, it just pissed me off even though I wasn't the one being subjected to this shit. I about took the phone from the one calling them so I could tell the other person to take their head out of their ass and shut the fuck up.
Anyway, that was my fun day. I'm just glad that the one who is sick is getting care and responding well to the treatment. I'll probably go back down tomorrow to check on them. Being in the hospital sucks.
