Waiting
On Sunday evening, we were back at the hospital with mother...we got there about 6:30. Her initial exam revealed a normal BP but an o2 level of 83 (should be 95 or better) so they hooked her up to a tank and wheeled her back into the ER. There were only 3 other families waiting so I was hopefully that we would not have another marathon session waiting in the ER. Sure, yeah...what was I thinking.
When she was in the ER back in March, both my brother and I got to stay in the room with her, but the hospital has since become real Nazi's about allowing only one visitor at a time so we began the tag team game...coming back and forth as tests were done, results came in, need for information from her little book containing her medicines and allergies.
It didn't take us long to figure out that things were not going to move any faster this night than it did on any previous evening, but it did show why they call it practicing medicine.
I was in the room with my mother waiting on them to come get her for a CT scan when her o2 level kept dipping below 90. I would have her do several deep breaths until it went back up and the alarm would turn off. I should note that on our ER visits, we have heard the alarms on the monitors go off many, many times either because of her BP or her o2 levels and never has anyone come in to check on it. When they came to get her for the scan, the guy went to move her o2 tube from the wall unit to the tank on the bed to discover that it wasn't even turned on. I went back to the waiting room to update my brother while she was taken for tests. He recalled that the doctor (one of many) who had come in to see her had turned it off to see what her real level was....and apparently had not turned it back on.....how comforting.
She was gone nearly an hour and when she returned, my brother was back in the room and called out when he was able to get a signal to tell me that it would be 45 minutes to an hour before they could get someone to read the tests. When they finally did, they decided to admit her. Of course, they couldn't admit her, but had to call her regular doctor (or rather their service since her doctor doesn't do admitting at night) to get her admitted. Since we'd just come back from vacation, my brother went home at this point and I stayed with my mother.
They had said that based on her EKG and blood tests that they felt that she might have had a slight heart attack and felt that she had pneumonia again in her left lung. My mother's reaction to this news: "Can I go home?" Uh....NO...what are you thinking?!?!
This meant more blood tests to confirm and finding her a room. Our hospital is really two hospitals that supposedly merged, but much everything runs separately. We prefer the one with the ER, but the only rooms available were in the mother/baby unit so she was going to have to go to the "other" hospital.
So we waited...I figured out how to silence the alarm and how to reset the bp cuff to take another reading. They had her on fluids and took her off, but then her BP went down (it was NORMAL when we checked in) so they gave her more fluids (too bad you threw out a 1/2 bag before and now we get to pay for 2 bags). And they had to do more tests before they sent her over, but it should all be done with her moved by 2:00AM at the latest. They did her blood testing (along the way this included taking blood through her IV, sticking her other arm and her hand) and took her for another scan. Then the nurse announced that her BP was up enough and that the ambulance was there to move her across the street and she would let them know to give her another couple of minutes to go to the bathroom and then she'd be off. We didn't see that nurse again (and I went looking for her), but no one came for another 40 minutes or so to get her. And I heard them talking about how her IV had been left on full and the bag had been sucked dry. By the time they finished and got her on her way to her room, it was a few minutes after 3:00AM and nearly 4 by the time I got home.
They did finally decide that she didn't have a heart attack, by a partially collapsed lung (attributed to a condition that led to her 2000 65 day stay in the hospital) and the fluid caused her heart to work harder messing with her EKG and heart enzyme test. So she was sprung mid-afternoon Monday with instructions (which she will undoubtedly partially ignorem like she did after her knee surgery this year). So now we wait to see what comes next.
On another, completely unrelated note, I finally figured out how to add a photo to my profile!
When she was in the ER back in March, both my brother and I got to stay in the room with her, but the hospital has since become real Nazi's about allowing only one visitor at a time so we began the tag team game...coming back and forth as tests were done, results came in, need for information from her little book containing her medicines and allergies.
It didn't take us long to figure out that things were not going to move any faster this night than it did on any previous evening, but it did show why they call it practicing medicine.
I was in the room with my mother waiting on them to come get her for a CT scan when her o2 level kept dipping below 90. I would have her do several deep breaths until it went back up and the alarm would turn off. I should note that on our ER visits, we have heard the alarms on the monitors go off many, many times either because of her BP or her o2 levels and never has anyone come in to check on it. When they came to get her for the scan, the guy went to move her o2 tube from the wall unit to the tank on the bed to discover that it wasn't even turned on. I went back to the waiting room to update my brother while she was taken for tests. He recalled that the doctor (one of many) who had come in to see her had turned it off to see what her real level was....and apparently had not turned it back on.....how comforting.
She was gone nearly an hour and when she returned, my brother was back in the room and called out when he was able to get a signal to tell me that it would be 45 minutes to an hour before they could get someone to read the tests. When they finally did, they decided to admit her. Of course, they couldn't admit her, but had to call her regular doctor (or rather their service since her doctor doesn't do admitting at night) to get her admitted. Since we'd just come back from vacation, my brother went home at this point and I stayed with my mother.
They had said that based on her EKG and blood tests that they felt that she might have had a slight heart attack and felt that she had pneumonia again in her left lung. My mother's reaction to this news: "Can I go home?" Uh....NO...what are you thinking?!?!
This meant more blood tests to confirm and finding her a room. Our hospital is really two hospitals that supposedly merged, but much everything runs separately. We prefer the one with the ER, but the only rooms available were in the mother/baby unit so she was going to have to go to the "other" hospital.
So we waited...I figured out how to silence the alarm and how to reset the bp cuff to take another reading. They had her on fluids and took her off, but then her BP went down (it was NORMAL when we checked in) so they gave her more fluids (too bad you threw out a 1/2 bag before and now we get to pay for 2 bags). And they had to do more tests before they sent her over, but it should all be done with her moved by 2:00AM at the latest. They did her blood testing (along the way this included taking blood through her IV, sticking her other arm and her hand) and took her for another scan. Then the nurse announced that her BP was up enough and that the ambulance was there to move her across the street and she would let them know to give her another couple of minutes to go to the bathroom and then she'd be off. We didn't see that nurse again (and I went looking for her), but no one came for another 40 minutes or so to get her. And I heard them talking about how her IV had been left on full and the bag had been sucked dry. By the time they finished and got her on her way to her room, it was a few minutes after 3:00AM and nearly 4 by the time I got home.
They did finally decide that she didn't have a heart attack, by a partially collapsed lung (attributed to a condition that led to her 2000 65 day stay in the hospital) and the fluid caused her heart to work harder messing with her EKG and heart enzyme test. So she was sprung mid-afternoon Monday with instructions (which she will undoubtedly partially ignorem like she did after her knee surgery this year). So now we wait to see what comes next.
On another, completely unrelated note, I finally figured out how to add a photo to my profile!
posted by Hope at 7:22 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Hope
I'm glad to hear your mom is out of the hospital and that it wasn't any of the things you feared it was...
Sounds like all very good reasons why one should avoid hospitals and doctors like the plague (and I do). I especially like the "put an oxygen mask on her face and not turn on the oxygen" part, kinda like putting a pillow over your face don't you think? No wonder her o2 levels dropped...
Love the new profile picture, looks just like you...;)
Dagoth: Sometimes it does seem like there are no good choices...you can't not take someone to the ER when they need it, but at the same time....it is truly a frustrating experience and one that I hope we don't have to repeat anytime soon!
Thanks...I feel like it really captures me well!
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