I m in a lot of pain.
-Nurse in emergency phone: You need to go to a hospital.
Me:- I can't.
-I cannot give you an ambulance. (very aggressively)
-I did not ask for one. (why not really?)
-But you have to go.
- I am telling you I can't breathe, and I am in pain.
-Then I will write you REFUSED to go.
-I am not, I am telling you I feel weak and in pain.
That was a few months ago, I did not go to the hospital and a week later I had to. It turned out I had jaundice and a blockage from a bile stone in my liver that was under attack. (I eventually went to the hospital, was admitted, told to have surgery, but I was not in pain anymore, so I decided to change my diet and flush them out, which I did)
Then three weeks ago, this happened.
-Hi, it's probably nothing but I woke up with a pain in my chest above my breasts and it comes and goes, and hurts my teeth.
-You need to go to the hospital.
-Are you sure? It could be acid reflux or a reaction to migraine medication.
-Your symptoms show that you should go.
-Ok.
So I went (spent again a fortune on taxis, had to wait for hours like the last time, and eventually went home)
2 days ago, the same pain in the night.
The next morning a squeezing sensation on my chest would linger.
I call the emergency number, and I am very casual about it.
-I m sure it's nothing but my daughter insisted.
-No, you need to go to the hospital.
-Are you sure?
-Yes I am sending you an ambulance.
-.... why?
-Because I have to.
-So why did I not get one when I really was bad?
-I don't know.
This was confirmed by the ambulance nurse as well, and I skipped the waiting line.
So basically my feeling of insecurity that if something happens to me, I will die bleeding or trying to get to the hospital vanished, but another worry crept in as to why that first and second nurse did not send an ambulance when I was really needing it?
I don't want to think it's because I speak English, and I'm using their "tax" money.
I don't want to think it is because they are bad sad people who enjoy power tripping.
I don't want to think about it. It is scary.