Re: Kimber's back from the hospital

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/12/2004 6:25:13 PM Eastern Standard Time,

hominid2@... writes:

I'm so glad to be back and at home.

Kimber

Hi Kimber, I am so sorry that you were put through so much at the hospital.

I know from experience what you went through. Being home again I know feels

wonderful. Will you have continued pain with your injured disk? You have been

ill for such a long time you could tell the doctors exactly what medications

to give you if only they would listen.

Please feel better very soon Kimber and welcome back. Love, Shirley

[Guest guest]

Hi Kimber,

My oh My, did you ever have a bad hospital stay. Why don't these idiots

listen to us with CP in the first place. They could save all lot of our

money and most of all keep us pout of all the pain that you must suffer.

Your fall was certainly inexcusable and they should have listen to you when

you told them you were having back spasm, in the first place. I sure you

won't want to ever go back to that hospital again. I hope there is another

one you can go to. You should report all your problems to JAACO. I bet

they would be interested in your story. Well the most important thing is

that you are finally felling better. Do take it easy and don't overdue

things now that you are home.

Take Care,

Louie in WV

Kimber's back from the hospital

> HI All,

> I am home finally from the hospital and man, has it been the hospital

> visit from hell this time.

> First when I got to the ER, the first doctor to see me gave me dilaudid

> for the pain, even though the last time I was given it, it didn't work

> unless mixed with fentanyl. I tried to tell him that, but the doctor was

> a stubborn as and said that had no meaning if I didn't know the dosage

> of dilaudid they gave me and he was being really agressive and gave me

> 1mg of dilaudid. Well, of course, the stuff had no effect on my pain.

> When I told the nurse that it wasn't working, the doctor had already

> left and another one was on call. When speaking to him, he listened when

> I said that it only worked if I was given a dosage of fentanyl at the

> same time. So the doctor gave me a shot of both. About two hours later

> it had started to wear off and I asked for another shot. The nurse then

> said that the doctor only ordered one shot and I asked to speak to the

> doctor since we still didn't know if I was being admitted. The doctor

> came and said that he was just going to give me one more shot and

> something to drink and then send me home. This idiot didn't even know

> how to treat pancreatitis. NO ONE gives a patient with pancreatitis

> something to drink. And he also wasn't going to admit me. He tried to

> say he'd treated lots of patients with acute and chronic pancreatitis

> and you could tell he was lying through his teeth. Well, both me and my

> mother started into him for such a stupid thing. He finally got the

> point that we were calling him an idiot We were going to go camp out in

> my GI's office and get her to admit me if this idiot wouldn't admit me

> and we said so to his face..This was about 7 in the morning as I had

> gotten to the emergency room about10pm. About ten minutes later a lady

> doctor came over and said they were admitting me and all they were

> waiting for was a hospital bed to be available. I gather either the guy

> called my GI or the internal medicine team has told him he was wrong in

> his clinical judgement. We never saw that male doctor again. I didnt'

> get a hospital bed until 6pm on Tuesday night. Luckily, I had gotten a

> single room, about the one good thing happening . The lady doctor

> prescribe demoral as that is what I was usually prescribed for

> pancreatitis.Well, about four days later, I started having muscle spasms

> all while the doctor was talking to me and my blood sugar was low so we

> thought that was the cause. However, I continued to have muscle spasms

> even after I my bloodsugar had raised for the next day or too, usually

> just after I had my demerol shot.. That's when I realized that demerol

> was probably causing them. I had the nurses call the doctor on call as

> it was in the middle of the night and he just told them to watch me, but

> not to make sure someone was with me whenever I got out of bed. So, of

> course, while walking to the bathroom, I had a spasm and I fell on my

> back. I could barely breath and my pancreas of course reacted very badly

> to the fall and I felt as bad as I had been when I was first admitted

> and I had just been feeling good enough to try clear liquids. They gave

> me some extra pain meds to cover the pain in my back, but it still hurt

> so bad even after the pain meds wore off, so I had the doctor take an

> xray of my back. I had managed to crush the T-8 disk. I told the doctor

> then that I was not taking any more demerol and that he'd have to find a

> substitute. So I ended up on fentanyl patches and Dilaudid by IV. I had

> to take 150 mgs of fentanyl and 6 ml of Dilaudid to cover all the pain.

