leeingrove
Member
- Messages
- 7
Let me say this, it is a long post, before I get to the point I am raising!!!
Couple of months ago I posted "Type1 and vomiting help" and I thank you all for your advice, the post though refereed to my Uncle when in fact he is my (estranged) partner Derek. I use estranged because although we were still living under the same roof that is as far as it went. Oh we would say hello or good night but never spoke on anything that mattered. Thus for 8 years it was like this and to be honest was all my doing, but he made a promise to me way back in 1986 in a hotel room in Paris.
OK in mid April of this year Derek had a very bad Hypo, got home from work at 11pm to find him almost unconscious. Phoned Ambulance and considering it was a Friday night they arrived in under 10 minutes, his BM was 2.2 and suffering from hypothermia.
Few cups of tea, some food and lots of talk with the paramedics seemed to do the trick. Within an hour his BM was up to 7.1 temp was good response and so on. At this point the paramedics advised it would be a good idea to go to hospital but Derek refused and as such the paramedics had no choice but to respect his wishes.
Four hours later I was back on the phone, and by chance the same paramedics that attended earlier turned up, within 15 minutes they told Derek that they have a duty of care and that it is no longer an option he was going to hospital.
So his stay in Hammersmith hospital lasted 25 days, his discharge notification reads (important parts only), main condition Hypoglycaemia other, HTN, DM - insulin, frequent vomiting -? diabetic gastro paresis and ex smoker - 45 pack year history.
Treatment/Operation: (Sorry won't include this as 50% is made up of abbreviations) (but should there be a Doctor who reads this then will gladly furnish a copy) what I will say is that after having a V scan one of his heart vessels was obstructed around the lateral wall. It says that he needs to continue on aspirin for life and clopidogrel for 1 year.
His meds he got on leaving were pretty much same as before going in, though wait, he had to stay in hospital an extra 3 days whilst Hammersmith hospital awaited delivery of insulin pumps!!!! Have to say when I saw the pumps I thought ***. they reminded me of the phaser gun from Star Trek.
So Derek is now home, he is very happy but looking very tired and withdrawn, time for his injection... For 20 years he has had a pump which resembles a big pen, could of used it blind folded, apparently the hospital gave him instructions on using it but that was the day before, and at 86 one tends to forget.
So who writes these instructions? Take pump in hand and gently move hand from side to side, so as to mix insulin. attach needle and twist then pull off... What the instructions don't allow for is an idiot, no mention of a cover (had a diagram on back showing how to remove cover) spent 5 mins before realising the cover. 3 needles and 1 pump later (instructions state "screw the needle straight and tight) Derek takes over. What the instructions or the box don't tell you is that these pumps should be used by the weak or disabled, which is why they look and feel the way they do (that is my opinion anyway).
The last paragraph though not relevant to my plight thought it should be added!!
OK so he is out of hospital. Goes to bed at 11pm gets up after being in bed for 14 hours had his meds gave him his tea, 30 mins later he was sick not much but still, (at this point I no longer work) I cook him some food which he eats a mouthful or two. he does not move from the couch except to go to the toilet, he tries to eat some dinner, this fails. Am trying to keep on top with his meds and BM monitoring, now according to the hospital Derek has know issues with walking as he was seen by a physio and she determined that he is able to walk with out an aid. It would take Derek some 2 minutes to walk from the living room door to the bedroom door (depending on your height the distance is 8 strides). would then sit on the bed out of breath. Days 2 - 5 were exactly the same except on day 5 I was going to do some shopping and Derek still laying in bed asked me to get some chickens for dinner "what chicken breasts"? "no get 2 chickens for dinner tonight". Why I bothered doing a full roast dinner I will never know, even to the point of Derek asking if we were on a diet as it was taking so long, (thought he was getting better so bought a massive chicken) he ate 1 tiny piece of chicken breast and nothing else.
Day 6: Started out much the same as previous days, till around 6pm when he started to be sick, at first took as his normal sick thing but then it would carry on, same type of sickness as to someone having food poisoning. Now I am getting concerned, I suggest we call the Doctor (cannot write his answer here). At 2am I call 999, went through everything they took 50 mins to arrive and within 10 mins of them arriving Derek was in the ambulance with blues and two to Hammersmith hospital.
OK this is where the fun begins and the thought that staff at Hammersmith hospital are ????????? I followed the ambulance and after a while spoke with a Doctor about Derek. Told her all about previous stay, how he was before that and the previous 6 months, can not do any more here so go home to bed. 2 hours later get a call from a Doctor asking me about Derek mainly the same stuff as the previous Doctor wanted to know. An hour later get a call from yet another Doctor wanting to know about Derek. 3 hours have passed and another call from a Doctor wanting to know about Derek, how close was I to screaming at him, though I did ask do you not keep notes I have already spoken to 3 Doctors on this, all he said was that he has just come on and needed background history…!
