My thoughts after surgery and diagnosis of cancer.

[sinkingfeeling]

I'm 60 years old and have the standard employer provided insurance; you know, pay a $750 a year deductible and then it's 20% for you and 80% for the insurance company to pay. I've always had employer provided insurance since I started working in 1967. The best was during the first 20 years I worked for IBM Corporation. At that time the company paid all of the premium and everything was covered 100%. Of course, that changed in the early 1990's and employees began to pay for the coverage and have deductibles and so on.

Anyway, I have only been able to use my insurance a few times. The first time I was in a hospital was to have my son ... at the time I did not have insurance because I was 'fired' from my job because I was pregnant (perfectly legal at the time). I stayed in the hospital for 5 days along with Mike being in the nursery. I had wonderful nurses and set up a payment plan and by the time Mike was 5, it was all paid off.

In 1978, I went in for a breast biopsy and stayed overnight.

In 1988, I had a hysterectomy and another breast biopsy. I was in the hospital for about 5 days and again had great care.

Several years ago I had strep throat and then noticed a lump on the right side of my neck. I was told that it was a lymph node and that sometimes they remained swollen after an infection. So I continued to ignore it. Then at Thanksgiving, I began to notice an increase in the swelling, but I had a cold and didn't pay a lot of attention. There was no tenderness or discomfort. In December, some of my co-workers began to ask questions about the swelling and urged me to see a doctor.

Now, I hadn't been to a doctor since 2001 and really don't have one who is familiar with me. I don't like doctors and it seems like I always got sick after being in for a physical like happened in 2001. But I made an appointment with an endocrinologist, thinking it was a lymph node. He examined me and sent me immediately to an ENT. I had a needle biopsy done on Dec. 18, 2008. He thought it was a tumor on the parotid (saliva gland) and the initial results were benign. We sat up surgery because he said the longer the tumor existed the more the chance of cancer.

I had the surgery on Jan. 16. I was released from the hospital on Jan. 19 after telling them I wouldn't stay another day. I felt like I was being tortured the entire time, except when I was completely out during the actual surgery.

Not one nurse or CNA ever asked if there was anything they could do for me. They 'blew' the IV's 4 times and both of arms were swollen and so black and blue I couldn't grasp a straw. The bed was worse than the 'rack'. I finally begged them to get me into a chair while still in ICU because my back muscles were so knotted up. My lips and tongue dried out so much that they both cracked open. The tumor turned out to be on my right tonsil, against my juggler vein, and cancerous. He removed it, the tonsil, and two lymph nodes in my neck. No one assisted me to get fluids or ice. They insisted on pumping 8 sacks of antibiotics through the IV at 6 hour intervals even though I was having a strong reaction to them. I passed out a couple of times because my blood pressure when so low during the antibiotic injection.

I was lucky in that the doctor made his rounds early on Monday morning and I told him outright that I would not spend another night there. He signed the release and I was freed by 10:30AM. I hadn't slept a wink since Friday night in the ICU and walked the halls almost all of Sunday night.

I don't yet know how much this all cost. But I asked my sister what the hell happened in the 20 years since I had my prior surgery. She said that everything has become so 'specialized' that there is no one left to oversee the needs of the patient. That nurses have assumed the responsibility for making sure all the 'i's are dotted and the t's are crossed' that providing that old-time TLC just isn't done.

If the tumor hadn't developed a secondary infection in Nov.-Dec. I never would have gone to a doctor about it. Now I wish I hadn't. I swear I will never return to that hospital.

Just some thoughts as I haven't made any more plans for additional treatment as yet. Not sure where I'm going with any of this.

[Divine Discontent]

1. sigh... sounds like visits to the hospital my poor sibling has had to endure for inpatient stays

so many nurses and doctors are thoroughly and unrepentantly INCOMPETENT MORANS!

My best to you - you are strong, no doubts about it...

[DesertFlower]

2. sorry about your diagnoses

and bad experience.

my husband was in the hospital a few years ago for foot surgery. i could not believe how dirty it was. i will say that the doctors and nurses were very good.

[TBF]

3. On a personal level I will say ((hugs)) and hope you are feeling better after

the initial surgery. I had a c-section two years ago & that was quite an experience with neglected care. And I have "good" insurance and went to the "best" hospital in town.

All I can say is we need universal health care in this country. I'd like to see everyone covered by the plan Congress has - why should we have less than what they have?

[tblue]

7. Yeah. I think we need to let Tom Daschle go down in defeat for this very reason.

I used to like the guy. Not no more.

[TBF]

9. I'm not a fan of his either. I've had enough of politicians looking out for themselves.

Time to take our country back.

