vent!

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

No question from me today, but I'm upset and angry and hurting and just

plain mad, and I figured this would be a good place to vent my spleen since

I bet a lot of you know what I'm feeling.

I was scheduled to have a total shoulder replacement surgery yesterday.

It's been scheduled for several months. Last week I had to go in for pre-op

clearance testing -- a 6 hour procedure of running to different floors on

the hospital, signing in and waiting in a different little room each time,

having the procedure, going to the next one... I had blood drawn, urine

testing, EKG, echocardiogram, lots of X-rays, cholesterol finger-prick,

stress test, etc. The hospital this was performed at is in Manhattan and

I'm an hour away, and my surgeon's office did the scheduling for me without

giving me any choice in the matter, and only one day of advance notice --

they said it was difficult to make the appointment, but still, before this

they hadn't even told me I needed any pre-op testing. Just called out of

the blue and said " we've made you an appointment in the city tomorrow to

have a full day of testing done and if you don't get there you can't have

the surgery. " It was at 12 noon on a week day. My father had to take off

work with 24 hours' notice to bring me in there because somehow it was

absolutely nececssary that the testing be done at that hospital on that day.

ANYway that isn't even what I'm furious about. I went into the (same)

hospital yesterday. They told me to be there at 2pm, and I was not allowed

to eat anything after midnight Sunday and not to drink anything, even water,

after 9am. I get extremely sick and weak when my blood sugar plummets so

this was incredibly uncomfortable. My parents both took off from work and

we went into the city and signed in -- I had to be brought into the surgical

waiting room in a wheelchair because I was so weak from lack of food and

water that I couldn't stand by myself. We signed in, did all the paper

work, I put on the surgical gown and hair-cap -- and it was freezing in the

little curtained off room they told me to sit in. No chairs, just

windowsill and a flat OR bed that didn't go up or down. A nurse came and

tried to draw blood, but was too incompetent to hit the vein the first three

times she tried, despite ten minutes of digging around with the needle under

my skin, so finally another nurse came to put my IV in and took the blood

easily while she was doing that. I still have a deep purple round ring

bruise from the tourniquet and I can't unbend my elbow. Skip forward

several hours, I'm freezing and aching and not allowed even one sip of

water, I can barely even SIT up let alone stand. But that's okay because

thee isn't anywhere to sit. Another nurse comes in and demands that I pee

into a cup -- I'd just used the ladies' room ten minutes prior because no

one told me I'd have to do this. It eventually comes out that the urine

test is to determine pregnancy because the anesthesiologist cannot put me

under without this test. Now there is utterly no possible way I'm pregnant

and it's going to be a while before I can produce anything for the little

cup, but this doesn't matter -- they yell at me anyway.

Several more hours. It's now close to 8pm. You can imagine the state I'm

in not having eaten for 24 hours or drank even a sip of water for 12. The

surgeon comes in and says that everything is cancelled! Because the blood

test shows my blood isn't clotting properly. I need to have a full blood

workup by hematology to determine the problem then we can think about

rescheduling. Now here is why I'm furious -- the blood clot problem SHOWED

UP on my pre-op testing and was noted, and nobody notified me or mentioned

it! They KNEW about this and just, what, figured it'd go away by itself

over the weekend? What the F - - K was the purpose of going through that

hell of pre-op testing if they weren't going to actually pay attention to

the results?

I could just spit nails if I had any energy. I'm still recovering from the

24 hour fast. My body's been so abused I can't just bounce back with one

good meal - by the time I was allowed to eat I was too weak to keep down

anything besides some broth.

I hate doctors. I hate hospitals, I hate nurses, I hate the entire medical

profession. They're all OUT to GET US.

Jenni

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

What despicable treatment fro supposedly ' caring' medical staff !!

I hope they have a good explanation why they dragged you in and made you wait hours when they knew your bloods were wrong. Someone somewhere must be responsible!

gentle hugs, Lynne x

[Guest guest]

I didn't know that. A Doctor's clinic In Waxahachie would really

have to pay there patience. The patience has to wait two hours

to see their doctor...........Joyce

----- Original Message -----

From: Harold Van Tuyl

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 4:13 PM

Subject: Re: vent!

