10/7: Not Home...
So Leo is being kept in the hospital, most likely, until Monday. Why? Why not. This has been such a frustrating day, but I'm going to try to keep my use of the word "idiot(s)" to a minimum, although I just can't control my sarcasm. The day started at 4am, when Leo's pulse and breathing became very rapid -- a common decadron weaning side-effect. The resident decided Leo needed an emergency EKG and chest x-ray. They were done. They showed nothing. Pulse and breathing continued to be fast.
At about 8am, the door was flung open, lights switched-on, all sorts of noise was made, and a gastroenterologist entered. She spoke with a thick accent and extremely loudly, but didn't really say anything interesting. She also didn't really care about the pulse or the breathing.
A few minutes after the doctor left, nurse Allie came in and saw Leo had thrown-up the previous feeding. He also threw-up the subsequent feeding and everyone started to worry. Dr. Kroin called and said she wanted a blood culture door to see if he has an infection. I mean, come on, the chest x-ray showed nothing, the EKG showed nothing, something has to be wrong -- a reason needs to be found to keep Leo here for a few more days. No one was willing to call Dr. Ghai, the endocrinologist, so I paged her. She immediately called me back and basically told me she wasn't following Leo; she just gave her advice/opinion; whoever started the decadron needed to wean him; and gave me the distinct impression she wanted nothing to do with us. What about the pulse and the breathing? Ask whoever prescribed the decadron. Nice, another professional.
At about 2pm, right at the time of the decadron dose, Nurse Allie couldn't get blood out of the central line (!) for the culture and we got TPA. TPA didn't work an hour and a half later at 3:30pm, which made my blood pressure skyrocket. I stormed around and told all the nurses and residents that if they did anything today, they had to get the line opened. So they ordered more TPA. Since TPA takes 1-1.5 hours, the 2pm decadron dose would be given sometime around 5 because Leo doesn't have enough decadron weaning side-effects. Just as they got the second dose of TPA and a bunch of new nurses to help, lo and behold blood. That TPA went unused. I had to ask for the morning blood test's results, which were fine, so more money well spent.
It seems to me that in 4 years of medical school, all some "doctors" learn is how to order diagnostic tests (x-rays, EKGS, and blood tests), order/prescribe medicine (TPA, protonics, etc.), and take a wait-and-see attitude without taking-on much responsibility. I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but that's all that's been done here in a week!
Leo got a nice sponge bath and the rest of the day was fairly uneventful, except his pulse and breathing did slow down a bit. Grandma Shura and Grandma Bella noticed that Leo's left eye, which was turning in a lot, wasn't turning in as much. Leo's hands are now relaxed more than they are clenched into fists. I was doing some of the physical therapy shown to improve his ankles, which were also a bit looser than before. We truly believe these are all signs of the decadron easing its evil grip on Leo, so we need to -- and will -- stay the course.
At about 8am, the door was flung open, lights switched-on, all sorts of noise was made, and a gastroenterologist entered. She spoke with a thick accent and extremely loudly, but didn't really say anything interesting. She also didn't really care about the pulse or the breathing.
A few minutes after the doctor left, nurse Allie came in and saw Leo had thrown-up the previous feeding. He also threw-up the subsequent feeding and everyone started to worry. Dr. Kroin called and said she wanted a blood culture door to see if he has an infection. I mean, come on, the chest x-ray showed nothing, the EKG showed nothing, something has to be wrong -- a reason needs to be found to keep Leo here for a few more days. No one was willing to call Dr. Ghai, the endocrinologist, so I paged her. She immediately called me back and basically told me she wasn't following Leo; she just gave her advice/opinion; whoever started the decadron needed to wean him; and gave me the distinct impression she wanted nothing to do with us. What about the pulse and the breathing? Ask whoever prescribed the decadron. Nice, another professional.
At about 2pm, right at the time of the decadron dose, Nurse Allie couldn't get blood out of the central line (!) for the culture and we got TPA. TPA didn't work an hour and a half later at 3:30pm, which made my blood pressure skyrocket. I stormed around and told all the nurses and residents that if they did anything today, they had to get the line opened. So they ordered more TPA. Since TPA takes 1-1.5 hours, the 2pm decadron dose would be given sometime around 5 because Leo doesn't have enough decadron weaning side-effects. Just as they got the second dose of TPA and a bunch of new nurses to help, lo and behold blood. That TPA went unused. I had to ask for the morning blood test's results, which were fine, so more money well spent.
It seems to me that in 4 years of medical school, all some "doctors" learn is how to order diagnostic tests (x-rays, EKGS, and blood tests), order/prescribe medicine (TPA, protonics, etc.), and take a wait-and-see attitude without taking-on much responsibility. I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but that's all that's been done here in a week!
Leo got a nice sponge bath and the rest of the day was fairly uneventful, except his pulse and breathing did slow down a bit. Grandma Shura and Grandma Bella noticed that Leo's left eye, which was turning in a lot, wasn't turning in as much. Leo's hands are now relaxed more than they are clenched into fists. I was doing some of the physical therapy shown to improve his ankles, which were also a bit looser than before. We truly believe these are all signs of the decadron easing its evil grip on Leo, so we need to -- and will -- stay the course.
posted by Yury at 7:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home