[tblue]

4. I am so sorry they treated you like crap. No one deserves that

and medical professionals have an obligation to treat patients with 'care.' Shame on that hospital. I hope you file a complaint.

I know some people move to France to get health care that's covered. I don't know that the bedside manner there is any better, but I can't imagine it's worse, and it doesn't cost anything. I wish could afford to send you there.

[grannie4peace]

5. i had breast cancer in 2000, i had no insurance when i was

diagnosed. i was blessed that we have a great health system here. there are groups who will help you get whatever help you need. there are support groups online. there are many resources . i will pray for you :):)

[roguevalley]

8. I'm lucky and i know it. my niece and two of her best friends are

nurses at my hospital. The care when one of us is there is awesome.

I hope you feel better and get well fast, honey. I hug you long distance.

[LisaM]

6. In my opinion, the charts are too complicated, too - so much computer entry

They are pages thick and it's easy to miss something on them. My SO's father had a massive heart attack last year. He also had Alzheimer's at the time, so couldn't communicate well with the staff. They nearly starved him to death. The nurses had almost entire responsibility for checking symptoms. Doctors rarely came around, and one actually monitored him from a different hospital. A speech therapist concluded he couldn't swallow because he spit out a piece of ice, and they took him off food for several days. Well, the upshot was, he spit out the ice because he never liked ice to begin with. He had tubes in his throat (along with the Alzheimer's) and simply couldn't communicate that he could swallow. Luckily, one of his daughters, who is an OT, just decided to feed him on her own. He died a month later (at his adult home, where he was much more comfortable) but I wondered if that incident contributed to it.

I heard a thing on NPR once where they had old GPs diagnosing heart problems better through listening to a stethoscope than uber-specialists looking over a battery of tests. I am not saying don't do the test, but the skills a non-specialist has to read overall health cues are vanishing.

I truly hope you're okay. I had a good friend die of cancer on Friday and don't want to lose anyone else, especially a DUer, at the moment.

[Jim__]

10. Sorry to hear about all of your problems.

What I don't understand is people who still claim that the US has the best health care system in the world. I go to my doctor's office about 4 times a year. I see a PA. I haven't seen the doctor in years.

The health care system in the US sucks. It's time we insist that something be done about it.

[katandmoon]

11. I am so sorry. I wish you all the best.

[tavalon]

12. Our healthcare system is broken as one of those RNs, I'm heartsick about it

I'm blessed in that the area I work in has mandatory staffing ratios so I'm able to spend quality time with my patients but most units, including ICUs are running on skeleton crews and most of my fellow nurses are so burned out, it hurts to see them. And clearly, you got lousy care and I don't know the specifics of that unit, but it breaks my heart to hear.

Our system is so overloaded and no one is talking about it. It's broken, broken, broken.

One of the reasons I'm for UHC is that I think we need to rebuild from the ground up and get the twin bloodsuckers of big pharma and insurance out of it. I'm not sure the system can be fixed but I know it can't as long as those two have their teeth in it.

I'm so sorry to hear about your cancer. I hope the next stage is less harrowing.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. I posted here because I want to hear from any doctors, RNs, or other medical people.

Thanks for the reply.

[tavalon]

15. Even on my unit, we're stretched thin because when the census goes up,

they call and beg but no one can always come in and still have reserves for the patients. I see this haggard look on nurses faces every where I go and I know I have it the best in the whole hospital.

I'm really not sure the healthcare system is repairable. It might be kind of like what's happened on Wall Street, except substitute the names Premera, United Health, Pfizer for Bank of America and Bears Stearn. The system has been completely destroyed. And with it, an awful lot of the compassion.

[Warpy]

14. Yeah, that sounds about right

and it's one of the many reasons I left nursing along with 50% of other licensed RNs.

It's become an assembly line model business. Nurses are there to make sure the lawyers are satisfied and to deliver enough care that the patient survives it. Back rubs? Oh, forget it unless you've got family there who will oblige.

Nurses are working 12 hours at a crack with additional 12 hour shifts tacked on at management's convenience. To say they are spread thin is a laughable understatement.

However, the antibiotics weren't the problem, if that's what they all were. Allergy to antibiotics means hives, itching, and tingling mouth, lips or throat. That latter group means get to an ER fast.

I hope they managed to get the whole thing out and that there is no recurrence while our health care system is being run like an auto parts manufacturer.

Cookie cutter care by people who are too overworked to do what they were trained for is not working for any of us.

[tavalon]

16. Amen!

I guess I would have left a long time ago if I could think of any thing else that felt the way good nursing does_it's the only calling I've ever felt. I'm sure had I stayed in floor nursing, I would have left long ago. As is, there are times when I wonder how much longer I can do it, calling or not, I'm not young anymore and it gets harder and harder and there is less and less available. I can't even describe how messed up hospitals are at this point.

