December 21, 2009

• health care?

  A few weeks ago my husband had chest pains, so we went to the hospital. They determined that he had an 80% blockage in his left anterior descending artery (nicknamed the widow maker artery because more men die from this particular blockage).

  We started out at one hospital where he spent Saturday through Monday. When they did the first heart catherization and discovered this blockage, they immediately transferred him, via ambulance with sirens blaring, to our other hospital (we only have 2) because they are considered the heart specialist. The same cardiologist use both hospitals, but the other one has all the latest toys. (Are you hearing the ka-ching of the cash register yet? Or the laughs of glee from the insurance and hospital execs? They’ve made their bonus money for another year!) And then the next day they did the stent procedure. But he had to be driven by ambulance to wait a day. Hmmm…

  Anyway, after 2 stents and then another cath procedure and 5 nights in the cardio vascular ICU, they finally released him to go home. We had a list of instructions. One of the major ones was about what to do if he had more chest pains. They were calling in a prescription for Nitroglycerin and if he has pain, he is to take one every 5 minutes until the pain stops. But no more that 3 of them. If the pain is still there after 3 pills, go to the ER. This is all really important, they told us. Except, they never called in the prescription and it took another 2 days before we finally got his new cardiologist’s nurse to call us back. She did finally call in the prescription.

  After being home for a week and doing all he was supposed to do, including a big diet change, he was feeling good. We decided to go visit my daughter in Birmingham, Alabama. That’s about a 6 hour drive for us. I drove and he took it easy. But about 2 hours into the drive he started having chest pains. He took the required pills while I drove to a local hospital.  In a little town named Ozark we found a tiny little hospital. The doctor was from Cameroon and seemed to be one of the smarter docs I’ve ever encountered. We determined from the beginning that if Greg had to stay overnight, it wasn’t going to be there. I asked that he be transferred to Dothan, about a 30 minute drive south, where they have large, modern hospitals and, also, where my aunt lives so I would have a place to sleep. The doc explained that it just doesn’t work that way. He agreed that it should, but law said they first had to try to keep him where we were.

  About a 1/2 hour later he came back to the exam room to tell us the good news…his supervisor was refusing to admit him. So that cleared the way for him to go to Dothan. Then he started making phone calls. Dothan didn’t want him either. We were later told that either they were full or, most likely, the cardiologists simply didn’t want to mess with a new cardio patient. Dr. Ngone (our new Cameroon friend), was sitting at a desk right outside our room, so we clearly heard the conversations. He calmly told them that he would play the game with them, but in the meantime the patient is laying there with chest pains and needed to be seen by a cardiologist. Next he called the ‘on call’ cardiologist from our hometown, a partner of Greg’s cardiologist. He told Dr. Ngone to send us to Dothan. When told that Dothan wouldn’t take him, he said he would call back. Dr. Ngone stayed calm, told us that knowing how to play this game is why he gets the big bucks. After a while another call comes saying that our local people would take him.

  Now to get him back home. I can’t take him. Obviously it would be a real hazard for him to just get in the car and come home. He’s been laying on this table in the ER for 2 hours at this point and has been given Morphine, so by now his pain is gone. But the law is the law. An ambulance has to bring him home. A rep from the ambulance company tells me our insurance may not pay for this ambulance, because there is a facility (in Dothan) that could take him. When I tell her that they refused, she said maybe that would make a difference to them. I sure hope so!

  We got home about 4pm and settled in the local ER. It was 11 before they got a room for him. They said they had to keep checking his blood to make sure there was no problem, and if there wasn’t, he could come back home this morning. We’re still waiting for the doc to tell us the results of those tests.

  The heart is a scary and complicated thing, but Doctors have learned a lot about how it works and how to keep it working. It’s amazing the things they can do. We now know that a few simple bloodtests taken every 6 hours can even tell them if things are still working as they are supposed to be with the stents. So why all this drama and hassle between the hospitals? It’s enough to give someone a heart attack! Is it really all about money? Or just that there are too many “docs in the lab” and it’s mucking everything up? Everything is just so complicated anymore!

  Oh yeah, and after the doc in Alabama finished with all of his phone calls and they finally decided to take Greg back to his original hospital, the nurse came in and started telling us how awful medical care was going to get if Obama’s plan passes. I guess she’s worried because everything is going so well for everybody now, huh?

  Someone please fix this broken system! It doesn’t have to be this way.

  UPDATE:

  They are going to keep Greg to do another cath procedure tomorrow. The good doc says the stents he put in are fine, but it seems that the side arteries may be the problem now.  He also said he doesn’t want to discuss by-pass surgery, but since he brought it up, he must be thinking about it. So keep us in your prayers, please!

  • 9:16 am
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