{"id":3274,"date":"2024-12-02T11:46:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/?p=3274"},"modified":"2024-12-02T11:46:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:46:33","slug":"length-of-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/length-of-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Length of Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Stephannie Acha-Morfaw<br \/>\nSchool of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Emergency Medicine<br \/>\n2023<br \/>\nProse<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The third column glared an angry red.<\/p>\n<p>LOS-8:00<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019d already been waiting in the emergency department for 8 hours.<\/p>\n<p>The phone rings. \u201cI\u2019m happy to come see him\u2026\u201d I cut him off and say, \u201csee \u2018her\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSure, see \u2018her\u2019 he says. In the end, it\u2019s not our area of expertise, so I\u201dll probably recommend that \u2018they\u2019 see him\u2013\u201d I cut him off again \u201cyou mean <em>her<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I\u2019m so sorry, <em>her<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LOS-12:00<\/p>\n<p>He comes down in a rush, the dark circles under his eyes slightly brightened by a forced smile. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, I got your other pages. We got stuck in a long case. What room is he in?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sigh, then smile and tell him \u201c<em>She<\/em> is in room 48.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh yes, <em>she<\/em>, sorry about that. Male to female, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, male to female\u201d I reply. \u201cThank you for coming to see her. She\u2019s been waiting for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He walks out of the room and I stop him, hoping he can help guide my treatment plan so we can get her what she needs. \u201cAny recommendations?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, I mean he\u2013sorry <em>she<\/em>, is definitely in a lot of pain, so I would manage that, but I don\u2019t have any other recommendations. I still think \u2018they\u2019 need to see her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sigh again. \u201cYes, I agree. I\u2019ll give them another page. Thanks again for seeing her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo problem\u2013sorry it took so long. She deserves better\u2026I\u2019ll put in a note.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sign the order, then walk into her room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHello, how are\u00a0 you feeling? Do you need anything more for pain?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She plasters a weak smile on her face. \u201cYes, I could use a little something, thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry it\u2019s taking so long, but I\u2019ve just repaged them and they should be coming to see you soon. I need them to see you before I can finalize your plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her eyes reflected the pain I knew I could never fully understand and never completely heal.<\/p>\n<p>I step out of the room, frustrated, embarrassed, angry.<\/p>\n<p>LOS-12:50<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHello, thanks for calling back. This is a middle aged transgender male to female who uses she\/her pronouns. She\u2019s having pain at an old surgical site and I\u2019m not sure what to make of her labs and imaging. The other team saw her and felt you all could be more helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He quickly replies, \u201csure, I\u2019ll be down to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Her<\/em>,\u201d I correct.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, <em>her<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LOS- 13:00<\/p>\n<p>The phone rings again. \u201cHello, ED, this is\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHi, it\u2019s me again. I asked my senior. We didn\u2019t do it, so we can\u2019t see him. Sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShould that matter?!\u201d I ask, exasperated. \u201c<em>She<\/em> is far from home and needs medical care and an expertise that you all can provide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s silence on the other end\u2014 \u201cYeah, sorry, but that\u2019s what I was told.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you\u2019re refusing to see this consult?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUm, yeah\u201d he pauses uneasily then quickly says \u201csorry\u201d again before hanging up the phone.<\/p>\n<p>LOS- 14:30<\/p>\n<p>I enter the room again. This time, I come bearing good news. It took multiple additional phone calls, but finally, they were going to see her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood morning. I\u2019m so sorry for your wait. They will be coming to see you now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She gives me another listless smile. \u201cIt\u2019s ok. Thank you for doing your best to care for me. I know I\u2019m complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gently, I squeeze her hand and she squeezes mine back, before I quietly exit the room.<\/p>\n<p>LOS- 16:00<br \/>\nI make my way home in silence. I left her there, still waiting to be seen. I couldn\u2019t help feeling like I had failed her. Like I could have and should have done more for her.<\/p>\n<p>I enter the shower and finally, I exhale. I release the tightness in my chest I hadn\u2019t realized was sitting there until this moment. With the release, the tears start to fall, freely and unabashedly. Soon I don\u2019t know where the warm water from the shower head begins and the warm, salty tears from my eyes end.<\/p>\n<p>None of this was ok. I\u2019m not ok. I\u2019m angry. She deserved better. What happened to her was not ok. Is there a length of stay for the hurt that discrimination and marginalization leaves on a person?<\/p>\n<p>LOS- \u221e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephannie Acha-Morfaw School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Emergency Medicine 2023 Prose &nbsp; The third column glared an angry red. LOS-8:00 She\u2019d already been waiting in the emergency department for 8 hours. The phone rings. \u201cI\u2019m happy to come see him\u2026\u201d I cut him off and say, \u201csee \u2018her\u2019?\u201d \u201cSure, see \u2018her\u2019 he&hellip; <\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/length-of-stay\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read <\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,10],"tags":[92,93],"class_list":["post-3274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-2024-issue","category-writing","tag-prose","tag-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3346,"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3274\/revisions\/3346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebling.library.wisc.edu\/corpus-callosum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}