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I knew things couldn''t go quite that smoothly...

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AmberGretchen

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Some of you may have seen my post about my mom''s hip replacement. Well, things were going very well - I was there with her all day today and she had two physical therapy sessions and managed to walk with a walker at both - everyone was very impressed with how well she did, and the doctor came to see her and said that she would have to stay at least until Saturday but could hopefully go home between then and Monday. The only snag came when the 2nd physical therapist was overly rough in helping her get out of bed and wrenched her hip, which made it sore.

So after being at the hospital all day I came home (our apartment is only about 5 minutes away), and not 5 minutes after I walk in the door mom calls - without warning or discussing it with her or anything, they took away her IV pain medication, which she was being allowed to control. No one had mentioned anything about this all day, they just came and took it out, and now she has to switch over the oral medications, which she has a lot of trouble keeping down (like me, she throws a lot of things right up), and they don''t even know if they have one of the few meds she is able to take! Then, while we were on the phone, someone came in to take her to X-Ray, again with no warning, and they were talking about removing her from the hospital earlier than her doctor recommended when the phone got cut off and I haven''t been able to reach her since. My brother, who is a nurse practitioner and on the faculty at the hospital where she is, is on his way there right now, but the whole thing seems incredibly bizaare to me. I mean, why would they do that with no warning at all, its not like she isn''t competent to discuss her treatment or anything (in fact, she is one of the most intelligent and highly educated people I know). And I''m worried because now I can''t even reach her - as my brother said, its almost like they "kidnapped" her to X-Ray. Also, it was my understanding that inpatient stuff like radiology was normally done during normal business hours whenever possible, i.e. in non-emergency situations. So why did they wait to do this and to remove her pain meds until right after I left?!!

Anyway, I am hoping to hear an update any minute now, but I was hoping maybe some of you medical people on here could give me insight - this just seems to strange and inexplicable.

Thanks for letting me vent my worry in any case.
 
prayers outgoing.
 
oh no, I hope everything is alright! That''s what I hate about hospitals, they treat you like a child and don''t even consult you about your own treatments and procedures!
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They sure don''t think of you as a child when it''s time to pay the bill though
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Hope everything is ok!
 
OK so we figured out what happened, at least partly - in the rush of changing
shifts, the X-Rays had to get done. The X-Rays are a mandatory part of pre-
discharge procedure, but apparently they either told her that they were
dischargning her or in some other way didn''t communicate that just because
they were taking pre-discharge X-Rays didn''t mean they were discharging her,
and so she understandably got upset. They also almost gave her a painkiller
that she is allergic to - its on her little hospital bracelet, and my brother had to
stop them. All of this plus the fact that when they were moving her back onto
the bed after X-Ray someone put their hand directly over the wound and pushed
seems to me to reach incredible levels of incompetence. My brother did talk to
them and gave them his phone numbers before he left, and they did give her
some pain meds through her IV and something to help her sleep so hopefully
she will be in less pain tomorrow morning, but the surgeon will definitely be
hearing about this and will hopefully be able to get some straight answers on
why this was botched so badly and what we can do to keep it from happening
again.

Is it just me or does this seem incredibly out of line to anyone else?!!
 
IFirst let me say how sorry I am that your mom has had to endure all of this. The thing is unless someone is with your mom 24/7, these kind of things happen as outrageous as it is ,it does go on. My grandmother bless her heart is 94. She had to go to the hospital for pnemonia, and I had to make sure all her meds were in order and even then things went wrong. Its awful and you talk to people in the hospital about these things and they just say, well that was so and so''s shift. I just came on and don''t know what you''re speaking of. I tell you it made me mad as heck. My advice is to be there first thing tomorrow to talk to her surgeon and drill it into his head that your mother needs IV pain meds and will throw up pills, etc.... My heart goes out to you. I also had to watch my grandfather go through a bladder operation at the age of 88. I mean what kind of doctor will do a radical surgery on a man thats 88. Needless to say it caused his death. Very sad.
 
I am glad your brother could be there. Perhaps your mother should have a private duty nurse for 24-48 hours. Having one provides your mother with someone to act as her advocate, demand the right medication for her, get in touch with the doctor if any staff member does anything that is not explained. I am sorry this happened.

Deborah
 
I''m certainly not defending the hospital by any means, but IN GENERAL, if someone is on a patient-controlled pain medication iV (PCA pump) then, (at least at the hospital where I worked), they will convert the patient to oral medication 1-2 days before discharge to make sure the pain is adequately controlled. The pain medication that is in the pump is a highly controlled substance and they probably wanted to try to wean her to a less-controlled pain med before she left. The IV pain medication has a lot of side effects too so physicians like to keep patients on those pumps for the shortest amount of time that the patients needs them.

Unfortunately, if your mom can''t handle oral pain medications, the only way she can get IV pain meds is in a controlled setting such as a hospital or rehab center. There is a pain patch that''s available, but it too is a highly controlled substance that most physicians are leary to put their patients on.

That being said, I hope your mom is feeling better and can get on the road to recovery soon.
 
I am such not a fan of hospitals, having spent a lot of time in them with my mother who was dying of cancer and then my boyfriend who broke his leg.

When my boyfriend broke his leg, he was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Nobody knew that he actually broke his leg at first -- he wasn''t doing anything that physical and he just dropped to the ground in pain.

The emergency room people at first wouldn''t give him any pain medicine before they knew what it was, but after seeing him scream in pain for a while, they gave him morphine. And then more morphine. And then more morphine. None of it worked but they insisted they couldn''t give him anything stronger. Finally, they brought him to x-ray where one of the techs dropped his broken leg while moving him from the stretcher to the x-ray table. There is nothing worse than being on the other side of a door, hearing your love one screaming bloody murder and not being able to do anything. Eventually, when they realized he had broke his leg in half, they gave him some demerol which apparently a wonder drug since he was happy after that...

With my mother, she didn''t have pain issues, but a whole host of other things. Like, she had to sign a health care proxy every single time she went to the hospital (which was once a month for a year). Hello, please put it in her file... Then, she broke her hip which they repaired with surgery. The medical student who was assisting told me all about how cool it was that he got to hold something and poke around inside my mother. Freakin'' idiot. I understand you need to learn, but please, don''t describe it to me... The worst though was when doctors who obviously just graduated med school trying to tell me that she was dying and that I should do this or not do that. I know that such stuff is necessary, but again, have an experienced doctor (or a nurse... bless them all for they are the real caregivers) explain to me, for the 300th time, that she was dying.

Sorry... a little venting!
 
I hope things get better for your mom. There is nothing worse than having bad care when aren''t feeling well. At least you and your brother are close by. *hugs*
 
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