Off I go to the St. Joseph Hospital ER to get a COVID-19 test for Friday’s fistulagram. My dialysis nurse was surprised that the test is administered in the ER, as if they don’t have enough to do. At St. Jude Hospital last time, they had me go to a testing lab onsite for the test, and no quarantine afterwards. Maybe the pandemic got a lot worse after early June.
To go to the ER, there is only valet parking (yay Orange County) so I have to pay for that. Also they’d better not charge me $5,714 for the test. I think that’s what my last visit to the ER cost and it turned out to be nothing.
Also I hope there is no line this early on a Monday morning.
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Update: 8:00 am
Ugh. I’m back after about 45 minutes and it was a huge waste of time. First, the test wasn’t in the ER, just the parking lot of the ER. They have a drive through tent set up for you to get swabbed. Because it looked like a last minute setup, there weren’t any markings in the lanes so it too me awhile to figure out where to go based on the vague directions from the parking attendant. Also, the nurse at the drive thru said they’re testing for Thursday’s procedures today. I guess the test takes three days to come back? Once I’m tested, I have to quarantine myself, even from family members. All this is news to me based on the conversation I had with the surgeon’s nurse.
Ugh again. What a huge pain in the ass. I live with my parents and they do all the cooking. Now they have to stay six feet away from me or wear a mask inside. I understand the need to contain COVID-19 but it seems the hospital is putting all the burden on the patients. I know they have a faster test. Why not have the patients tested before the procedure so you know they’re not infected, and save people from three days of quarantine? I need to go to the hospital two hours before my procedure and most of the time it’s just sitting in pre-op waiting for the next nurse. They can easily swab me right in the beginning and have timely test results before the procedure. Instead, they are depending on my parents to stay away from me in the same house? Which is more reliable? Are the fast tests more expensive? It’s not like the hospital is paying for anything. It’s all charged to one insurance or another.
Anyway, to avoid an extra day of home quarantine, I’m waiting to do the test tomorrow instead. They did register me today in order to save time for tomorrow. I’m guessing the lines will be much longer at 10:00 am after dialysis then at 7:30 am in the morning. Seriously, even if they can’t do the one hour test, surely there is an overnight test or something. It’s as if the hospital is making things easier on themselves by making things harder for all their patients.
Life with chronic diseases 