This is long but please take time to read it as we are desperate. 12/19/03 - my dad age 78 had surgery on sm intestines to remove blockage (started on 12/16).Before he went to hospital, he was walking 3 miles a day, driving & leading a normal life. On no medication except Trizadone for fibromyalgia. After morphine shot for pain after surgery,pulled the NG tube out of nose 4 days after surgery. Had had no bowel movement. Doctor ordered leave NG tube out to see what happened. He got sick violently vomiting that night. Family memeber was there & nurse did not call doc until next morning. He violently vomited all night & Day 5 in AM about 10 AM, doc said to put tube back down nose. He improved some, doc ordered liquid diet (did not run CT scan to see if stomach could handle-still no bowel movement) & he began walking around hall by Day 8 after surgery. Sunday 12/28 (Day 9), wasn't feeling as well. Pressure was low all day. 4:30 12/28,he started complaining with shoulder hurting, said oh my chest 3 times & started breathing fast. Had chills. Nurse gave him morphine shot,told him he was hyperventilating. 1-1/2 hrs later, gave him another morphine shot & told him he was just panicking. Continued breathing very fast through night. Inexperienced nurse on nightshift called doc twice but was not forceful with doctor about seriousness. Doctor ordered bloodwork, Electocardiogram. We were told all tests came back normal. Day shift nurse came in, saw problem & called doc. Doc started telling her to try something else & she said no, you don't understand. This man is in trouble & needs pulmonary support. So doc said do whatever she thought. Within 15 minutes, she had lung doc who immediately put him on ventilator. Moved to ICU. His surgeon did not show up until 9:00 pm Mon night. Was very unstable for 3-4 days. Got vitals stable, then started leakage through incision. Original surgeon referred to it as a little drainage that would clear up. By Sat 1/3, he was in another emergency-doc didn't show 2nd time after being called. CT scan showed bowel leakage in stomach. We fired original surgeon, got new surgeon and he did emergency surgery Sat 1/3 to repair leakage. Looked like kidney dialysis was inevitable but they began recovering from shock. Infectous doc doctored him for sepsis & finally got the infections/bacteria cleared. Nuerogoly doctor ran CT scan on brain and said it showed no signs of stroke, or anything. EEG Xray showed a minor slowing of the brain but nothing major. Had to have trach due to bleeding. Trach is capped now. PROBLEM: Took weeks for him to wake up even though no medication given 4 days after trach surgery. Once awake did not recognize anyone. Now he recognizes us but his mind is gone. He can answer yes/no questions, remember family names, but he talks about things that make no sense. Totally helpless. Not gaining strength back and still cannot handle himself. Uses bathroom in bed, on IV feeding-started liquids today, has to be turned, everything. New doctors just say need to wait and see. 69 days in hosp so far. Searching for anyone with similar experience. Original surgery & 1st 10 days of care in hospital far below standard. After being sent to ICU, care has been better. We know he is close to being kicked out of hospital. No acute care facilities in our city, only nursing homes that cannot provide care he needs. Doctor has told us he needs acute care. What recourse do we have? Would outcome have been same if orig doc and hospital staff had diagnosed the sepsis sooner? Our bills are approaching 1/2 million and no end in sight. His life (my mom's and my husband and I too) has basically been destroyed by improper care for him and we just want to have the best we can for him. Any comments. Please give feedback.

Sherry,
I took the time to read thru your story. It is a very sad commentary on healthcare and the vital need for qualified (& forceful) nurses who can get doctors to act. I agree with Mary Anne about getting to a blood conservation center for a second opinion. Maybe something can be done to backtrack and get some "quality" of life back for your father. It sounds like up until this hospitalization, he was pretty active.
Case managers or social workers can get you some help in regards to an interim facility. They should have all the local places available.
As "coordinators" we not only find the most cooperative doctors in the field of "bloodless" medicine, but usually it's the physicians who want to pursue a higher quality in their professions that participate in these programs. I hope you have a blood conservation program in your area.
Let us know if you find some help from our list of centers.
Sincerely,
Jessica Varisco

Thank you for your comments. We are located in Bowling Green, KY and do not see a center close to me. It seems like we take one step forward and two steps backward. The drainage tube in his fistula in his intestine was taken out two days ago and yesterday, the open incision filled up with bowel secretions due to diarrhea so they have put the tube back in. My dad is very depressed now. During the first 6 weeks in hospital, he had had to have 18 pints of blood but in the last three weeks, has not had to have any.