Dad in hospital

[DianeB]

My dad was admitted to the hospital last night. He was running a fever. As I have mentioned he had a touch of pneumonia, but x-ray showed it is gone but he is still coughing a lot. They admitted him him while they wait on the results of the culture. Meanwhile he is waiting on platelets and has a nose bleed and his blood pressure is 84 over 66…he usually runs 110 on top number. The gp doctor is talking about using Afrin nasal spray. As I mentioned before this is the same doctor who didn’t catch the red flag that dad’s platelets were low and was going to put dad on plavix when he was there last. Dad recalled that another doctor that he went to for blockage in arteries or veins in neck mentioned that his platelets were low and dad had to tell the doctor that plavix was probably not a good idea. Then this doctor finally sent him for blood work. Does anyone which doctor runs the show when a person is hospitalized? I know the hematologist called in the platelet order but who should be taking care of the nose bleed. If I had my way he would be seeing a doctor at the Cleveland clinic for MDS, but this only frustrated him when I talk about this. Plus Cleveland is 4 hours away. The general practice doctor worries me. I like the hematologist but would love to ask him how many mds patients he treats.
I guess I’m just venting here ….thanks for listening.

[Mary4Mike]

Hello Diane,

I am sorry to hear about your father’s medical obstacles and your frustrations in dealing with it all.

You have every right to ask your dad’s hematologist how many MDS patients he is presently treating. I did and our doc never batted an eye. He said around 12. I have to say that when you aren’t in a University type setting where they are conducting clinical studies (we aren’t), you are going to basically get cookie cutter treatment. Thank God for the internet and the wealth of information on it…also for forums like this. We have share info with the doc that we have read here and he seemed open to listening to it, NOW when the time comes and we want to try some of these things, I have no idea how open he will be then.

My guess on the doctor running the show in the hospital would be the admitting one.

Keep your chin up,

Mary

[riley]

Diane,

I’m sorry your father is in the hospital. I hope he’s doing better today.

During my father’s hospitalizations when he was seen by more than one speciality, his hem/onc ran the show. They said the reasoning was that his primary illness was MDS — the other specialties got involved because of complications due to the MDS — so they felt the hem/onc was the doctor to coordinate care. I imagine this is probably handled differently depending on the hospital and doctors involved.

If you or your father have a preference for who acts as the primary doctor, maybe you can request that he/she take on that role?

Nicole

[JSRN]

I know what you are feeling. My mom fell Saturday night. She broke her elbow and today discovered her pelvis is broken in many places. Her Hgb had been 9.6 last week and was 7.4 when she was admitted. She was very confused and I asked for a CT of the head. The admitting doctor said her confusion was from the low Hgb. I said listen to me doc, mom has lived with a low HGb for years, this confusion is not from low Hgb. So she ordered the test. It did not show any bleeds so that was good. Monday her count was 9.9 after 2 units. Today it was 9.4. So the doctor orders blood for after the surgery. I told her no! I asked her if she understood MDS. I told her this was the normal course of the disease for mom and she did not need blood until below 8. I asked her to let the oncologist deal with the MDS treatment. I don’t think she cared for my butting in but too d@mn bad!
Be your own advocate and do your own research. And don’t be afraid to speak up! Mom’s count went UP after the surgery so the blood order was stopped.
But mom is still very confused. Her friends said she has lost the will to live the past few months even before this accident. Now that she won’t be able to drive and will go into a nursing home for several weeks or longer I just worry she will give up.

[Debster01]

JSRN-You are SO right-you absolutely have to be an advocate for your loved ones. Good for you standing up for what was best for your mom-having 2 ill parents the vast majority of my life-I know exactly what you are saying! Best wishes to you and your mom-keep us posted! Deb

[jaxem]

diane
sounds like you need a 2nd opinion from another hematologist. convince your dad of this. drive the 4 hours & get it done.

[JSRN]

Deb,
Mom’s count went up to 10 the day after surgery. But one day later, 8.6 and the next day 7.4. To add to this, she was still very confused. At one point we were considering Hospice. But over the week end she became alert and oriented again. We are waiting to see what the blood counts do this time after the transfusion. So far she is holding around 9.6. Every day is an emotional roller coaster ride. Still no idea when she will go to rehab and I wonder how will she do if her counts continue to drop and she is expected to do 1-2 hours of rehab a day in order to qualify for “skilled” care for Medicare to pay to costs.

[Author]

Posts