26 replies to this topic

[Glenn Rogero]

Kevin, thinking of you and hoping you are doing ok. Hang in there!

[Kevin Blankenship]

Thank you, Glenn. I appreciate the kind words.  Much needed today.  Momma recently went to the ER to have a peg tube re-placed.  The old one had, for some reason, failed, because the water filled balloon (which hold the tube securely in her stomach) bursted.

    Off she goes to the ER via ambulance (cannot transport her any other way.)   The ER doctor.........notorious and widely known for his royal screw -ups, re-placed her PEG tube........OUTSIDE OF HER STOMACH. In other words.....the tube was just mingling with the other organs within her peritoneal sac....so he fills the balloon with water and calls it "job well done" and an x-ray......then a CT scan reveal that the tube is NOT in her stomach.  After 6 or 7 more hours in the ER we find ourselves on the 4th floor (Intensive Care, also known as Telemetry Unit) for the next three nights with antibiotics (piperacillin and metrodiaziole) being given her thru the vein.  They gave her nourishment thru the vein. I explained to the doctor on duty that she had been on 75 mgs of seroquel at night (everyday for two years) along with 7.5 mgshydrocodone/apap (4 times per day PRN), and along with Clonazepam 2mgs (4 times per day) for restless legs. Also, Zoloft in the morning. Forgot the milligram.......does 10mg sound normal?.....anyway......all of this medication was simply CUT OFF!!!!!!   I asked them, if their medical training EVER ONCE talked about the withdrawal syndrome and thaty even SEROQUEL......a non-controlled drug......could NOT be abrubtly halted......and the same with Zoloft. You are tapered ON........so you are tapered off.  She lay in the bed squirming and her legs started vibrating or seizuring and I immediately screamed for the head nurse on duty to come look at what their care was consisting on.  (In her ICU room, there is a chalk board.....and on the board......the nurse on duty will write their daily objective. It said:  "To keep patient as comfortable as possible".  I  directed the nurses attention to the chalk board with great flair.  "I take it that the chalkboard messages are a lie!!!!! Are you a liar, Mrs So and so?   THEN GET ON THE PHONE WITH HER DR. AND GET HER DAILY MEDS ORDERED. LOOK AT MOMMA'S LEGS!!!!! NOW HOP TO IT!!!!!!   She left in a huff but she was on the phone in seconds. I figured, to the police.  

   In summary, that is why I don't want Momma's in a  Senior care.....old folks home. (as they use to unashamedly call them).  You don't know WHAT kind of care they recieve. Here at home.......ahe receives what is needs on time, everytime. Period. No chain of command (Dr's orders.....hospital pharmacy too slow.......etc etc etc.)   Now, I wouldn't trade Momma's primary care physician for a thousand. Dr. Janet Cromwell  has saved momma's life once......for a very STUBBORN strain of the pneumomonia. She is a truly skilled healer from the old school.  Fully an MD.  None of the osteopathic crap.  Anyway.,......sorry. I get started and I start seeing red. 

   On a much better note:  The scripture of the day is, in my mind, "Set your affections on things above.....where Christ is seated at the right hand of God."   I am beginning to wonder if that wouldn't be a perfect anti-dote to the Christians worse enemy. Or rather, THIS Christians worse enemy. And that is......buying something new just to feel better. Anyway......duty calls. Gotta run.

[Ginger]

 so thankful to find Kevin's post.... and praying....

[chipped china]

I'm praying too. Thank you Lord for Kevin, you're Momma is fortunate that she has you. And Jesus is smiling and will give you strength to see this through.

[Meema]

Praying for you and your mom, Kevin.

 

Don't even get me started on incompetent health care for elders. I could write a book… . 

 

I once had to rescue my mother-in-law from a very well-repected hospital. Incompetence reigned from the top down and truly I will always believe it was because of her age–83. 

 

For Him,

Meema

[Charles Miles]

Kevin is doing  a great service and many of us know just how difficult it can get. As our population ages, people will need help with numerous healthcare needs and I`m not sure our system is ready.  The new ACA is more of an insurance reform than much change in our healthcare system.  As a Navy veteran and physician, I am watching this play out in the VA system and it does not look good at all.   Unfortunately this is the shining example of government run healthcare where many people just don`t care about the healthcare part.

 

"Love one another even as I have loved you", is a command given us by Jesus, so we need to apply this to our lives, our work, and just plain everyday living.  What a solution!

 

Praise God because He is who He is,

 

Charlie

[Kevin Blankenship]

As the nurses did their work, day to day, I would frequently talk with them about how they liked working for Hardin Medical Center. They would stop, look at me.....and then roll their eyes to the sky. I asked: "Why that response? Nursing is an honorable profession and the pay is pretty good."   The said: "Yes, but only if you get 40 hrs per week.  The hospital has cut us all to 32 hours a week." I asked: "Why's that pray tell?"  And they said: "Obamacare".    Several of the nurses were black ladies who were very skilled and who deeply cared for each patient.

   But there was this one lady, who graduated high school with me, who said something so awkwardly alarming and so uncouthed that I just dropped my jaw, turned around, and walked away. Here's how it happened: My mother's legs started tremoring....nonstop.  She was used to having her Clonazepam and all her meds had been cut off, not for any sound medical reason, but because no one thought to ask me what med's she was on.  She was beginning to withdraw.  When I shouted to the nurses to come look at momma's legs tremoring and that she needed the meds that she had been taking for two straight years EVERY DAY....without fail.......this one nurse said, in a joking, non-chalant manner:  "Now Kevin, you know that women like to shake all over like that."  I blew up. But I held my tongue and walked away.  She was referring to a very lude and carnal thing.   And there momma was......suffering and couldn't communicate it. I have thought about ruining that RN's career. The one that said the dirty comment. But I let it slide. That same nurse has grievances filed on her EVERY single week.  From colleagues, from patients, from Dr's..............it will be a matter of time. But it's a sad commentary for Hardin Medical Center that they haven't already fired her.  

   To the rest of the community: I am SO sorry that I have made no mention of the Deeper Life and I am really just using y'all for my sounding board. Do please forgive me.  I have several question's coming up in future threads about the four gospels of Jesus. They are good questions. And they have EVERYTHING to do with the Deeper Life.  I mean, the two are inseparable......Jesus......and the Deeper Life.   I love you guys and gals.