So, less than a week after my C spine fusion, my mom had another fusion of her back because she found out her back was broken. Again, I could not make this stuff up!
I went with my mom to the hospital. Since I was still unable to drive, my husband took us that morning and dropped us off. He went back to work and look after the kids.
My mom called the anesthesia department ahead of time to explain the ordeal she went through last year. (She spent 18 days in ICU due to the loss of the drive to breathe) This very grouchy Dr. Wright, an anesthesiologist came in to interview her before the surgery. Right away we could tell that he had not read any of the notes written up about her.
As soon as he heard about the loss of the drive to breathe, he yelled, "You are not going to have surgery today!" Of course, this upset both of us. He was very rude and said that she was not "fit" for surgery and needs to find out why she had trouble last year before she has a surgery. With her back broken, she really did not have a choice. It is not like a broken back is an elective surgery. Finally he stormed out to "talk" to her spine surgeon. He said he did not want to work on someone that had some weird condition that no one ever heard of. I pointed out that many people at this very hospital knows about EDS as this is the fifth surgery on my mom and myself in the past year at this very hospital! The problem with Dr. Wright is that he did not do his homework before he entered the room.
In mean time, I asked for a supervisor to come in to talk with us. I explained how rude and unprofessional Dr. Wright had been. As we were talking Dr. Wright came back in. His attitude had changed and started to take her history again. I interrupted him and said that we were not comfortable with the way he left the room and what he had said. He held up his hand and told me to stop talking! I almost exploded!
He asked my mom if she wanted someone else to take her case and she said yes. With that, the supervisor left. Dr. Wright then asked me why I had a problem with him. I said if he really wanted to know I would tell him. He said yes. My response to him was that he was very unprofessional in the way he handled his frustration about not knowing about my mom's case. She had done everything she could to prepare the department ahead of time. She was in that same hospital the last year. The records were available. I also said that his frustration was misplaced. He did not need to act with hostility toward my mother, especially given the amount of anxiety she had about having surgery in the first place.
I did not say these words in an angry way, just matter of fact. I was angry, but knowing he would have nothing more to do with the care of my mother, I was relieved. Soon after, the doctor that my mom talked to on the phone came in and completed the paperwork and took her case.
The surgeon came back and checked on my mom. He said, "You choose your surgeon, you should choose your anesthesiologist too!" I think that he was just as happy as we were not to deal with him again. Thank God!
Soon afterward, our priest came in and sat and waited with us. I think that had he been in the room at the time, Dr. Wright would not have been so rude. It is said to think that there are still men that cannot deal with women as thinking individuals.
Our priest sat with me as I nervously talked for three hours. I work with him at the church and I have gone out west with him on mission trips in the past. I joked that I noticed that he no longer traveled in the same car with me because I talk too much. He said, "When I get in the car it will be quiet." I laughed, knowing that he was so kind to listen to me, but he would be glad when it was over.
The surgery went well and the surgeon called us back to explain how well it went. I sent the priest home and waited by myself for her to come out of the recovery room. In this hospital there is a screen that lets you know the stage your loved one during the surgery process. I kept waiting for them to call me back to see her. I saw that the most anyone else had to wait was 45 minutes. At the 1 1/2 point, I went to the desk to see what was going on. When a lesion was called out to talk to me, I knew it was bad.
She led me to her. I was anxious to see if they had re-intebated her. I figured that she was having the same trouble as last time. I was relieved to see that they had not. She was not breathing unless reminded. The nurse also explained that an intensivist would be back to see her. I told her I wanted to speak with him. I asked the name of the intesivist, which was the same doctor that took care of my mom last year. I fought with him every day about my mom.
When I did come back to speak to this doctor, he took one look at me and hung his head. Just when he thought the nightmare was over, I was back!
The first thing I said was, "You are not re-intebating her are you?" He quickly agreed. I think that they re-intebated her last time, causing pnemonia and other troubles. He thought that there was something in the brain that was causing her central nervous system to malfunction. Her brain was not tell the body to breathe for some reason.
He had a new idea to help "wake up" her system. Basically, he pumped her with a bunch of caffine. When this did not work completely, he gave her a medicine that would wake her up.
All in all, she spent a day and a half in ICU. She was then sent to a regular room, then to a rehab room in the hospital. She is recovering at home and getting stronger every day.
The moral of this story is that sometimes Dr. Wright is just wrong! You have the right to choose how works on you and you must be your own advocate!
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