older adult - constipation and vomiting - urgent care question

[Anonymous]

Full disclosure - this is about my elderly father. I am following the story from a distance. There is jack shit I can do about the situation. But I just want to overthink everything as I wait to hear more info.

Dad has been experiencing constipation and started vomiting. I assume it was pretty bad, because he is incredibly stoic and resist seeking medical attention. He allowed my brother to take him to urgent care. My advice was to go straight to the ER with those symptoms, but he was not willing.

I assumed he was experiencing abdominal pain as well because he mentioned he thought it could be his hernia acting up. I assumed that Urgent Care would triage him immediately and send him to the ER, but apparently they are not. They are doing some "imaging" first.

So that's basically my question - why would urgent care NOT send someone with his symptoms straight to the ER? If they do some imaging and see anything troubling, aren't they going to have to send him to the ER then? (And now is will be 6 or 7 PM versus 2 PM which was when he should have gone there...).

And if they don't see anything troubling, they still don't know what the problem is. Even if they see impacted stool - Urgent Care isn't going to disimpact a bowel right? On a 85 year old?

So help me understand what Urgent Care is doing here. Maybe he didn't express tender abdomen on an examination?

[Anonymous]

I have found it very useful to plug in the most accurate description of symptoms I could write into ChatGPT, and examine what it comes up with. It did a great job with my father and I. That way, you get a better idea of what these symptoms could mean, and how important an ER visit might be.

He actually does need imaging, OP, to see if there's a blockage or something. Whether it's done in the UC or ER is another question.

[Anonymous]

UC with imaging is better/much faster than ER.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found it very useful to plug in the most accurate description of symptoms I could write into ChatGPT, and examine what it comes up with. It did a great job with my father and I. That way, you get a better idea of what these symptoms could mean, and how important an ER visit might be.

He actually does need imaging, OP, to see if there's a blockage or something. Whether it's done in the UC or ER is another question.

Thanks, PP. I'm so old-fashioned, I do my medical worrywarting by comparing his symptoms to all the symptoms of other people I have heard about. Like those with a STRANGULATED HERNIA which was immediatly what my mind went to.

Yes, of course he needed the imaging. I'm trying to figure out what possible reason they would have had to NOT send him to the ER.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC with imaging is better/much faster than ER.

Faster - except if they find something troubling, he still needs to go to the ER and start all over again there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UC with imaging is better/much faster than ER.

But, OK - I'll grant that maybe they can get the imaging done in half an hour at Urgent Care but it could take a couple-three hours in the ER, Saturday night in a medium sized city.

[Anonymous]

If they have the imaging readily available to them, they may see it as being able to send him to the ER with a diagnosis, rather than send him over where he’d have to wait for imaging behind more emergent patients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UC with imaging is better/much faster than ER.

Faster - except if they find something troubling, he still needs to go to the ER and start all over again there.

They won’t be starting over, they can send the images to the ER.

[Anonymous]

You don't know how quickly the ER would have gotten imaging. If he's sent there now, at least he'll already have that step done and the urgent care can call ahead and let them know he's coming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have found it very useful to plug in the most accurate description of symptoms I could write into ChatGPT, and examine what it comes up with. It did a great job with my father and I. That way, you get a better idea of what these symptoms could mean, and how important an ER visit might be.

He actually does need imaging, OP, to see if there's a blockage or something. Whether it's done in the UC or ER is another question.

Thanks, PP. I'm so old-fashioned, I do my medical worrywarting by comparing his symptoms to all the symptoms of other people I have heard about. Like those with a STRANGULATED HERNIA which was immediatly what my mind went to.

Yes, of course he needed the imaging. I'm trying to figure out what possible reason they would have had to NOT send him to the ER.

Whoa, getting way ahead of yourself there.

[Anonymous]

Did your brother go into the examining room with your father? Did one of them explain his symptoms? Has the imaging been done and is your dad waiting in the office for results?

[Anonymous]

Is it a UC that has imaging? Not all of them do. If they do, it is probably MUCH faster than being in a ER all night exposed to people with bad cases of the flu and pneumonia. It's not as chaotic either. If they think he needs to go, they will send him. They do make mistakes, but ERs aren't perfect either. Hopefully your brother helped him give the full story. Sometimes elderly downplay in the hopes of going home.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Urgent care did send him to the ER for a surgical consult.

(To the PP who thought the strangulated hernia was "getting way ahead of myself" - it's because one of my dad's comments was that he thought his "hernia was acting up".)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Sometimes elderly downplay in the hopes of going home.

yeah, 100% that describes my dad! That's why I'm so concerned... the fact that he called my brother to take him to Urgent Care is a big deal, and I"m sure right now he'd want to be home in hid bed, not entering the ER for possible surgery. )-:

But I wish he had gone to the ER at 2 PM not now at 7 PM.

[Anonymous]

OP, please update when you can.