Derek was transferred from Emergency to ICU where he stayed for 12 days, during this time he was put on a dialysis, had a blood transfusion; his electrolytes were very low and generally in poor health. There were days that Derek was confused and that when I would go was told that he is confused from… Thinking he was in Korea (nurses got concerned about this, as such pointed out that if I were sick and woke up to see nothing but nurses from the Far East then I might make that assumption, this of course went right over her head) to thinking that he had been kidnapped and was being held with out his will and shouting call the police.
Apparently Derek is now well enough to go to a ward, even though he was adamant that he was going home, to the point that I said you can come home with me right now if you can stand on your own two feet. So off we trot to a ward, which later I find is mainly for people with infectious diseases. So far so good has his own room with adjacent bathroom, could not ask for more (though later I did).
So Derek is off with his tubes and machines and just has insulin machine and drips, a week passes and Derek appears to be perking up. On Tuesday (Queens Jubilee) was informed by a Doctor that the previous day he took a turn for the worse and that I should be made aware of certain things, bottom line is that should his heart stop they will not attempt to start it again and such like. 3 days later I get to speak with the Senior Consultant who informs me that Derek is now over the worst and that he will be coming of antibiotics removing the feed tube and such, though he won’t be coming home for at least a few weeks, so as to get him completely recovered.
Saturday I go and see him we talk well I talk he moans and grumbles at me, argues about something he does not remember doing, so in whole back to the same Derek.
Sunday thought b*****s stay in bed (hangover). Monday morning get a call from a panicking nurse who’s English is not good, so could barely understand her all I could make out was you must come, so this I did. By the time I got there was informed by a nurse that it is all, ok now. Going by what the nurse was describing, sounded to me like he was having a hypo, of course they were insistent this was not the case (I have seen Derek through 100+ hypos). Now from Monday till today his health has deteriorated that much that when I went to visit him today I found it very distressing and had to speak with his Doctor, whom I spoke with a couple of days earlier with regards to… Giving Derek one last try of antibiotics and such, and should this fail giving him back his dignity making him as comfortable as one can and let nature take it’s course.
So where am I going with all this and let me say I did not mean to write such a long post, but have to give all the facts behind what I am going to ask….
Can Hammersmith Hospital be held accountable?
Here are the facts: Derek was admitted to hospital the first time having a hypo and what appeared to be mild pneumonia, also having a chesty cough/catarrh. During his stay he had a V scan which showed he had a blocked artery to the heart, this they unblocked and all went well. As he was in recovery he would get out of bed go to the bathroom sit in a chair and be chatty. A couple of days in to his recovery his blood sugars were all over the place, at night it would be very low and by mid afternoon would be very high, on quite a few occasions I would have to tell a nurse he was having a hyper which they missed constantly.
Soon I noticed that he was not eating just a mouthful here and there till he got to not eating at all, apparently this is common if you are a diabetic, the wife of patient next to Derek told me. She got the hospital to put him on build up shakes but not to tell him. So went and spoke to a nurse and was told that he is a diabetic and that a doctor can only make that decision. Spoke with the doctor who was looking after Derek and after a lengthy talk he said it might help him, but would have to be done after the weekend. Monday nothing Tuesday went to speak to his doctor who is now on leave, spoke with another and was told that it is to late to start him on Build Up as he is going to be discharged very soon… One week later he is still there, all because there are no insulin pumps. Still not eating, looking a bit down with a wheezy chest and feeling weak. Apparently if you don’t eat anything for a week+ there is nothing to be concerned about, they can’t force feed patients, but wait what about the Build Up which I mentioned 2 weeks ago, I know nothing about that!
Derek’s second visit to Hammersmith hospital I feel is a farce!
Let me ask this, do doctors make it up as they go? Do hospitals not keep a full documented file on patients?
Only ask this as, accordingly the hospital/doctors have Derek down for having a heart attack and not a hypo!
In fact there is no mention of him even having mild pneumonia or having his artery unblocked.
So to sum it up he is currently in hospital because he has a chest infection being a result from his earlier heart attack and that he has deteriorated due to being malnourished and being diabetic.
Oh and what I surmised last week was shunned. The reason for him being so violently sick was FOOD POISONING!!! How do I know this, well…. The day before he was throwing up he made himself a fried egg, which a week later I had and that night was not good. Turns out the eggs were a little out of date, well ok a month out of date. So what did the doctor say about this? No, it might have been a secondary course but you don’t get a chest infection…. From that point I have given up… He had a chest infection the 1st time he was in hospital, Christ even the paramedic got that!!!
