Road Trip Tomorrow
Tomorrow, I am taking my 82 yr. old sister, to Barnes Hospital. I am not in favor of this because of the following reasons.
#1. She is telling me to take her to the Emergency Room. Her condition is not an emergency.
#2. She is going without any Drs. referral, no medication or test records.
#3. She thinks she will get all the tests she needs and then, come home.
#4. She thinks that as soon as we get there, she will be seen and the tests started shortly thereafter.
Going there with no records of any kind, no referral from a physician to me is insane.
I have had her to the local hospital ER about 10 times in the last 2 years. She says her stomach hurts, I take her, they run tests, (EKG's, blood screens, chest x-rays, CAT scans, urine analysis' and have never found anything. They have run a camera down her throat, into her stomach twice and found nothing. She has had 3 Colonoscopies and, they have found nothing. At the local Hosp. request, I made an appointment for a Gastrointernologist and had him do an MRI of her digestive tract. He found nothing!!!!! When entering the ER, the hosp. physician asks her on what level of pain she is experiencing, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least to 10 being the worst. She will say a 9. As soon as he leaves the room, she goes to sleep!!!!! I don't think a pain level of 9 would allow that!!!!!!!! She gets very impatient with the nurses and physicians at the ER here because they don't wait on her fast enough and give her a pill to make her feel better.
After all these tests, on the way home, she requests that I stop and get her a cheeseburger from McDonalds or, a bowl of Chili from Wendy's. This is bizarre!!!!!!
I have been told that the ER at Barnes is a busy place with stab wounds, gunshot wounds, heart attack and accident victims, etc. so we should expect possibly 5 to 7 hrs. before a physician sees her. This doesn't take into consideration of a 1-1/2 travel time to get to Barnes. Her daughter is POA but, does very little for the health care of her mom. Her one son comes to see her about every 4 months and lives about 80 miles away. Her other son has Parkinson's and is unable to do anything. My twin brother does nothing to help her so, it is all placed on my shoulders and has been for the last 3 years that she has been in the nursing home.
This is not a trip I am looking forward to. I can imagine them telling her to get her records and a referral then, come back at a later date so, this trip will be basically wasted.
#1. She is telling me to take her to the Emergency Room. Her condition is not an emergency.
#2. She is going without any Drs. referral, no medication or test records.
#3. She thinks she will get all the tests she needs and then, come home.
#4. She thinks that as soon as we get there, she will be seen and the tests started shortly thereafter.
Going there with no records of any kind, no referral from a physician to me is insane.
I have had her to the local hospital ER about 10 times in the last 2 years. She says her stomach hurts, I take her, they run tests, (EKG's, blood screens, chest x-rays, CAT scans, urine analysis' and have never found anything. They have run a camera down her throat, into her stomach twice and found nothing. She has had 3 Colonoscopies and, they have found nothing. At the local Hosp. request, I made an appointment for a Gastrointernologist and had him do an MRI of her digestive tract. He found nothing!!!!! When entering the ER, the hosp. physician asks her on what level of pain she is experiencing, on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least to 10 being the worst. She will say a 9. As soon as he leaves the room, she goes to sleep!!!!! I don't think a pain level of 9 would allow that!!!!!!!! She gets very impatient with the nurses and physicians at the ER here because they don't wait on her fast enough and give her a pill to make her feel better.
After all these tests, on the way home, she requests that I stop and get her a cheeseburger from McDonalds or, a bowl of Chili from Wendy's. This is bizarre!!!!!!
I have been told that the ER at Barnes is a busy place with stab wounds, gunshot wounds, heart attack and accident victims, etc. so we should expect possibly 5 to 7 hrs. before a physician sees her. This doesn't take into consideration of a 1-1/2 travel time to get to Barnes. Her daughter is POA but, does very little for the health care of her mom. Her one son comes to see her about every 4 months and lives about 80 miles away. Her other son has Parkinson's and is unable to do anything. My twin brother does nothing to help her so, it is all placed on my shoulders and has been for the last 3 years that she has been in the nursing home.
This is not a trip I am looking forward to. I can imagine them telling her to get her records and a referral then, come back at a later date so, this trip will be basically wasted.
Replies
Hey. You know I already know all of the history with your sister and I would be beside myself too if it was me. This makes no sense. Now I think I\'m confused because I\'m not sure why you\'re taking her without a referral or medical records and what is she complaining about again? Her stomach? I swear, I can\'t keep up with her myself! Bless your heart. I can\'t imagine her be willing to sit and wait for hours and won\'t be surprised if she tells you just to take her back . They give her pain meds at the nursing home don\'t they? I don\'t know what else to say, but good luck tomorrow and I\'ll be thinking of you and hoping it all works out .
Big hugs and love xo