> And I wasn't to get out of bed without a nurse to help me. He should

> have done that when I had my first spasm in front of him. Luckily, by

> then I didn't have any problems with getting the pain meds I needed. I

> had to have ice packs to help with the back pain and I couldn't sit or

> stand for any length of time. Then I developed fluid in my lungs. Just

> what I needed. They gave me one of those breathing tools they have to

> help clear out the liquid in my lungs. Then I developed constipation

> from all the pain meds I was on, so they had to give me a lot of stool

> softeners and laxatives to help get over that. By that time, I'd been in

> the hospital over 8 days, which was the longest I had previously been in

> the hospital. Finally, after two weeks and two days, I was released to

> go home. While i was waiting for the meds they were sending me home on

> and for my mom to come and pick me up, someone came in and asked if I

> was on Cobra, because my Kaiser insurance had been canceled on March

> 1st. Man was I was shocked. I had just had my long term disability

> approved and Kaiser was supposed to cover me for a while long since I

> was approved for the long term disability insurance (I had been a Kaiser

> employee before I went on disability). Even if Kaiser hadn't been

> supposed to pay my premium for having been approved long term disability

> insurance, they should have offered me Cobra Insurance before they

> terminated me and given me 30 days notice before they terminated my

> medical insurance. Thanks to HIPPA, it is now illegal for employers to

> terminate medical insurance benefits without 30 days notice and are

> required to offer the employee 18 months of Cobra to continue their

> medical insurance, neither of which i had received. After 5 phone calls

> to various people at Kaiser, I finally got the name of the person I

> needed to speak to. And he was out to lunch. I left him 3 voicemails

> since I called him every half hour. He finally called me back and it

> turned out that someone dropped the ball and only terminated my status

> as waiting for MetLife's approval of my disability insurance. and hadn't

> switched me over to being approved of getting the insurance and the

> premium of my medical insurance to be paid for a period of time by

> Kaiser. The guy apologized for ther error and was reinstating my

> insurance and back paid it so that there was no lapse of coverage and so

> that all of my hospital visit was paid for. Man was I mad about that. I

> had thought that everything had been taken care of and here was this

> nice lovely mess instead. Grr. AT least it got taken care of and my

> insurance reinstated.

>

> Well, sorry for the book, but I just had to vent about that visit. I

> would have had my laptop,but the hospital isn't in a good section of

> town and I didn't want it stolen when I was sleeping, so I've been out

> of touch with all of you. I'm so glad to be back and at home.

>

> Kimber

>

> --

> Kimber

> Vallejo, CA

> hominid2@...

> Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a

licensed physician or health care professional.

>

> --

> Kimber

> Vallejo, CA

> hominid2@...

> Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a

licensed physician or health care professional.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kimber,

I am sorry for the treatment you got from the hospital. At least you

were at Kaiser right? I have to go to Sutter Solano the next attack I

have unless I call an ambulance and make like it's a life threatening

situation. Then I can stay here in Fairfield at Northbay. And your

right about the part of town both hospitals are in. I guess I won't be

bringing my laptop either the next time around. But hey, it's not San

Francisco!!! Get better soon, ok?! :-)

Sandy in Fairfield

>

>

[Guest guest]

Sandy,

yes, it is Kaiser, however it's Oakland Kaiser, not Vallejo (I found the

doctors at Oakland better than those at Vallejo), so it's in a bad part

of town in a big sense (ie. you can't take anything sharp into the

emergency room). I'm doing better each day and slowly coming off the

meds they sent me home on, which in my opinion was too soon for me to

really be discharged,. but the doctor really didn't see anything going

on but weaning me off the pain meds at the time I was discharged, so she

sent me home.

