WHY , WHY ,WHY

[KICKSTART]

ME ?  You all know i was given terrible news and needed emergency urgent surgery due yesterday . Well , yes im back home ! and this was my day. I know some of you might find some things hard to believe , but i swear to you all on a stack of bibles i am an honest and truthful person.

I arrived at the other hospital at 7am. I was to have dialysis as normal , then go to my bed on the ward and then down for emergency surgery and i was NIL BY MOUTH.
I was put on dialysis at 9.30 a two and a half hour wait (the terrible unit i started on ) Believe it or not it was a different team of staff and they were really nice !
Then the doctor that said i needed this surgery came down to see me and said i was going up to ward 22 and surgery would be around 6-7 in the evening. Long wait i thought but ok. Then he came back to me later and said there was no bed for me, so i would probably be going to ward 2 or 3 and he didnt know what my time op would be now.
I did 4 hours of dialysis and then asked where i had to go ...er ..there is no bed for you at the moment go for a walk or something for an hour, i couldnt go for a coffee and there is nowhere nearby the hospital to go , no shopping centre no anything and i had all my things with me for a few days stay. So i walked down hospital corridors for an hour , the place is massive !
I went back after an hour .. er still no bed . This went on for over 4 hours. I was exhausted from dialysis , pulling round a heavy bag , couldnt eat or drink. Finaly i went to see who i could complain too and it seemed if they hadnt found me a bed in 4 hours i was entitled to go home. But how could i ? this op was urgent a matter of life or death so i was told , so how could i go ? 
Oh forgot to mention , while i was on dialysis the top man my Neph/specialist came to see me !!! His words ....well you certainly dont look like you have peritonitis , i think you just need that cath whipping out as a day case , i think thats the problem. I felt fine no symptoms no temp nothing.( The doctor that said i needed this surgery or Stairway to Heaven was one of his team)
Anyway back to the unit , still no bed , so i said right im going to go , contact me when you have a BED and i will be back , so the nurse said, just give me another half hour , so i said ok .
Half hour later , they ve found me a bed 5.30pm ! Great so when's surgery ? ER we dont know ..Is it tonight ? Er we dont know. Ok get me that doctor that sent me here in the first place. NOW ..Er we will contact him but we dont know where he will be and he will be very busy but we will tell him you would like to speak to him .
7PM  He turns up .. whats all the fuss about ?   AM I HAVING SURGERY ? Er i dont know ..YOU DONT KNOW ? im here because you said it was an emergency , live or die and you dont know ? Well he said you are on  the list but so are others , you are not the only one .  Ok i said can you look at that list , see where i am on it , is it tonight . Er no i cant do that the surgeon has the list. Ok then if its not tonight is it in the morning , er i dont know . Well i didnt swear , i didnt shout but i went ballistic. You frightened me to death yesterday saying i could die , you said this was an emergency, i havent had a bed to rest on , food , drink and now it might be tomorrow? Will it definatly be tomorrow? Er i cant say its an emergency list , your are on it but when you get done isnt up to me , you cant leave or you will loose your bed and have to start over again. So i said just how long do you want me to go without food and water ? 36 -48 hours till i know when surgery is ? How long do you want me to sit on this bed ? You told me this was urgent , how can it be ? Urgent means today , not maybe tommorow or the next day . Why if thats the case can you not book me a bed when you know what day im having this urgent surgery then and i will be here ?  We cant do that because its urgent ..by this time i was losing it , i mean my head was spinning , i felt washed out , i was feeling sick , you can imagine how poorly i felt just through the day i had had.
So then he went, he said the surgeon was in theatre for at least another 3 hours so i would have to wait. This took me to  9.30pm.
At 10 o clock i was told the surgeon was out and on the wards (but not mine)
He arrived at my bed at 10.30pm and his first words to me were ..WHO THE HELL TOLD YOU THAT YOU HAD PERITONITIS ? Er my doctor ..HOW THE HELL DOES HE KNOW ? Well they did a white blood cell count and it came back high. THAT means nothing at all , you might have a bit of a bug or something but you dont have Peritonitis. Have they grown a culture ? No nothing. I can tell just by looking at you its not peritonitis , can i examine you ? Yeah fine. Well he said I dont know who this doctor is that has done this , i dont want to know who he is and god help him if i ever meet him ! Im am certainly NOT putting you on my emergency list , i am certainly not operating on you at any time , your cath can come out by normal procedure AND if they want to grow cultures over 48 hours they can do it on their own time not mine and im not going to let you take up a badly needed hospital bed while they do it . Young lady , you go and eat an drink as much as you want because nothing is being done to you. I will see your specialist tomorrow and heads will roll !
CAN YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THIS ?   REALLY?
Now all the time he had been saying this a staff nurse was stood with him. So afer he had gone i said you heard what he said , so please can i have and drink and some food. Well i can make you a cup of tea but we have nothing for you to eat.............I gave up . I said get me the discharge papers to sign IM GOING HOME . Oh no you cant do that , WHY NOT ? No you need to stay till morning to see your doctor.    See him , see him , i would have put him in my hospital bed if i had !!! I just said get me those papers and if ANYONE wants to see me , i will be at dialysis on saturday.  So i rang my mum to tell her i was heading home.
At 1.20am i walked in home , my mum had a big steaming cup of tea waiting and a lovely HOT MEAL  !!!!
I have heard nothing today , so im waiting for the backlash now ....somehow, someway , they are going to try and turn it around on me , BUT THEY CANT ! I was there , i turned up. SO F**K THE LOT EM ,BRING IT ON ..OR THEY CAN TRY !  UNBELIVEABLE ISNT IT !

