My ONE DAY STAYCATION at our local hospital
All hospitals have routines, but.. unfortunately.. all pts don’t always safely fit within their routines. I had to go back to the local hospital for a scheduled procedure. I had the same procedure done > 10 yrs ago with a different prescriber and a different hospital.
First the physician’s staff called me TWICE a few hours apart to tell me about the timing of the procedure.. as if the office staff was not communicating with one another.
I told them that I had the procedure before… I was informed that I had to be NPO after midnight and had to be at the hospital at 10:30 and make sure that I have a driver to take me home.
I get there and they ask ” have you have your blood labs done yet ?”… no one told me about having labs done… Had just been to my PCP a couple of weeks early and had my annual physical and had blood/urine labs done.. TOO OLD !! .. OK… I’m in a hospital.. how much of a push to get some blood work done….
Get into the pre-op room… IV cath put in arm… all of the usual procedures… I knew that I would have to be laying flat for a couple of hours after the procedure.. no big deal…
So they start going over the particulars… it was now abt noon and procedure is to start at 12:30… and it will take abt 1.5 hrs… I am informed that this physician wants a me to be flat in bed for FIVE HOURS… and then WALK AROUND FOR ONE HOUR…
I start doing the MATH … procedure will be over at 2 PM… plus 5 hours flat on my back… it is now 7 PM and another hour walking would make it 8 PM.. if ALL GOES RIGHT !
Barb CANNOT drive after dark because of some of her medical issues that affects her eyes… so I told the nurse that we have a scheduling problem… a few back and forth with the nurse of “CAN’TS”.. She told me that I couldn’t drive.. even though I would be at least 6 hours post procedure… well I am not letting Barb out on the road.. dangerous to other people on the road.. besides ourselves… Nurse leaves the room.. seemingly the procedure is going to go forth… and I guess at 8 PM – 9PM… getting home is my problem…
I am sitting there on the bed… I could feel my BP rising… This was an elective procedure… there is no life-death issues here… unless Barb or I have to drive home after dark…
I push the “CALL BUTTON” on the handset… nurse comes back in … and I pull the FINAL CAN’T … This procedure CAN’T happen TODAY ! “I’ll have to talk to the doctor…”… I didn’t say it… but.. you can talk to the Mayor … the Governor… or whoever… I know how to pull a angio-cath and get dressed.
Procedure is now rescheduled in 10 days for 9 AM… and be done by 4:30… giving a 2 -2.5 hr window of “wiggle room” to get out of town before the sun goes down.
On the good side.. when the hospital called concerning pre-admission information.. they confirmed my allergies to CARROTS AND PEAS … someone appeared to have listen on my previous stay and took notes in their system. 🙂
Filed under: General Problems
I was sent to the emergency room after a visit with a GP because of my gallbladder. Went to the first ER, had problems, and left to go to another hospital. The first ER ran tests, but the second hospital ran the same tests over again, just scant hours later. I tried to find out the reason for this, but was met with excuses. Obviously, it’s a way for hospitals to make money.