Kicked out of the hospital (well, really just discharged, but kicked out sounds beter.) Saturday.
Big , swollen neckache ended up being a Deep Vein Thrombosis in my neck, so have to self inject lovenox once daily straight into my belly to address that. Get an ultrasound in four days to see how that is working.
Returning to town I went to see my Mom.
She is on the high side of 88 years old, lives independently, walks on average of two miles daily, is a retired computer programmer and rocks her laptop and crossoword.
Well, she was confused and wanted me to take her daily medication for her. …………….huh??????
Got her to the hospital and admitted with a wrritten and digital copy of her medical records, especially her daily heart and thyroid meds.
At the hospital this morning , after looking at her chart I saw she had received no medications of any kind.
I asked the nurses to page the attending physician
Just as I was explaining the importance of Mom receiving her medication and ESPECIALLY Toporol, which has a black box warning about not stopping suddenly …………………..of which she takes twice daily and had not received once since being in the hospital.
At the snap of a finger, the monitors went off……………..her heart rate went from 75 to 195 and BP from 147/90 to 80/50.
It took two hours for the nurses to get her stable.
After she was stable, I went to her attending doctor and simply said, "I do have confidence you are the best choice to attend to her medical needs. since you failed to see the importance of her current medical regiment" and think it best that Mom have a doctor that is bit more sensitive to her medical history.
This doctor and I had been standing face to face. She sat down in a chair, reclined back, dropped the medical record on the floor, bowed her chest out, dangled both arms down, kicked her feet out and said "Boy, I am your mothers doctor and I know what is best for her". Her facial expression was cold as stone.
Okay, I.m gonna shorten this up, I told her she was fired and has no medical authority over my mother ( with my mothers power of attorney in hand)
Doc calls security, two burly fellows show up right behind each of my shoulders, she tells them I can't fire her, they look at one another, some nurse calls and gets some suit, short conversation with me, then tells the doctor………………..you are releived of your duties regarding this patient.
Took about 15 minutes and presto: new Doc, new orders (and there were a bunch of smirking nurses)
Honestly, I don't get why it always has to be this hard for me.
Does tenacity always come with this price?
Sorry, weak moment,; and no I do not need any cheese to go with my whine thankyou.
It is so important to always be on guard while deep in the throes of medical care and remember that doctors are not all omnipotent………………….they are jjust like the rest of us…………human; warts and all.
Cheers,
Charlie S
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