A few years ago, my son had to have his appendix out. I was on my way home from Las Vegas attending a Utah Football game, somewhere in central Utah when my cell phone rang with the news. I couldn't do anything but keep driving, but at least I knew.
My wife had called her sister who is an RN, and, Sandy told her to take Danny to the hospital because it sounded like an appendicitis. So she did.
At IMC here in Murray they took x-rays, did an examination and concluded that he was having an appendicitis, confirming my sister in laws diagnosis. And refused to treat him. He was not 18, so they made, Deb take him to, Primary Children's Hospital up by the, "U".
I've never had an appendicitis, but I have it on good sources I believe, that it hurts like hell. My good source is my son.
So, my daughter drives them up to Primary. Where, despite every thing they have heard, and information they have been shared by IMC, they decide to take another x-ray. I'm in the room now.
The doctor as much as told us that the x-ray wouldn't be any more conclusive than the one taken at IMC, but they had to do it anyway. X-ray's don't really help in appendicitis cases because a problem or blockage can just look like, "poop". So to be sure they need to do a CAT Scan. But they will do an x-ray for now.
Danny is still in pain when they come back into the room and tell us the x-ray was not conclusive, because it just looked like, "poop". So they would need to do a CAT Scan.
No, "shit"?
You told us this would happen, and it has. My son is still in pain, and now you have been able to bill my insurance for a bunch of stuff you knew wouldn't help, but you rest assured they won't question and will just pay, haven't you?
Long story short, they take out his appendix in about 20 minutes, and he has to spend four days in the hospital to recover. After he spent ALL DAY Sunday in pain despite the fact that the first doctor who saw him knew what was wrong, and could have made it better, but since it wasn't life threatening he milked it for all he could.
This is, "The Best Health Care System In The World"? I think not.
And I was reminded of this today when I took my wife into IMC (why do I keep going to these people!?) for tests. I won't go into detail, but she's not been well for a while, and they can't figure out why, and it's eitehr going to be cancer or some curable gastrointestinal problem, but we won't know which one for a while.
We have been here a lot lately. Several trips to the hospital or THEIR doctors offices or clinics in the last few months. Same questions, same forms to fill out, it's like none of IHC's computers talk to each other or have memory. It's a pain in the ass.
When we go into the room to have the barium injected, we both tell the guy who is about to do this (I don't know if he's a nurse, a PA, a doctor, he didn't tell us, but he doesn't listen) that Deb's veins are REALLY hard to find. That the best solution, the one THEY used a few weeks ago, in this very department of the hospital, was to bring in a portable ultrasound machine, and find a vein.
So how does he treat this information? He looks. And looks. And tries to insert a needle. And it doesn't work. So he gets hot blankets to put on her arms. Asks her if she has had any water this morning. Takes the blanket off. Looks again. Nothing.
I'm reading a magazine. I know they aren't going to do this, meaning take their own advice from a week ago, and get the ultrasound, but I don't keep harping at them. I just read the magazine.
He then has a second guy come in from some other department. He has every bit as much luck as the first guy. We're in this about 20 minutes now. And neither one of these ass clowns in white coats has made any progress.
Do they call for the ultrasound machine? Oh, hell no. They call in another guy.
I learned something in 20+ years in law enforcement, and seeing lots of people in lots of bad situations. If you REALLY need to find a vein in a hurry, there are two kinds of people you can call. Paramedic's and junkies. If one of those isn't handy? Use the ultrasound machine.
After totally incompetent guy number 3 has been at it for a few minutes, he turns to his colleagues and says, and I shit you not, "You know? I think we might need to use an ultrasound machine to find a vein on her. Would one of you guys call them and have them come up here?".
You all know, I don't suffer fools gladly. I've gotten better as I've gotten older, but I still can't stand to be TOO close to stupid without saying SOMETHING, so I said to him, "REALLY! A half an hour after we TOLD you that you would need an ultrasound machine to find a vein, you've reached THAT conclusion?"
He didn't say anything.
Two minutes later, the ultrasound lady is in the room, finds a vein in less than a minute and has the deed done, painlessly, according to, Deb. Why don't they listen?
I had this reinforced later today. I got new glasses two weeks ago. Very stylish. I was quite happy with them. But, they were a little tight, so I had to back and have them adjusted a couple of times. And I had a hard time reading with them. Couldn't see the WHOLE page of the paper, or a magazine. Figured it was just me, and I'd get used to them.
No, I came to the conclusion late last night while reading, that they were just not right. So back to the eye doctor today. The same woman who sold them to me told me she could adjust them. She tried, but it didn't work. So later today, I had to go back again, and find someone smarter and tell them that this wasn't working out, and I needed new frames and lenses so I didn't have to read with my nose pointed to the ceiling.
Two weeks ago, I picked some frames I liked, but I was worried they might not be big enough.
I'm a big guy. Any one who knows me, knows this. I have a HUGE, melon. I wear a size 7 3/4 fitted hat. There was only ONE hockey helmet made at the time that could be adjusted to fit my head when I worked in a hockey shop in college.
I put them on and asked the, as it turns out, incompetent, or lazy, or stupid woman who was helping me, "These are not very big. Will they fit me and accommodate a tri-focal lens?" And she said, "Oh, sure!"
Again, a total incompetent in a while lab coat DIDN'T LISTEN!
So because of that, I have spent the last two weeks getting a headache every time I try to read a newspaper or a magazine. Now I have to wait another week to get the NEW, new glasses.
I am convinced that as soon as you put on a white lab coat, you're ears are only painted on. Because they don't work.
I have a headache from using my old glasses to use the computer, so I think I'm going to go to bed. But the, "tech" at the place where I got my CPAP machine to deal with my sleep apnea said that even though the mask is blowing off my face every night once I fall asleep, everything is alright, and it's just the way I'm putting in on.
I hope she was right. I haven't slept in 3 days. But at least she wasn't wearing a lab coat when she adjusted the straps.
How tough could it be to learn to speak Swedish between now and when my retirement insurance runs out in June while Chris Buttars gets his for life?
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