[looneytunes]

Oh Kickstart. What an absolutely rotten experience.  But, on the bright side, you don't have pertonitis and you don't need an urgent surgery!  We are so glad!     Hopefully, the backlash will only come in the form of a humble apology from your doctor! 

I am so glad you are back home and ok!

[billybags]

Oh KS, what a bloody nightmare. What doctor told you that you had peritonitis? I can believe what happened.When I thought Alan was dying and they said he needed his tube out straight away, they told him they would operate on the Friday, it was nil by gob and at 4 oclock it was cancelled.  Saturday rolled around, again nil by gob, delayed again and by this time he was really ill. Sunday he was put on an emergency list but he still kept getting put back because other emergencies kept bumping him, eventually he was operated on, on the Monday. So I can see where you are coming from. Have you got to wait for them to inform you again. I would get in touch with the patients complaints dept and really give them hell. For a start you were frightened to death by this doctor, you should not have been treated like you were, having to hang about for hours and ok we all understand about having to wait for beds but this was ridiculess.it also put your mum out by having to stay and watch the dogs, I am only glad your mum was at home waiting for you, she must have been worried to death as well. What hospital was this you were at?

[paul.karen]

WTF?

Can you change doctors??
I dont know what to say except Bless your mom for having you some hot food to eat.

 

[okarol]

So sorry KS!

Insanity - no other way to describe it. 

But the one shining moment for me was that your Mum made you tea and a meal! That's a good thing!
 

[kellyt]

That is unbelievable!!  We've all had similar, although maybe not that extreme, issues when it comes to hospitals.  I often wonder WTH is going on when I'm there.  Last time I went in for the fluid drainage thing I was no food or drink after 10 p.m. the night before.  I was supposed to have the procesure aroun 8 a.m. and at 2 p.m. I had to go down to the nurses station to ask what was the problem.  Funny how 10 minutes later the guy shows up to take me down to radiology.  I told them how mad I was because the procedure wasn't done until 4:30 p.m. or 5. I said "I have a new kidney.  I don't think it's smart to have me on no fluids for  almost 24 hrs".  Because in reality I had stopped drinking around 8 p.m. the night before.   

I'm so glad you don't need the emergency surgery and so sorry you had the life scared out of you by your foolish doctor.   

