Friday, January 2, 2009

A FIne How Do You Do

Welcome home, but don't get too comfortable. I was having a great day. An amazing day. I walked with a friend. I went shopping with my aunt and uncle who are visiting. Jim, Molly, Dad, my aunt and uncle and I were eating Peppermint JoJos after a great lunch, when Dr. Cardiologist called. "Your dad has to get to the hospital right away, and have blood drawn. Do not pass "Go", do not go home until you have results and prepare to spend the next three hours of your life in lines and hospital waiting rooms." So, on a day when we all had remarked how much better Dad was doing--eating more, feeling better, having more energy--we discovered that apparently we don't have a clue. When we arrived at the hospital, the orders weren't there, so the receptionist called Dr. Cardiologist's nurse. She said "I faxed them five times." Huh? Why would you fax something five times unless you were having problems or someone had called to say it hadn't arrived four times? Wouldn't you just fax it once, and assume it had arrived? We stood in line some more. We waited in waiting rooms. We read Dr. Gott and Heloise. Finally Dad had blood drawn. Then we were told "DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL YOU HAVE THE RESULTS." But the hospital lab couldn't give us the results. They could only give them to the doctor, who was off today and unavailable. "But DON'T LEAVE. Sit there until you are bored out of your mind and willing to give us all your cash." And why didn't they want him to leave? If the lab results were bad they wanted to admit him. Wait. He's fine. He's having his best day yet!!! And you want him to lie in a hospital be hooked up to monitors and feed him hospital food because why?"  I just couldn't see how that would help him. Every stay in the hospital has been a step backward for him requiring days to recover. Finally the news came. "Oh, sorry. False alarm. His labs are GREAT! The last results must have been a lab error. Silly us. He he." Geesh. Welcome Home, Dad. 

1 comment:

taz said...

Arghhh! Isn't that just like them? Doctors and rest just love playing with our heads - and making our parents even more uncomfortable than ever. What to do?

Glad he's doing fine and you folks got home safely!