Finally, after six weeks, I have blood pressure and a pulse in my left arm. The wonderful people at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces took great care of me. Everyone was wonderful and it was a very positive experience.
I have to thank my friend, Diane for taking me to the hospital and hanging around while they put the stent in and bringing me a capuccino in the recovery room and then spending the night with me. I also want to thank my friend Cathy for taking over when Diane had to leave and for calling me twice a day since to make sure I was alright. Friends are wonderful!
I can't forget Carolyn, who called me at least twice a day before the procedure was done to make sure I hadn't dropped dead at home alone.
I am so thankful to have two wonderful kids who care about me and wonderful friends who have given their time to help me!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Nightmare at Mountain View Medical Center
My visit to Mountain View Regional Hospital
(An experience to forget)
www.mountainviewregional.com/
Prologue
Before I relate the events of July 6, 2007, I should go back in time two weeks so you will know the complete history of this experience to forget.
On June 13th I had just finished mopping floors and was in a bit of a sweat. I decided to sit down with a glass of water and rest a bit. Within five minutes I experienced extreme dizziness and my tongue, the inside of my mouth, and my lips all went numb. Then my hands started shaking uncontrollably. Needless to say, I got scared. After several tries I finally got my fingers to work on the telephone keypad and called a friend to come and get me and take me to the emergency room at Mountain View Regional Hospital. When we arrived there were about 3 people in the waiting room. I had to register then sit and wait…..about 20 + minutes. They called me in….sat me in a room….could not get the blood pressure from my left arm until they had tried about 3 times. (HINT! CLUE # 1)
Finally a Dr. came in, asked me what had happened. I told him. (By now the numbness was gone and my hands had quit shaking) He said, “Well, I don’t think you had a stroke. But you might be having “mini-strokes”. Try taking some baby aspirin and go see your primary doctor tomorrow.” He sent me out to the desk where I paid them $75.00, for nothing.
So, I went to see my primary doctor the next day. She immediately ordered an MRI of my head and an ultrasound of my carotid artery. (She, apparently got the hint right away when her assistant could not get a pulse or a blood pressure reading from my left arm)
I leave with the orders and drive immediately to Mountain View Regional hospital, where I am told that it is 5 o’clock and they are closed. They have no MRI techs in the building and that I need to make an appointment for tomorrow. Okay. So I said, who do I call to make the appointment? Oh, that department is closed until tomorrow. You need to come in early in the morning with your orders.
Next day, Friday, June 15: 8 am: I arrive at reception desk with the MRI orders, which, by the way, say STAT. I show them to the girl. She says, “Do you have an appointment? You have to have an appointment ahead of time for an MRI.” So, I make the appointment. It won’t be until 11 am. By this time I am beginning to get woozy again…and decide to go sit in my car and wait. Oh yes, when I got the appointment they had me pay $238.00 right away.
Fast forward to Monday, June 18th…a 9 am appointment with my primary doctor. She has the results from the MRI and ultrasound. She refers me to a vascular surgeon, because the ultrasound showed carotid artery blockage. Tuesday morning I call the surgeon’s office to set an appointment. Uh oh! I’m sorry , our computer system is down. I can’t make any appointments until the IT guy gets here and fixes it. Leave your number and I will call you back. That day passes with no call back…I call at 4:45…and get an automated message that says to “please call back during regular office hours…8 am to 5 pm. Hmmmm…..guess they had nothing to do since their computers weren’t working, so went home.
Tuesday, June 19th….No call back still. So, I call them. I need an appointment as soon as possible….these are my symptoms…..I have the results from the MRI and Ultrasound. She says, “Oh, it sounds like we really need to get you in here…..BUT….the doctor only sees patients in the office on Tuesdays, as that is the only day he isn’t in surgery. “ So I told her that I tried to make an appointment yesterday, which was Tuesday, only they couldn’t make appointments because their computers were down. At this point I am silently screaming! Well….nothing to be done but wait a whole week for an appointment.
So, I made the appointment for the next week, met the vascular surgeon and set up a date and time at Mountain View Regional Hospital to do an angiogram and put in a stent if needed. And here is where the nightmare begins.