[nursewratchet]

GOOD GOD!!!!!!

[Goofy]

I say it for you.......AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm not a very patient person and I think I would have walked out on them.  I've been in that position before.  I figured I better get out before they kill me!

I'm glad you're home!

[Lillupie]

geez,
 I thought the idots were only in MIchgan. lol  Now let me ask you because i dont quite remember. do you have th perm cath in and a PD cath?
 
 I am really wondering if  these doctors and hospitals take people's PD cathaters out to make more money.
 I am on PD and I have had 2 hernia repairs, and each time people asked me if they removed my cathater, and if they did, I would sue and go someplace else. That would just mean me going back to surgery and them making even more money.

Lisa

[Rerun]

You questioned the diagnosis of peritonitis because you had no fever, pain or felt bad.  You know your body. 

                                 

[paris]

Sounds horrific!   Hope today is a much better day   

[Poppylicious]

Gosh KS, that's horrific and ridiculous.  That doctor is an *insert very rude word here*.  It amazes me that people are subjected to such incompetence and rudeness (not always intentional, but that just makes it worse). 

*hugs*

[kristina]

Dear oh dear, your experiences give me “the shivers",

they also sound traumatizingly familiar.

I wonder which Hospital it is?
 
Is it a NHS-Hospital?

The nephrologists seem to exhibit

a startling dehumanized behaviour!
 
I wonder who trained them to be like that?

Reading what you are going through makes me even more determined

to keep my kidneys functioning for as long as possible!

[Darthvadar]

Hi KS.....

I don't for one second disbelieve you... I've been there with my mum MANY times!!!!.... Her experiences almost mirror yours!.... At one stage Mum hadn't had anything to eat or drink for two days while waiting (and waiting!) for a procedure (They finally decided not to even do the bloody thing!)  ... Then for the next FIVE days, she didn't have a hot meal because all her tests and procedures, or her dialysis were scheduled around mealtimes... Then her doc had the nerve to tell me that he was concerned about her nutritional status!!!... What I didn't say to him wasn't worth saying!.....

On the plus side, KS... You're not dealing with peretionitis, you're at home on your own territory, eating your own food, watching your own TV, using your computer, and most importantly, you're with your pawed people!...

Keep the faith....

God bless...

Darth....

[Phraxis]

Wow what an experience. Two ideas come to mind -- identify the Doc's home address and burn it down (when no people or pets are present of course) or a more rational one . . .

Sit down and write a calm, pointed letter outlineing your experience to the CEO/chief administrator/etc of the hospital drawinf referance to the inevitable "mission statement" all hospitals have saying "patient care priority". It sounds like a top down issue, and while concrete changee is a long shot, the expression of your outrage and maybe, just maybe, acknowledgement that the treatment that you received was "not the best" might be forthcoming. And further if written sane and rational, you now have a line of communication directly with the top dog.

Another course is to walk into the foundation office, and meet with the head fundraiser about leaving the institution in your will and whne they ask you what motivated the consideration of the gift, explain that while you are rceiving life saving treatment sometimes, there are "minor inconveniences" and then lay out your story. Again now you have the right audience.

Some thoughts but I hope you never have to use them because you only receive first class care go forward.

[pdpatty]

Read your other post,you still have your pd cath in?  When I decided not to try it again,they were very quick in having it removed. Can't understand why they haven't done this for you.

Of course , this is America but it looks like care should be the same everywhere.

I just could never go through what you have and keep my sanity.

You are stronger than you realize.

[boswife]

unbelievable!!  Im so sorry you went through all that and probably still have more to come if they're that bad..  Dont stop on your quest to find out what is wrong though... Ya think *mabie* just mabie, your prayers fixed ya up and healed ya so though they're idiots,, it's all for the good cause you dont need them anyway?    All the best... And prayers sent for REAL recovery...

[Stoday]

Well Kickstart, those IHD members who have been praying for you seem to have got a response for you. Now your poor doctor gets the blame...

