Lots to update

My computer got a virus, so hence the lack of updates.





So, in the last month, G had surgery to remove the "omentum" in his abdomen. It was wrapped around the catheter, and the surgeon said that was why G had problems draining.





He had the surgery, but it still didn't solve the problem. G hit fluid overload in the hospital to the point he required oxygen the last night. The kidney Dr. didn't want to release him, eventhough they weren't going to do any surgery to fix the problem. What we thought would be an overnight stay turned into 3 nights..


Finally, G said "I am going to say I want released AMA (against medical advice). We told the nurse this, who advised us if this was done, then the insurance company didn't have to pay for the entire hospital stay.


So,..humm. Decided to ask to speak to the patient advocate. Luckily for us, when the patient advocate showed up, it was the guy who was the supervisor on that floor, whom I had complemented back in Oct. about how well run the floor was. He remembered us.

We explained we wanted to go home, G would do better at home, we would ensure he would
get hemodialysis if he needed it and not end up in the emergency room...etc.
I pretty much figured out the reason they don't want to release people is because they
get penalized by Medicare or Medicaid if a patient is readmitted within 90 days. The government is trying to force Drs. to address the underlying problem, and get support
in place so patients don't end up back in the emergency room.

G is not the typical patient. He will not let it get so bad he had so go to the emergency room for fluid overload.

Anyway, the patient advocate interceded, it was agreed hemodialysis would be arranged for 2 days from then, etc. etc.

G was released on a Thursday, he had hemodialysis on Sat., We still had problems with him not
draining, it sometimes taking 2-3 hours to drain when it should drain in 30 minutes or less. And, we had to do 4 exchanges a day, so all we got done was screw around with the exchanges. Finally, G decided to just lay in bed while it drained, and oddly enough when he laid on his right side, with the drain hose going up OVER his stomach (uphill), it started to really drain.

So weird, but at least we found the combination. And none too soon, because I was ready to throw in the towel at that point.

Then, last week G had a procedure, putting 3 stents in, to open up blood flow to his right leg, which was 90% blocked. He was in the hospital all day, but didn't have to stay overnight. That went well, so hope he can stay out of the hospital for some time now.


goverments s09r reetnandgem,,