JULY 6TH DAY OF THE ANGIOGRAM
My daughter was concerned for me and took time off and spent the money to fly in from Philadelphia to be with me before and after the angiogram. I arrived at the appointed time for the angiogram and even though I was pre registered they had me go back to admitting all over again. So, I got a number and waited. I finally got back to the Cath Lab at 10:30 am. They put in an IV with saline and gave me two benadryl and shaved my groin area and left me. My daughter was not allowed to stay with me. They told her she could go home and they would call her when the procedure started. I was scheduled for 12 noon.
12:30 comes around and finally someone comes to check on me and let me know that because of a schedule glitch with the anesthesiologist it would be another two to three hours before they could get to me.. Well I felt like crying at that point. My head was killing me, the lights in the room were bringing on a migraine. I asked for something for my headache. Two hours later someone came and gave me two Tylenol. At 2:30 I called my daughter and told her I was still just waiting. Finally at around 2:45 they came to get me. No one introduced themselves or told me what I could expect them to be doing. I got no warning when they pushed the catheter into my groin and I screamed because it was very painful. “Oh, does that hurt? Let me know when it stops.” Then, “okay we’re going to take an x-ray now.” They moved a machine next to me and that is when I got hot all over and thought I had wet the bed. They gave me no warning about the effects of the dye being pushed in. Then….”okay, we’re done”
I said I wanted to talk to the Dr. I said he was supposed to put the stent in today. He told me that in his office and I had to sign a release that allowed him to put in a stent if needed. He denied telling me that and refused to talk to me about it. He told me to make an appointment at his office and we would schedule a time to put the stent in. He said due to the fact that I was under the influence of medication he couldn’t speak to me about this now. I said, “What medication? I got two benadryl at 10:30 am and 2 tylenol at 2:30 and I was fully aware of what was going on around me. He just backed off and told me to call his office on Monday.
Now they roll me back to the same room I started in so that I can be observed for 2 hours to make sure the puncture site in the groin did not bleed. This was about 3:10 pm. I lay there listening to an endless amount of gossip and personal phone calls. No one came and checked on me until 4:30 pm. Finally I was allowed a glass of water and some apple juice and a sandwich. They called my daughter to come after me then and took out the IV and let me get dressed. Then they went over directions about taking care of the incision. In the meantime my daughter comes to pick me up and is told at the nursing station that I am not there. They think I am on the 4th floor. So up she goes and of course I am not there. At this point I asked the nurse to wheel me outside to wait for her and we ran into her at the end of the hall. I was wheeled outside, my daughter got the car and we drove off with me using some four- letter words.
I think that pretty much tells about my ordeal at Mountain View Regional Hospital. I am now trying to locate another vascular surgeon at a different hospital.
(An experience to forget)
www.mountainviewregional.com/
Prologue
Before I relate the events of July 6, 2007, I should go back in time two weeks so you will know the complete history of this experience to forget.
On June 13th I had just finished mopping floors and was in a bit of a sweat. I decided to sit down with a glass of water and rest a bit. Within five minutes I experienced extreme dizziness and my tongue, the inside of my mouth, and my lips all went numb. Then my hands started shaking uncontrollably. Needless to say, I got scared. After several tries I finally got my fingers to work on the telephone keypad and called a friend to come and get me and take me to the emergency room at Mountain View Regional Hospital. When we arrived there were about 3 people in the waiting room. I had to register then sit and wait…..about 20 + minutes. They called me in….sat me in a room….could not get the blood pressure from my left arm until they had tried about 3 times. (HINT! CLUE # 1)
Finally a Dr. came in, asked me what had happened. I told him. (By now the numbness was gone and my hands had quit shaking) He said, “Well, I don’t think you had a stroke. But you might be having “mini-strokes”. Try taking some baby aspirin and go see your primary doctor tomorrow.” He sent me out to the desk where I paid them $75.00, for nothing.
So, I went to see my primary doctor the next day. She immediately ordered an MRI of my head and an ultrasound of my carotid artery. (She, apparently got the hint right away when her assistant could not get a pulse or a blood pressure reading from my left arm)
I leave with the orders and drive immediately to Mountain View Regional hospital, where I am told that it is 5 o’clock and they are closed. They have no MRI techs in the building and that I need to make an appointment for tomorrow. Okay. So I said, who do I call to make the appointment? Oh, that department is closed until tomorrow. You need to come in early in the morning with your orders.
