The Mystery of the MRI

It is midnight. I just returned from a community care drive to Toronto. I left at 7pm and was supposed to be home by 10pm. Welcome to our health care system!

My client was having a MRI and usually you are in and out, give or take a few minutes. Apparently not tonight. The reason for the delay - a poor, frail, 90-year old woman was traumatized by the whole experience. Although , contrary to what we were witnessing, her daughter told someone on the other end of her cell phone that ,

"mom was a hero tonight."

Meanwhile, her poor mom almost fainted in her wheelchair and was having a major panic attack. The nurse was called. Those of us waiting PATIENTLY in the cramped waiting room overheard the whole interchange. I discovered we were all pretending to be reading our books and magazines while secretly trying to overhear the conversation between the nurse and daughter of this poor frail 90-year old woman! The nurse checked the woman's blood pressure and found it quite low. With further assessment, it was revealed that the woman hadn't eaten anything all day. Immediately, I made a diagnosis...take this woman to emergency- she is dehydrated, has low blood sugar and is still in a state of panic. They offered her apple juice and I am thinking ...WHAT, she needs orange juice or Coke!
We, those of us who were PATIENTLY waiting in the cramped and now warm waiting room, continued to listen to the nurse incessantly tell the daughter,

" I am recommending and am putting it on your mom's chart, that you take her to emerg. Her blood pressure is very low."

By this time, we, the PATIENT people in the warm, cramped waiting room, set aside our reading materials and were this close to yelling out to the daughter to

"take your mother to emerg!!!!!! She is 90 years old. Her blood pressure is low. take her to emerg!!!""

We, the PATIENT patients, discovered a common camaraderie between us...our diagnosis for this frail 90-year old lady was the same!!

Finally, after 1 hour, that is 1 hour where this poor frail woman could have been waiting in emerg and probably would have been seen by a doctor given her age and condition, the daughter decided to heed the nurse's advice. Go figure!

At the expense of this poor, frail, traumatized 90-year old lady, our time PATIENTLY waiting for the MRI was enjoyable!