- Re: **** Topper **** - 's Labs

[Guest guest]

There have been only a couple instances where his T4 has been given

at the same time as other meds, and only when there's no other chose

(ie: has been NPO all day and have to play catch up). I've made it

very clear that it's to be given seperately and alone, and his nurses

(he's on primary nursing) are all VERY careful about following that

(he's got wonderful nurses here). In fact, if the doctors say for

certain things to be at certain times, which do not work well for our

scheduling at home, etc, they will change the things there allowed

to, and bug the docs about changing the things they're not - LoL.

We don't have much choice but to give his meds all in his J tube, as

his G tube has a drainage bag to it all the time because he's got

slow (almost stagnant) gastric emptying. We can't keep it IV because

he's not in the hospital all the time, and he's not going to have a

PICC forever, so they want to try to get the right dosage figured out

for in his J tube. When on IV they did adjust (I forget the system)

for the change from oral to IV and reversed it of course when they

switched him back again.

This is so very frustrating, because he has so many things going on

and it's hard to watch all these levels and know what is affecting

what and which things are screwy because of something else. I wish

I'd hear something back on that MRI because that would give me some

idea where we need to go, look, concentrate, etc.

Ami

>

> Ami

>

> He did go to T4 IV, did he not? I hope so, as a J Tube is the

worst way to

> give this med. Too much interference from other things, plus, if

they are

> giving several meds at once, it will be virtually null and void. I

don't

> want to worry you any more than you are, but you need to know that

I've had

> this argument at work, with nurses being forced by the drug orders

(time

> given to give certain meds, as in all at once in a certain period

of the

> morning, afternoon, etc..) to push these meds all at once,

depending on what

> time the written order says that certain things are supposed to be

given.

> Investigate this and MAKE the doctor change those orders, if this

is true.

> In this industry, the push for time is getting terrible, and

ashamed to say

> that many times many of these meds ARE given at once, even with the

> doctor/nurses being aware of what's given alone and what is not.

Make

> absolutely sure that his T4 is being given totally alone, just as

when given

> by mouth. As his mother and with your power of attorney, you have

a RIGHT

> to see those doctors' orders/instructions, particularly the orders

or

> anything else listed in his chart, nurses' notes, etc.... If

nursing

> personnel tries to say this isn't true, they're fudging, and simply

don't

> want you to see those orders, if they have been pushing these meds

all at

> once, when they're not supposed to. I know that with what's been

going on

> with on a bigger scale, this can somehow seem more minute, but

it is

> absolutely crucial to his recovery. IMO, and according to all I've

read on

> the sbjct, synthetic T4 cannot be translated and broken down

properly at

> that particular point in the intestine, where it goes in at the J

Tube.

> This is why giving it in this manner makes it so ridiculous. As

Topper

> said, the sodium molecule HAS to be pulled off of it by the strong

stomach

> acids, furnished in the stomach itself or else given directly IV,

to be

> processed with an iodine molecule being pulled off of it at

cellular sites.

> ly, I'm not even sure of the latter, but I do know that people

get IV

> push for large amts of T4, when it can't be done any other way.

This is one

> thing that makes SYNTHETIC T4 so " iffy " , not the natural T4 found

in our

> bodies or the natural animal thyroids. Are you standing by

watching them

> give this med everyday, or not? They are supposed to crush it, but

I will

> tell you that I've seen nurses fired for sticking WHOLE pills into

one of

> these tubes. I frankly think that they need to be taken out and

beaten to a

> pulp for this and lose their licensing, but I've not seen ONE lose

their

> whole license yet. Grrrrrrr!!!

>

>