Anyways, hope you are doing well,

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Shirley,

thanks. Actually, halfway through the visit, the doctors figured I knew

what I was doing and were willing to listen on how much pain medications

I needed. It was actually kind of strange doing that. My GI basically

tells all doctors who are helping me through an acute attack, to " give

her whatever she wants, she knows what she's doing " . That's a lot of

trust there. Yes, I'm still having problem from the injured disk (it's

actually crushed) and I'll be asking my primary care what we should be

doing to help it when I see him on my follow up visit. I'm doing better

slowly, so thatnks for your get better wishes.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Louie,

actually, I was having full body spasms, not back spasms, which made it

worse. And I'd have no warning when they would occur. Very scary.

Actually, the hospital care was great, it was just that particular

doctor was a problem and he was only my physician for a few days (Kaiser

has a hospitalist system and you get the doctor on call and they are

usually only on call for a few days at a time.). I had pretty good care

from all the other doctors who took care of me while I was in there.

This was my second stay at Oakland Kaiser and I found the doctor and

hospital care better than the ones I got at Vallejo Kaiser, which is

much closer. My GI is an Oakland doctor so whoever is on call can

contact my GI for any questions conceriing my care). Same with all my

other doctors (PCP, Chronic Pain, etc.). I'm taking things slowly and

my mother is staying with me in the evenings for the rest of this week

(She has to work, though she took off the day I got oout of the hospital

an the day after to make sure I was capable of taking care of myself

during the day).

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a

licensed physician or health care professional.

[Guest guest]

Kimber,

Why Oakland? How come not Vallejo? If I need a specialist thats where

the other one is that has seen me (well, looked at me and shook my hand

anyway before he declared me cured!) and practices. Right accross from

The big Hospital in Oakland. I don't wanna be there for ANY reason. I

don't understand how you slept at all! I am scared to take my laptop to

Vallejo Sutter Solano let alone Oakland. Poor you!

Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Sandy/California

Kimber wrote:

>Sandy,

>yes, it is Kaiser, however it's Oakland Kaiser, not Vallejo (I found the

>doctors at Oakland better than those at Vallejo), so it's in a bad part

>of town in a big sense (ie. you can't take anything sharp into the

>emergency room). I'm doing better each day and slowly coming off the

>meds they sent me home on, which in my opinion was too soon for me to

>really be discharged,. but the doctor really didn't see anything going

>on but weaning me off the pain meds at the time I was discharged, so she

>sent me home.

>Anyways, hope you are doing well,

>Kimber

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Sandy,

I got to Oakland Kaiser because I like the quality of the doctors in

Oakland better than Vallejo Kaiser. Plus, my primary care and all other

doctors are in Oakland (I used to work about 5 minutes away by cab and

since I don't have a car, it was easier for me to take off an hour off

of work to go to a doctor visit in Oakland, than four hours to see one

in Vallejo since it took me 2 hours to get to Oakland by bus and BART.

The GI I have right now at Oakland is excellent and if I got to the

Oakland ER for my pancreatitis issues, the doctors consult her about my

care, which Vallejo didn't (I had 2 cases of pancreatitis that I went to

Vallejo and I was not very pleased with the care I got, especially in

the area of pain management, which is very important with

pancreatitis). My current GI will tell the doctors to actually LISTEN

to me as I know more about my condition than they do and the doctors

generally do so (at least all the doctors except for the first two ER

physicians did so) and so I was able to actually be comfortable most of

the time instead of in horrible pain. This last time I actually ended

up with a room of my own.

Was the big hospital you went to in Oakland, Oakland Kaiser or Summit

Hospital ? They are two separate hospitals. I've actually been in

both, but I was only in Summit for my heart bypass surgery which was

before I was a Kaiser member.

I'm feeling better and slowly comming of the high dosage of pain meds

that they had me on while I was there. My back still hurts a bit and I

spend a bit each day lying on ice packs and I am waiting for a follow-up

appointment with my primary care to find out what else we need to do for

my back.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.