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So Close and Yet so Far

I returned to Las Vegas on the Wednesday just after Labor Day.  I went to see Dad and was surprised to see him doing so well.  He was in this incredibly spacious room.  I asked what he had done to secure such spacious accomodations.  The room he had been in when I left the previous Friday was a fraction the size of this room.  The nurse told me it was because Dad needed dialysis and this room was set up specifically for that.  Dr. Ahmed was talking about moving Dad to Harmon Rehab Hospital on Friday.

I changed my plans for returning home until Saturday so that I could follow Dad over to Harmon and be sure he got set up in his room alright.  

I spent most of Friday afternoon with Dad waiting for the orders for him to be moved to be signed.  I had to go over to the State Museum for an exhibit opening.  I told Dad I would be back by 7:00.  I wasn't gone more than 90 minutes.

When I got back, Dr. Holland walked in.  He looked over Dad's chart and his latest blood work-up.  He canceled the move to Harmon.   His reasoning was that Dad's white count was very high, over 20,000 (less than 10,000 is where it should be) and Dr. Holland didn't feel he should be moved until they could find and treat the source of the infection.  I asked him what he thought the source was and he said it was likely Dad's other foot.  That foot was bandaged and Dr. Holland, doning gloves, took the bandage off and we could see that Dad's foot was looking pretty grim.  After replacing the bandage, Dr. Holland said he would call and have the Ortho surgeon come in and take a look.  His prognosis was that Dad would likely lose that foot as well.

I called Jon and told him I wouldn't be home just yet.  I went over to my Mom's and told her the news.  We had all been so hopeful and this deflated our good moods.

We had to wait until Monday for the Ortho surgeon to come take a look.  But Dr. Holland had called it.  Dad was going to have to have surgery to remove his left foot.  Surgery was scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 13th.

On Wednesday morning, because he was having surgery, Dad was not allowed any food or drink.  Surgery was scheduled for late afternoon, 4:00 pm.  I got there in the afternoon to sit with him until they came to take him downstairs.  The afternoon dragged on.  By 3:00, he was thirsty and hungry and there was no one from the Pre-Op coming to get him.  By 4:00 we were getting concerned.  Our nurse finally called down to the OR to find out what the delay was.  By then, Dad had not had anything to eat or drink for almost 24 hours.  Word came back from the OR that the surgery had been canceled because the surgeon had been called to an Emergency at Sunrise Hospital.  Dad's surgery was rescheduled for tomorrow evening, Thursday, at 6:00 pm.  

Needless to say, I was irritated.  No one had called up to the third floor to tell us that the surgery had been canceled despite them knowing for awhile.  We quickly got Dad some water and ice chips to quench his thirst.  I thanked the nurse for calling.  I went down to the OR/Pre-Op to find out what happened.  They told me that the scheduler from Nevada Orthopedic should have called us.   I then called Nevada Orthopedic to find out why no one had called us.  I was told that the scheduler was gone for the day. 

The next morning my first stop was Nevada Orthopedic.  I wanted to talk to the scheduler myself.  I tried to explain to her that Dad had gone the day without food or liquid, that he had spent the day worrying about the surgery and that the least they could have done was call us and tell us that the surgery had been canceled.   She explained that the Pre-Op people should have called us and told us.  It was the classic Catch-22 so prevalent in healtcare these days.  I was very understanding about the Emergency surgery that had called the surgeon away, I was just upset that they had left Dad worrying for hours when a simple phone call would have let us know.  Dad has been through enough and the worrying about the surgery didn't do him any good.   Rather than apologize for the oversight, the scheduler basically shrugged and said it wasn't her problem.

When I got to the hospital I was glad to hear that they had given Dad a bit of breakfast since his surgery was scheduled for the early evening.  The nurse, Lise, asked how it gone with Nevada Orthopedic's scheduler.  I explained what had happened.  Lise, like the people down in Pre-Op, said the phone call should have come from the scheduler as soon as she was made aware of the need for the surgeon at Sunrise.  She had to rebook any other surgeries and call those people to let them know.  We, more than likely, fell through the cracks, thinking that someone else would handle it.

Dad tried to belie that fact that he was nervous.  Mom and Serena came up to sit with us while we waited again for Pre-op.  This time they showed up on time and took him off to the Operating Room.  We went downstairs to wait.    Less than an hour later the surgeon came in to tell us that everything had gone alright.  He was able to give Dad a "matching pair" of legs.

Once out of recovery, Dad would go back upstairs to his room.  He didn't think Dad would spend too long in recovery.  I waited.  I finally saw them taking Dad back upstairs and followed them in the elevator.  By the time I got up there, Dad was resting.

I told him I loved him and would see him in the morning.   

Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2007 at 3:55PM by Registered CommenterLasVegasLynn | CommentsPost a Comment

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