Betty.Draughon@p10.f1.n360.z1.fidonet.org (Betty Draughon) (12/05/90)
Index Number: 12208 Hi, Gang! Nadine had surgery this morning on her wrist and the plan had been to admit her to the hospital overnight, and discharge her on Saturday morning. Even though she had general anesthesia, and she lives alone, they sent her home - without assistance. I think she will be fine, but light the candles anyway. It seems to me that it would be somewhat difficult to check your own blood sugar, titrate the dosage of insulin and inject yourself with only one hand usable. But, perhaps I'm over-reacting. I'll keep you posted. Betty -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!360!1.10!Betty.Draughon Internet: Betty.Draughon@p10.f1.n360.z1.fidonet.org
Pandora.Nigh@f3.n157.z1.fidonet.org (Pandora Nigh) (12/14/90)
Index Number: 12483 Oh Betty that is terrible, I'm glad she was able to get some help at that just drives me nuts that the people that are supposed to understand medical problems and prognosis can't be bothered to take responsibility for the patient when the are setting them up for home. There is no excuse for the doctor, the social service staff, the nursing staff or hospital administration for not setting up with VNA for Nadine before they released her. I guess we have to be aware and take things into our own hands when we get that kind of treatment and ask or call ourselves to set up support help. I had a DC a few years ago prior to my hysterctomy and Medicare decided that that should be an outpatient proceedure. It was a real riot. Ray drove me to the hospital in the morning and waited the hour and a half for them to release me. He had to go to work and I ended up at home alone. It was terrible, I use my stomach muscles for alot of movement and they were so so and spasy I couldn't move. I couldn't operate my manual chair because I needed to shift weight forward and back with my stomach muscle to get the strength to move the chair and I ended up just sitting on the toilet till Ray could come over after work. It was terrible. I called my doctor and told him if they thought I was going to have a hysterctomy as an outpatient surgery they were nuts. He assuered me that it wouldn't be and he kept his word, he also arranged for me to stay longer than they considered the "proper time" so I could be in semidecent shape to go home. Boy have I learned to be cautious about that. Pandora -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!157!3!Pandora.Nigh Internet: Pandora.Nigh@f3.n157.z1.fidonet.org
Betty.Draughon@p10.f1.n360.z1.fidonet.org (Betty Draughon) (01/23/91)
Index Number: 13114 Cross-posted from the Coffee Club G'Mawning... Spoke to Nadine last night and here is the update I promised. She was too sick to go to the doctor on Friday from the lupus. So, she has made another appointment for Wednesday. She will see three doctors that day: Her regular physician who treats her lupus; her ophthalmologist who will check her eye and retina; and the orthopedist who will see what he can do with her hand. That should wipe her out for the rest of the week. She tried to read a little of her mail and answer some of it yesterday, and the pain was so bad she had to stop. She can no longer read her monitor without her glasses. She fears that the sight is going in that eye. A neighbor across the street has an old tri-cart that he is allowing her to use. She hates the loss of independence, and the tri-cart is also too small for her, but it DOES help her in moving her around. She needs a new one that is large enough for her, but the agencies all say that they can't buy her a tricart. It's not in their budget. Somebody out there must have the funds to do this, but the question is who? Which agency has $2500 they can spend to make life easier for her? Just thought you'd want to know. Keep the candles burning... Betty -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!360!1.10!Betty.Draughon Internet: Betty.Draughon@p10.f1.n360.z1.fidonet.org