Re My week in the hospital....so sad

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

I have dealt with doctors like this before. First

thing you need to do is go to medical records and get

a copy of your chart. Do not let them hedge about

giving it to you. Take money to pay for the xerox of

it. Do not leave medical records till you have it

either. They will tell you to come back later. Nope

stay and say you want to watch them copy it. I am a RN

on disablity now and believe me if they think you are

gonna take legal action they will doctor the chart.

They have to give it to you legally. It is your

records not theirs. When you read it you may want a

friend who is a medical person to help ya there are a

lot of abreviation that can be taken the wrong way. An

example of that is SOB which means Short of Breath

which most people would not know. You should have

never had to suffer like you did. A blood patch should

have been done with in 10 to 15 min of an onset of a

head ache after a spinal procedure. The cause of the

headache is the decrease of fluid around your brain

and spinal cord (cerebral spinal fluid) that is

leaking into the epidural space. When I was working a

blood patch and increase in IV fluids was the

treatment done. I had a spinal headache when I had my

hysterectomy done and it was the worse head ache I had

ever had and they did a blood patch which immediately

relieved it. Make sure you get the chart and don't let

them have time to doctor it and make it sound ok. When

they see people asking for charts they tend to treat

ya a little different if only out of fear of a

lawsuit. Sure hope this helps and that you feel

better. =)

Love

~Golanv

From: dcgaconnier

To: LUPIES

Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2004 9:10 AM

Subject: My week in the hospital....so sad

Ok -

I had the epidural injection last week. Started

feeling like a

spinal headach was happening (which it was...is) and

I was adviced

to go the emergency room since my pain mgm. dr was

out of town and

he does not have " back-up " . THey said call my

nuerologist and he

could help. He met me in the ER, said no doubt I

needed a blood

patch done to reliev this unbelievable pain, si he

admitted me into

ht hospital. One whole day and night I didnt se him

again. Like

clock work 3 hrs. big pain shot. then the nurse

wqould be leave.

At one point I asked if they could asked my Dr.

about the nausea and

see if he could give something since I had not eaten

in four days

sincxe the headach was so bad, the meds were going

in IV and dumping

on an empty stomach. HE NEVER called them. SO,

many more hours

clicked by. Earlier in the day before I was

admitted and still in

the ER, he ordered a caffiene drip to help the

headache...IT was

equal to 15 cups of coffee, they gave me an ativan

to help with

rapid heart beat, but...needless to say it did

nothing but keep me

awake in excrutiated pain every time I moved my

head. Well day 2

came...for 8 hrs. I saw no Dr. only nurses with

the pain med every

three hours. Well, my Iv had by this time been

burning up my arm

and it " blew " rash and fever set in. FINALLY, the

nurse was so sad

when she saw the pain was worse and I was nervous,,

she told me the

Dr. had changed his mind and did not want to take

responsibility for

doing or finding an anesthitioliogist to do the

blood patch. I

freaked. I was in big pain, I was tiered, hungry

and noe so upset,

I started bawling like a baby. HystericaLly (ha)

40 yr. old

woman...crying her eyes out!

My husband got a sitter for the kids rushed up there

to help. We

got a patient advocate and they helped. BUT, I

still got a 100mg

shot of Demerol in the butt sent home and am here to

suffer because

a spinal headache cause by spinal fliuid leak does

not go away

alone. My pain Dr. will not be back until Tuesday.

Nice, huh. We

stayed in the hospital with no Dr. overseeing

me......but no one

told me. FINALLY the nuero called me on the phone

and I was crying,

he acted like I was having an anxiety atack (very

condecending), I

told him what I thought. He " couldn't " see what the

problem was and

actually told me to go on home and if the pain got

worse to go to

hte ER again. I told him...I did what he said, I

went to he ER, the

PAIN IS WORSE< and here I am...So, exactly what

would the benfit of

me coming up to this hospital again for this problem

be????so, I

could sit alone, scared with no Dr.

Well, we talked to the head of the hospital, we

talked to the head

of the staff, we talked to the Patient advocate, and

I am feeling

pretty lousy, but I am not done with stringing this

guy from one

line to anohter. I am NOT paying fo any of his

services, we are

talking to the Ins. company to tell them of the

wasted day nd night

and next day with nothing to dowith my health

occuring.

If you can believe this, I have lost 50 lbs in 9

monhts with

deligent efforts, overseen by my endocronoligist. I

needed to lose

the weight I had gained when my thyroid stopped

working. The Dr.s

never tendwed to me, but three people from the

nutritional dept.

came by to express their concern over my weight

loss...was it

intentional or did I have an eating disorder. OH MY

GOSH! Can you

believe it. I said yes, it was intentional, no I

dont have an

eating disorder and to leave me alone. Holy cow!

Then a dietician

came in to my room with concerns that I had " denied "

my evening meal

and breakfast. I lost it and told her that was

because, NO ONE HAD

BROUGHT IT OT ME>>>oh well then they rushed in with

some food.

What a nightmare. I insisted that the Dr. discharge

me immediately

to my husbandss care, NOT to attempt to contact me,

since I had

absolutly NO faith in his ability, and I wanted

enough medication in

a shot to get me through a painful night at home.

i am still hurting severly, as well as bloated from

the 5 1/2 bags

of saline (uneeded for so long) that was pumped into

mesince there

was no Dr. supetvision to cahnge or fix any of the

orders.

The staff and nurses are appalled and were very

assuring that this

was highly erroneous behavior from a physician.

THey adviced us to

continue forward with pursing him. WHa5tever that

means.

I am still in need of a blood patch to stop the

spinal leak, but I

am petrified to do another thing.

I am a medically educated woman due to my lupus and

medical

background...but even I was upset and terrified at

the situation.

WHat happens to those folks who don't know what is

going on? The

elderly, or those who simply trust their Dr. without

question.

oh well, I have to lie down as these headaches get

worse when

sitting up. I will check in later.