I have heard of doctors having to pay their patients for making them wait an unreasonable amount of time. You might want to see if an attorney thinks you and/or your parents have a reasonable complaint. God bless.

----- Original Message -----

From: Jenni

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:31 AM

Subject: vent!

Hi everyone,No question from me today, but I'm upset and angry and hurting and just plain mad, and I figured this would be a good place to vent my spleen since I bet a lot of you know what I'm feeling.I was scheduled to have a total shoulder replacement surgery yesterday. It's been scheduled for several months. Last week I had to go in for pre-op clearance testing -- a 6 hour procedure of running to different floors on the hospital, signing in and waiting in a different little room each time, having the procedure, going to the next one... I had blood drawn, urine testing, EKG, echocardiogram, lots of X-rays, cholesterol finger-prick, stress test, etc. The hospital this was performed at is in Manhattan and I'm an hour away, and my surgeon's office did the scheduling for me without giving me any choice in the matter, and only one day of advance notice -- they said it was difficult to make the appointment, but still, before this they hadn't even told me I needed any pre-op testing. Just called out of the blue and said "we've made you an appointment in the city tomorrow to have a full day of testing done and if you don't get there you can't have the surgery." It was at 12 noon on a week day. My father had to take off work with 24 hours' notice to bring me in there because somehow it was absolutely nececssary that the testing be done at that hospital on that day.ANYway that isn't even what I'm furious about. I went into the (same) hospital yesterday. They told me to be there at 2pm, and I was not allowed to eat anything after midnight Sunday and not to drink anything, even water, after 9am. I get extremely sick and weak when my blood sugar plummets so this was incredibly uncomfortable. My parents both took off from work and we went into the city and signed in -- I had to be brought into the surgical waiting room in a wheelchair because I was so weak from lack of food and water that I couldn't stand by myself. We signed in, did all the paper work, I put on the surgical gown and hair-cap -- and it was freezing in the little curtained off room they told me to sit in. No chairs, just windowsill and a flat OR bed that didn't go up or down. A nurse came and tried to draw blood, but was too incompetent to hit the vein the first three times she tried, despite ten minutes of digging around with the needle under my skin, so finally another nurse came to put my IV in and took the blood easily while she was doing that. I still have a deep purple round ring bruise from the tourniquet and I can't unbend my elbow. Skip forward several hours, I'm freezing and aching and not allowed even one sip of water, I can barely even SIT up let alone stand. But that's okay because thee isn't anywhere to sit. Another nurse comes in and demands that I pee into a cup -- I'd just used the ladies' room ten minutes prior because no one told me I'd have to do this. It eventually comes out that the urine test is to determine pregnancy because the anesthesiologist cannot put me under without this test. Now there is utterly no possible way I'm pregnant and it's going to be a while before I can produce anything for the little cup, but this doesn't matter -- they yell at me anyway.Several more hours. It's now close to 8pm. You can imagine the state I'm in not having eaten for 24 hours or drank even a sip of water for 12. The surgeon comes in and says that everything is cancelled! Because the blood test shows my blood isn't clotting properly. I need to have a full blood workup by hematology to determine the problem then we can think about rescheduling. Now here is why I'm furious -- the blood clot problem SHOWED UP on my pre-op testing and was noted, and nobody notified me or mentioned it! They KNEW about this and just, what, figured it'd go away by itself over the weekend? What the F - - K was the purpose of going through that hell of pre-op testing if they weren't going to actually pay attention to the results?I could just spit nails if I had any energy. I'm still recovering from the 24 hour fast. My body's been so abused I can't just bounce back with one good meal - by the time I was allowed to eat I was too weak to keep down anything besides some broth.I hate doctors. I hate hospitals, I hate nurses, I hate the entire medical profession. They're all OUT to GET US.Jenni