Thank You for taking the time to read!
Couple of months ago I posted "Type1 and vomiting help" and I thank you all for your advice, the post though refereed to my Uncle when in fact he is my (estranged) partner Derek. I use estranged because although we were still living under the same roof that is as far as it went. Oh we would say hello or good night but never spoke on anything that mattered. Thus for 8 years it was like this and to be honest was all my doing, but he made a promise to me way back in 1986 in a hotel room in Paris.
OK in mid April of this year Derek had a very bad Hypo, got home from work at 11pm to find him almost unconscious. Phoned Ambulance and considering it was a Friday night they arrived in under 10 minutes, his BM was 2.2 and suffering from hypothermia.
Few cups of tea, some food and lots of talk with the paramedics seemed to do the trick. Within an hour his BM was up to 7.1 temp was good response and so on. At this point the paramedics advised it would be a good idea to go to hospital but Derek refused and as such the paramedics had no choice but to respect his wishes.
Four hours later I was back on the phone, and by chance the same paramedics that attended earlier turned up, within 15 minutes they told Derek that they have a duty of care and that it is no longer an option he was going to hospital.
So his stay in Hammersmith hospital lasted 25 days, his discharge notification reads (important parts only), main condition Hypoglycaemia other, HTN, DM - insulin, frequent vomiting -? diabetic gastro paresis and ex smoker - 45 pack year history.
Treatment/Operation: (Sorry won't include this as 50% is made up of abbreviations) (but should there be a Doctor who reads this then will gladly furnish a copy) what I will say is that after having a V scan one of his heart vessels was obstructed around the lateral wall. It says that he needs to continue on aspirin for life and clopidogrel for 1 year.
His meds he got on leaving were pretty much same as before going in, though wait, he had to stay in hospital an extra 3 days whilst Hammersmith hospital awaited delivery of insulin pumps!!!! Have to say when I saw the pumps I thought ***. they reminded me of the phaser gun from Star Trek.
So Derek is now home, he is very happy but looking very tired and withdrawn, time for his injection... For 20 years he has had a pump which resembles a big pen, could of used it blind folded, apparently the hospital gave him instructions on using it but that was the day before, and at 86 one tends to forget.
So who writes these instructions? Take pump in hand and gently move hand from side to side, so as to mix insulin. attach needle and twist then pull off... What the instructions don't allow for is an idiot, no mention of a cover (had a diagram on back showing how to remove cover) spent 5 mins before realising the cover. 3 needles and 1 pump later (instructions state "screw the needle straight and tight) Derek takes over. What the instructions or the box don't tell you is that these pumps should be used by the weak or disabled, which is why they look and feel the way they do (that is my opinion anyway).
The last paragraph though not relevant to my plight thought it should be added!!
OK so he is out of hospital. Goes to bed at 11pm gets up after being in bed for 14 hours had his meds gave him his tea, 30 mins later he was sick not much but still, (at this point I no longer work) I cook him some food which he eats a mouthful or two. he does not move from the couch except to go to the toilet, he tries to eat some dinner, this fails. Am trying to keep on top with his meds and BM monitoring, now according to the hospital Derek has know issues with walking as he was seen by a physio and she determined that he is able to walk with out an aid. It would take Derek some 2 minutes to walk from the living room door to the bedroom door (depending on your height the distance is 8 strides). would then sit on the bed out of breath. Days 2 - 5 were exactly the same except on day 5 I was going to do some shopping and Derek still laying in bed asked me to get some chickens for dinner "what chicken breasts"? "no get 2 chickens for dinner tonight". Why I bothered doing a full roast dinner I will never know, even to the point of Derek asking if we were on a diet as it was taking so long, (thought he was getting better so bought a massive chicken) he ate 1 tiny piece of chicken breast and nothing else.
Day 6: Started out much the same as previous days, till around 6pm when he started to be sick, at first took as his normal sick thing but then it would carry on, same type of sickness as to someone having food poisoning. Now I am getting concerned, I suggest we call the Doctor (cannot write his answer here). At 2am I call 999, went through everything they took 50 mins to arrive and within 10 mins of them arriving Derek was in the ambulance with blues and two to Hammersmith hospital.
OK this is where the fun begins and the thought that staff at Hammersmith hospital are ????????? I followed the ambulance and after a while spoke with a Doctor about Derek. Told her all about previous stay, how he was before that and the previous 6 months, can not do any more here so go home to bed. 2 hours later get a call from a Doctor asking me about Derek mainly the same stuff as the previous Doctor wanted to know. An hour later get a call from yet another Doctor wanting to know about Derek. 3 hours have passed and another call from a Doctor wanting to know about Derek, how close was I to screaming at him, though I did ask do you not keep notes I have already spoken to 3 Doctors on this, all he said was that he has just come on and needed background history…!
