Wednesday, February 10, 2010

GRRR!

...Well that did not go so well. I had to fight to get heard by a Dr. who seemed annoyed by my questions. He put in a cuffed trach which is 2 whole sizes bigger than his regular uncuffed trach. I fought back tears as it caused him to bleed. I do not want to have to do this to him myself and on a weekly basis. (also it can possible harm his trachea, is uncomfortable to him, is torturous to put in, and seems to take away his voice.) They are assuming that he will continue to need a cuffed trach although he did not have one before, he has an acute illness and he is getting better. No one has really explained to me the reason for this assumption. I have been aware that he could potentially need one if he were to use pressure support at home. But he is not on pressure support. So perhaps he will not need it for long but they did not seem to want to explore what the options would be even though he would likely require a custom trach which takes weeks to order.
Also the Dr. who wants to manage his home vent usage has not been communicating with me. The other Dr. who was willing to do so has been checking in on us frequently.
The medical supply co. respiratory therapist worked hard to get a vent available to us quickly and it will be brought here sometime tomorrow for him to get used to and me to get training on. Unfortunately we can not go home until Tuesday as that is when she is available to come set it up in our home, train us and the local branch's resp. therapist. I don't think he really needs to be here that long but I am glad we actually have an end point in sight. Being here is a huge upheaval to all of our lives. I want to get him out of here before he picks up any hospital bugs.

1 comment:

  1. Grrr indeed! So sorry to read that boneheads and blocking your path home. Bizzare world - of course you had to go to the hospital with the fever and all, but it seems like Brosie is stronger, better and able to go home if these folks would just get their act together (and listen to you). It's like they've got you there and they don't want to let you leave. That really seems backwards. Contrary to their mission. You'd think they'd be doing everything possible to help you get out and go home. Yeah... I second your "Grrr!"

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