Next day, Friday, June 15: 8 am: I arrive at reception desk with the MRI orders, which, by the way, say STAT. I show them to the girl. She says, “Do you have an appointment? You have to have an appointment ahead of time for an MRI.” So, I make the appointment. It won’t be until 11 am. By this time I am beginning to get woozy again…and decide to go sit in my car and wait. Oh yes, when I got the appointment they had me pay $238.00 right away.
Fast forward to Monday, June 18th…a 9 am appointment with my primary doctor. She has the results from the MRI and ultrasound. She refers me to a vascular surgeon, because the ultrasound showed carotid artery blockage. Tuesday morning I call the surgeon’s office to set an appointment. Uh oh! I’m sorry , our computer system is down. I can’t make any appointments until the IT guy gets here and fixes it. Leave your number and I will call you back. That day passes with no call back…I call at 4:45…and get an automated message that says to “please call back during regular office hours…8 am to 5 pm. Hmmmm…..guess they had nothing to do since their computers weren’t working, so went home.
Tuesday, June 19th….No call back still. So, I call them. I need an appointment as soon as possible….these are my symptoms…..I have the results from the MRI and Ultrasound. She says, “Oh, it sounds like we really need to get you in here…..BUT….the doctor only sees patients in the office on Tuesdays, as that is the only day he isn’t in surgery. “ So I told her that I tried to make an appointment yesterday, which was Tuesday, only they couldn’t make appointments because their computers were down. At this point I am silently screaming! Well….nothing to be done but wait a whole week for an appointment.
So, I made the appointment for the next week, met the vascular surgeon and set up a date and time at Mountain View Regional Hospital to do an angiogram and put in a stent if needed. And here is where the nightmare begins.
JULY 6TH DAY OF THE ANGIOGRAM
My daughter was concerned for me and took time off and spent the money to fly in from Philadelphia to be with me before and after the angiogram. I arrived at the appointed time for the angiogram and even though I was pre registered they had me go back to admitting all over again. So, I got a number and waited. I finally got back to the Cath Lab at 10:30 am. They put in an IV with saline and gave me two benadryl and shaved my groin area and left me. My daughter was not allowed to stay with me. They told her she could go home and they would call her when the procedure started. I was scheduled for 12 noon.
12:30 comes around and finally someone comes to check on me and let me know that because of a schedule glitch with the anesthesiologist it would be another two to three hours before they could get to me.. Well I felt like crying at that point. My head was killing me, the lights in the room were bringing on a migraine. I asked for something for my headache. Two hours later someone came and gave me two Tylenol. At 2:30 I called my daughter and told her I was still just waiting. Finally at around 2:45 they came to get me. No one introduced themselves or told me what I could expect them to be doing. I got no warning when they pushed the catheter into my groin and I screamed because it was very painful. “Oh, does that hurt? Let me know when it stops.” Then, “okay we’re going to take an x-ray now.” They moved a machine next to me and that is when I got hot all over and thought I had wet the bed. They gave me no warning about the effects of the dye being pushed in. Then….”okay, we’re done”
I said I wanted to talk to the Dr. I said he was supposed to put the stent in today. He told me that in his office and I had to sign a release that allowed him to put in a stent if needed. He denied telling me that and refused to talk to me about it. He told me to make an appointment at his office and we would schedule a time to put the stent in. He said due to the fact that I was under the influence of medication he couldn’t speak to me about this now. I said, “What medication? I got two benadryl at 10:30 am and 2 tylenol at 2:30 and I was fully aware of what was going on around me. He just backed off and told me to call his office on Monday.
Now they roll me back to the same room I started in so that I can be observed for 2 hours to make sure the puncture site in the groin did not bleed. This was about 3:10 pm. I lay there listening to an endless amount of gossip and personal phone calls. No one came and checked on me until 4:30 pm. Finally I was allowed a glass of water and some apple juice and a sandwich. They called my daughter to come after me then and took out the IV and let me get dressed. Then they went over directions about taking care of the incision. In the meantime my daughter comes to pick me up and is told at the nursing station that I am not there. They think I am on the 4th floor. So up she goes and of course I am not there. At this point I asked the nurse to wheel me outside to wait for her and we ran into her at the end of the hall. I was wheeled outside, my daughter got the car and we drove off with me using some four- letter words.
I think that pretty much tells about my ordeal at Mountain View Regional Hospital. I am now trying to locate another vascular surgeon at a different hospital.
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