Posted by Lonely on December 30, 2004, at 2:15:24
In reply to And the dust settles, posted by messadivoce on December 26, 2004, at 15:35:16
Starting in late Nov. we were besieged by a battery of tests for my spouse who had some significant neurological symptoms. I finally got brave and tried to cancel his Dec. 10th appt. only to be rebuffed by the neuropsych office (although they did it very nicely). After my spouse rescheduled for a too-late date I called them back; of course they were getting testy and I ended up taking him in at the original date of Dec. 10th - and missing Christmas activities. It was for neuropsych testing. I spent many long hours writing up his med history (18 pages) and my observations instead of doing Christmas letters to friends.
The neuropsych thing followed a screw-up with a sleep-study test in which they swore up and down it had to be finished on the Thanksgiving week-end. Bull. Again, messed up the holidays. But, I fell for it. Then they didn't tell me they were letting him sleep in because it was a week-end, so, when I didn't hear from him by 6:45 I called him. Then, I hadn't heard from him by 8:30 and called again, this time telling him to get his rear home. I was scared; he's got brain damage, memory loss, and history of neurological disorders. I raised havoc w/sleep center - they even did the wrong test. Later the neurologist's office got involved. THE PROBLEM IS THAT HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS JUST DON'T NOTICE THAT BRAIN DAMAGED PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE SEEN ALONE FOR ANYTHING!!! No matter how pleasant the patient seems to be, there are some wheels that just don't turn right!
Suddenly there was an unexpected brain MRI on Dec. 19th. They didn't control the bleeding from the shunt (IV for contrast) and he started bleeding in the changing room. I dragged him back to the technician. The techie did not use sterile procedures; he put tape on the chair and then on my spouse's arm close to the "hole." He did not wear gloves either and my spouse has Hep C !!!! Well, would have served them right! They also forgot to tell him to take wallet out of his pocket so the magnetic strip on his bank card was wiped out - couldn't use it for gas the next day. Then the joker of a radiologist misinterpreted the films. I just found it out two days ago from the radiologist who showed us all the new lesions in my spouse's brain. Today my spouse took a sudden turn for the worse.
So, two days before christmas, Dec. 23rd, he was back at the neuropsych's office finishing the testing which really took about 4-1/2 hours all together although they ranted and raved about how it would take 8 hours. It was good of her to finish up on such short notice but somehow, I feel like smacking some health care workers up side the head. Yes, I'm venting!
Christmas Day was alone, no family for hundreds of miles, a spouse crying and myself crying. We went to a restaurant for dinner, one of the few in the area open on Christmas Day. We actually had a delicious meal of blackened catfish, salads, hot yeast rolls, peach cobbler, gelatin salad with fruit & nuts, & tapioca. Then looked at Christmas lights and called my mom on the other side of the country.
Oh, well, I just hope my spouse is still walking and talking next year at this time. I feel cheated; I used to love Christmas - this year I've forgotten how to love, I guess. Okay, I guess deep down I'm scared.
poster:Lonely
thread:434343
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20041228/msgs/435614.html