Go here if you want to read more about my last 4 weeks…

Maybe all hospitals are like this but I only have one major complaint about UIHC.  It seems to me that no department seems to talk to the other and I’m trying to learn to adjust to that.

The latest example was today…  I had two 20 minute Doctor meetings scheduled, and it took us over 4 hours not including the drive time.  The first doctor was almost an hour late, lapsing the second doctor’s appointment.  We were told by the lady shifting people into rooms that she would try to get the 2nd doctor to visit in this room (#23) rather than sending me out to the waiting room to be called on again.  When the first doctor was about to leave we told him we were told to stay there, etc… he said he would check thinking he needed the room.  I inferred someone would tell us if we were supposed to leave.

Almost an hour later someone came in and questioned why we were there and said this room was for the first doctor not the second.  hmmm…

After almost an hour back in the waiting room I went up to the desk to tell them I had an 11am appointment and it was now 1pm.  Apparently, even though I was checked in and knew I had seen the first doctor, (I took the time to schedule the next appointment before sitting down) this receptionist was shocked and paged a nurse to help reschedule. After being installed into room #24, and a full 90 minutes later we were on our way home. Good thing is, I saw this as how much stamina I really had – more than I thought.

As I’ve collected these examples I thought they were an interesting pattern – as I’m writing this it all seems petty on my part.

I didn’t have a local doctor until PK got me one a few weeks ago.  She wrote the info on some paperwork that she gave to the attending resident, who said she would give the paperwork to the first doctor’s secretary. She must have done that because our workforce office received the appropriate paperwork returned on time.  A week later my surgeon emailed me and said he needed my local doctor’s name, etc – previously I had asked that all paperwork be forwarded to my local doctor. I gave the surgeon my local doctor’s name, address, etc – then today, the office that I check into for each appointment, didn’t have the local doctor listed. After all that, I still had to give all the paperwork to my local doctor – no one forwarded it to her.

Finally, the biggest thing was that because of my condition, I presented as diabetic when I was admitted to UIHC. What that means to Food Services is – I needed so many calories and so many carbs. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, the surgeon thought one of the results of the surgery (getting the liver and pancreas working again) I would no longer be diabetic.  So far that seems to be the case.

It took a few days to review tests and schedule surgery that was similar to a weight reduction surgery, but more importantly, a surgery that invaded many parts of my digestive system. Yet when I ordered a Lemon Italian Ice, Food Services would send sandwiches and more. All the nurses said was you need to eat to fart to do a BM before you can go home. It was crazy. Finally my surgeon said, you’ll eat when you’re hungry and they didn’t object to my going home. It seems you go to a hospital to get “fixed” but to get better you need to go home.

What I learned was you need to continue to question things and don’t sit around waiting for things to happen, even if someone tells you to sit there…