[KICKSTART]

Well Kickstart, those IHD members who have been praying for you seem to have got a response for you. Now your poor doctor gets the blame...

I think you need to explain this please ?  Now my poor doctor gets the blame ? Because its possibly not reading how you mean it ? It is actually reading as quite sarcastic but im am giving you the chance to re-phrase it, just in case its coming across wrongly ?

[KICKSTART]

Well guys im feeling fine again today. Im just a bit nervous of going in for dialysis today , in case they get my hooked up and then start on me  ( the backlash) as i will have no escape route. I know my bp is high today without even taking it (with nerves/stress) as i can hear whoosh , whoosh , whoosh in my ears !
If you read everyones comments on here , you will see most that are in the UK say , yes the same thing happened to me or someone they know . OUR problem is ..WE HAVE NO WHERE ELSE TO GO  no choices , no other hospitals , We go to the hospital nearest to us and thats it. We dont have a choice of Nephs or nurses and to be quite honest a complaint does nothing. Like me if you speak up for yourself, if you say this treatment is disgusting , if you dont just sit there and take it , you are branded as a trouble maker , as 'One to watch' you get a reputation. I have no where else to go for treatment but im sorry i cant NOT complain when this IS my treatment . So now i put myself on the firing line for doing it. It needs EVERYONE to complain to make a difference , not just say .. Oh that happened to me .It will keep happening as long as we sit and take it. (sorry not having a go at anyone on here) 

[lizabee]

WOW, unbeleiveable, I would make heads role for sure.  Glad that you don't have peritonitus, and that you are home!

[Goofy]

I continue to hear the frustration in your words.  I don't really know how your health care systems works but it sounds like you take what they give or too bad for you.  Don't people have feelings?  Don't' they think about how they would like to be treated if it were them?  How do they put their head on their pillow each night and sleep?  Its not only a "job".  All people need to be treated with respect and understanding.

What a horrible position to be in.  I want to just go over there and stand up for you too.  I know you are doing a good job for yourself but you're right; others need to take a stand too.  I always seem to be the big mouth in whatever I do.  People agree with me but never stand up like I do.  Then "I" look like the complainer/trouble maker.  Its very frustrating.

I'm not sure what's going on with the health system in the US but so far I don't think I like what I hear.  I'm afraid we will be in the same position; not having much of a choice and it scares me.

As someone else mentioned, you're a strong willed woman and just keep sticking up for yourself.  I pray that you will find the right person that has compassion and sees you as a human being and not just another patient.  Please, even when you feel like giving up, just take a deep breath and keep going!

[Lillupie]

Wow I didnt realize this, the downside to a National Health Care Plan, which is true, like public schools, you dont have the free choice to drive as far as you want to go to the doctor you want.
 Stuff like this does happen here in the U.S. too, but they still try to kiss your "a**" befcause they dont want your insurance money going someplace else....intresting,

Lisa

[kitkatz]

Someone needs the stick!   

[Stoday]

If you read everyones comments on here , you will see most that are in the UK say , yes the same thing happened to me or someone they know . OUR problem is ..WE HAVE NO WHERE ELSE TO GO  no choices , no other hospitals , We go to the hospital nearest to us and thats it.

Kickstart — I'm not trying to get at you, but what you say just is not true. It used to be, but the NHS has changed. They arn't any good at telling patients they've changed though.

You can see the choices at http://www.nhs.uk

I'll show everyone how to use the site. I don't know where Kickstart lives, so I'll use Nottingham as an example. Billybags lives there. So click on the url.

Now in the lower left box of the home page, "Find & Choose Services" click hospitals, then type in "Nottingham" (or another town) then "Kidney Failure", then "Find Hospitals". You get a list of 25 hospitals within 50 miles of Nottingham from which you can choose.

Click on "Detailed Comparison". You get not just the name of the hospitals but also performance details and the results of patient surveys.

Just as a matter of interest, how does this information compare with the US for helping you to choose a hospital?