[uppityperson]

19. Me too, why I left nursing. The system is broken and needs a major repair.

[Why Syzygy]

17. As someone with

a chronic health condition which has required multiple hospital stays, I discovered that there is a huge variance in care received from one hospital to another.

In a Houston hospital, you can order your own meals from a very nice menu. I would frequent a restaurant with that selection! However, the doctor didn't have a clue how to treat my condition.

I've run into more than one specialist who disputes my stated history of bad reactions to a certain medication. I've been told, "That's my protocol". Only when the adverse reaction kicks in, do they decide to prescribe an alternate.

I've left AMA at least twice. They threaten that your insurance may not pay. However, mine always has. In one case, I felt my life was threatened if I continued to receive their "care".

I'm so sorry to hear your story. It is repeated hourly by helpless people who are counting on a system that is supposed to preserve life. If you have options, investigate other hospitals in your area.

[applegrove]

18. So sorry you had that experience. Especially when you are so sick.

Thank got they got the tumour. You'll have to do follow up. You will go back into the health system for that I know you will. Vibes that it goes better. Vibes to you and yours.

[uppityperson]

20. As a nurse and a patient, different hospitals can be very different

You sound like you got one which is on the low end, and I am sorry that you had to be there.

Staff is very much overworked and over stressed since many places have become not for giving compassionate care but to make money. This is one of the reasons I have gotten in and out of nursing over the yrs.

I was recently a patient in our local small hospital, and not looking forward to it. I knew a lot of the staff, but was happy with how I was treated. But I still had to be forceful when I was reacting to the IV pain meds. "you can't have it stopped until your nausea stops" vs it is what is making me nauseous. I had to talk and talk and tell them that no, I won't "let the pain build up" before asking for a pill if they would stop the IV. It was annoying to have to push so hard for myself. Other than that, my time was not as bad as I'd feared.

I would suggest seeing what other hospitals are available as you are not tied to any one place. If your doctor does not have hospital privileges, ask for another doctor who does, or if your doc has someone they work with at hospital "goodplace" that can take you.

Best wishes and good luck to you.

[LeftishBrit]

21. Just to wish you all the best for your health!

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

22. Why did they have you in ICU?

[grasswire]

23. I wondered that, too. (eom)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

24. Every time I read one of these stories there is always something that just doesn't make sense.

Usually I figure out why, sometimes though I'm just left to ponder.

David

[sinkingfeeling]

25. I don't know. They took me out of recovery about 9PM on Friday night and sent me to ICU, where I

stayed until almost midnight on Saturday. Then they put me into a regular room.

[Why Syzygy]

26. It's possible they were waiting for an available room

I had an ER heart emergency a couple of years ago. I waited in ER a long time for a room.

Three days later, when the doctors said I could discharge, they also put an order in for me to be transferred to a different unit. But there were no beds. So, my charge nurse didn't have the order to discharge! It had probably been sent to the other unit. After waiting seven hours, I left "AMA". I could have stayed another night, I guess. But there were no orders for me! I was just sitting there. Meanwhile, someone in ER or Recovery may have been waiting for my room.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

30. Sorry about everything, it's not uncommon.

That's why I always stay in the hospital with anyone in my family who is sick. Of course in the ICU that wouldn't have been possible. I hope everything goes well for you.

David

[TwilightGardener]

27. Neck/throat surgeries often end up in ICU as a precaution due to

possible swelling/airway problems--they can be more closely monitored there. At least that was my understanding, when I worked there.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

29. That's definitely a possibility.

[TwilightGardener]

28. Sorry about your diagnosis and surgery--speedy and full recovery to you. Also sorry

about the poor nursing care you received (speaking as an RN who's no longer working in nursing)--even the most pressed-for-time nurses can take the time during meds and assessments to ask if there's anything you need, if there's anything that will make you more comfortable. As far as the antibiotics go, if you let the nurses know about your reaction to them, there's a very good chance they told the doc and the doc told them "give 'em anyway" (nurses can't just decide to not give them or order a substitute on their own), although it's hard to imagine why they'd allow an allergic reaction so severe that it lowers the BP dangerously--we often gave meds and blood products that were known to cause reactions but premedicated with Benadryl first per orders. Hard to say on that one. Definitely change hospitals, and maybe let the nursing supervisors at this facility know about your experiences.

[BonnieJW]

31. You should write a letter to the

hospital administrator and the CFO. I worked in healthcare for 16 years and facilities want to know these things. Hospitals are competitive; patients are their customers. They don't want a bad rep and will try to make things right. I never hesitate to contact administration when I or my family receives bad treatment.