Derek was transferred from Emergency to ICU where he stayed for 12 days, during this time he was put on a dialysis, had a blood transfusion; his electrolytes were very low and generally in poor health. There were days that Derek was confused and that when I would go was told that he is confused from… Thinking he was in Korea (nurses got concerned about this, as such pointed out that if I were sick and woke up to see nothing but nurses from the Far East then I might make that assumption, this of course went right over her head) to thinking that he had been kidnapped and was being held with out his will and shouting call the police.
Apparently Derek is now well enough to go to a ward, even though he was adamant that he was going home, to the point that I said you can come home with me right now if you can stand on your own two feet. So off we trot to a ward, which later I find is mainly for people with infectious diseases. So far so good has his own room with adjacent bathroom, could not ask for more (though later I did).
So Derek is off with his tubes and machines and just has insulin machine and drips, a week passes and Derek appears to be perking up. On Tuesday (Queens Jubilee) was informed by a Doctor that the previous day he took a turn for the worse and that I should be made aware of certain things, bottom line is that should his heart stop they will not attempt to start it again and such like. 3 days later I get to speak with the Senior Consultant who informs me that Derek is now over the worst and that he will be coming of antibiotics removing the feed tube and such, though he won’t be coming home for at least a few weeks, so as to get him completely recovered.
Saturday I go and see him we talk well I talk he moans and grumbles at me, argues about something he does not remember doing, so in whole back to the same Derek.
Sunday thought b*****s stay in bed (hangover). Monday morning get a call from a panicking nurse who’s English is not good, so could barely understand her all I could make out was you must come, so this I did. By the time I got there was informed by a nurse that it is all, ok now. Going by what the nurse was describing, sounded to me like he was having a hypo, of course they were insistent this was not the case (I have seen Derek through 100+ hypos). Now from Monday till today his health has deteriorated that much that when I went to visit him today I found it very distressing and had to speak with his Doctor, whom I spoke with a couple of days earlier with regards to… Giving Derek one last try of antibiotics and such, and should this fail giving him back his dignity making him as comfortable as one can and let nature take it’s course.
So where am I going with all this and let me say I did not mean to write such a long post, but have to give all the facts behind what I am going to ask….
Can Hammersmith Hospital be held accountable?
Here are the facts: Derek was admitted to hospital the first time having a hypo and what appeared to be mild pneumonia, also having a chesty cough/catarrh. During his stay he had a V scan which showed he had a blocked artery to the heart, this they unblocked and all went well. As he was in recovery he would get out of bed go to the bathroom sit in a chair and be chatty. A couple of days in to his recovery his blood sugars were all over the place, at night it would be very low and by mid afternoon would be very high, on quite a few occasions I would have to tell a nurse he was having a hyper which they missed constantly.
Soon I noticed that he was not eating just a mouthful here and there till he got to not eating at all, apparently this is common if you are a diabetic, the wife of patient next to Derek told me. She got the hospital to put him on build up shakes but not to tell him. So went and spoke to a nurse and was told that he is a diabetic and that a doctor can only make that decision. Spoke with the doctor who was looking after Derek and after a lengthy talk he said it might help him, but would have to be done after the weekend. Monday nothing Tuesday went to speak to his doctor who is now on leave, spoke with another and was told that it is to late to start him on Build Up as he is going to be discharged very soon… One week later he is still there, all because there are no insulin pumps. Still not eating, looking a bit down with a wheezy chest and feeling weak. Apparently if you don’t eat anything for a week+ there is nothing to be concerned about, they can’t force feed patients, but wait what about the Build Up which I mentioned 2 weeks ago, I know nothing about that!
Derek’s second visit to Hammersmith hospital I feel is a farce!
Let me ask this, do doctors make it up as they go? Do hospitals not keep a full documented file on patients?
Only ask this as, accordingly the hospital/doctors have Derek down for having a heart attack and not a hypo!
In fact there is no mention of him even having mild pneumonia or having his artery unblocked.
So to sum it up he is currently in hospital because he has a chest infection being a result from his earlier heart attack and that he has deteriorated due to being malnourished and being diabetic.
Oh and what I surmised last week was shunned. The reason for him being so violently sick was FOOD POISONING!!! How do I know this, well…. The day before he was throwing up he made himself a fried egg, which a week later I had and that night was not good. Turns out the eggs were a little out of date, well ok a month out of date. So what did the doctor say about this? No, it might have been a secondary course but you don’t get a chest infection…. From that point I have given up… He had a chest infection the 1st time he was in hospital, Christ even the paramedic got that!!!
Thank You for taking the time to read!
