Secre Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Today has not been a good day. Mum was admitted to hospital this morning, after an ambulance crew woke the neighbourhood at 6.30am. The GP had called them after mums kidney blood tests came back. She presented with abdominal pain and gastrointestinal issues. More blood tests, a CT scan, and X-ray later, she’s diagnosed with a perforation of the bowel that requires urgent surgery. My father is... anti-social and lacking in social comforts. So I do the round Robin of informing family, friends and vicar. Unfortunately she is a high risk patient. She has poor health to begin with, and is a severe alcoholic. So she has a significant chance of surgical complications or not coming out of the surgery at all. She went into surgery at 6.30pm GMT, it is now 11.43pm GMT and I haven’t heard anything from the hospital. No news may be good news, but a heads up that she’s alive would be appreciated. Not that I can complain. Free healthcare at the point of delivery; admitted, assessed, treated and prepped for surgery in ten hours isn’t bad going. Doesn’t make me feel much better mind you! To make matters more complicated, my brother is serving in the US Navy. He just applied and received US citizenship and doesn’t have a passport yet. To get an emergency passport and leave he needs a letter from the hospital saying it’s life or death. Which it is. But by the time he found that out after the surgery was announced, with time differences, it was after hours for the hospital and can I find a consultant on duty to write that letter? Can I hell. Graaaah! *rant over* jellysundae 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naamah D. Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Sorry to hear this. I hope your mom makes a speedy recovery. If you need any virtual hugs, let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Naamah D. said: Sorry to hear this. I hope your mom makes a speedy recovery. If you need any virtual hugs, let us know. Thank you and the virtual hug is very well received. I’ve had a phone call from the hospital- mum is stable. She’s still intubated, but I’m feeling a little more optimistic. ranga_muffin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellysundae Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Oh gawd How are you feeling today? Did you get any sleep? Are you going to struggle to get updates over the weekend? Please don't forget to breathe... Secre 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted January 30, 2021 Author Share Posted January 30, 2021 3 hours ago, jellysundae said: Oh gawd How are you feeling today? Did you get any sleep? Are you going to struggle to get updates over the weekend? Please don't forget to breathe... I got about three hours in the end. Thank God I’m not working today. I woke up to a phone call from the Red Cross... my poor brother is trying to move heaven and earth to get that passport expedited. the news today isn’t promising. She’s still under and intubated and is hypotensive due to sepsis. I suspect the sepsis is what caused the whiff blood results that got her admitted. So today isn’t great either!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angeló Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 As a radiologist , it's often easy to miss bowel perforations on Xrays .. and sometimes on CT (we look for pneumoperitonium - air in the abdomen and under the diaphragm ... and sometimes we find free fluid as well) ... Glad your mom got a good Radiologist who made the correct diagnosis and glad she's out of surgery and is stable Keep us updated please Sending you and your family my best wishes That's interesting about your brother tho, serving in the US Navy before even having the citizenship Secre 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 23 hours ago, Angeló said: As a radiologist , it's often easy to miss bowel perforations on Xrays .. and sometimes on CT (we look for pneumoperitonium - air in the abdomen and under the diaphragm ... and sometimes we find free fluid as well) ... Glad your mom got a good Radiologist who made the correct diagnosis and glad she's out of surgery and is stable Keep us updated please Sending you and your family my best wishes That's interesting about your brother tho, serving in the US Navy before even having the citizenship I’ve been very impressed with the medical care she’s received - the surgical registrar I spoke to was clearly very knowledgeable and competent. I hadn’t even considered the radiology team, but you’re very right of course. Things are looking more hopeful today, she’s been brought out of sedation and intubation, her blood pressure has stabilised and while she is being under 24 hour supervision, it is more hopeful. We finally got a letter from the hospital - my brother ended up calling them from America. Interestingly he’s been in the Navy for about three years and only applied for citizenship this year. He’s a medtech currently working in an anaesthetics ward on a Navy base, although he’s done some work on the Comfort for COVID support in New York. The letter debacle hit the point of ridiculous when I was told they couldn’t access the headed paper that was locked in a secretarial office...!! jellysundae 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellysundae Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 How's it going? Are things still moving in the right direction? *hopeful* Secre 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted February 2, 2021 Author Share Posted February 2, 2021 20 minutes ago, jellysundae said: How's it going? Are things still moving in the right direction? *hopeful* They are indeed! It's far more hopeful than it was over the weekend, thankfully. She's still in the ICU and under close observation, but her vitals are more normal and she is needing less support. They are hoping to move her to the Ward tomorrow now I believe. So it's all good news!! My main headache at the moment is with beurocracy and getting the hospital to release information to the Red Cross. So we have got a letter from the hospital to take to the passport people, but the Red Cross are verifying information for my brother's chain of command. I have rung the hospital three, four, ten times to say I am happy for them to release information. They have the ICU password. The Hospital are not playing at all. Currently it looks as though the hospital might be willing to email me a letter that I can then forward onto the Red Cross. Whether that will pass muster is anybody's guess!! But hey, if that's my main worry at the moment... I'll count that as a win from where we were at the weekend!! jellysundae 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellysundae Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 1 minute ago, Secre said: But hey, if that's my main worry at the moment... I'll count that as a win from where we were at the weekend!! Yes indeed! That's sounding great! But, OH MY GOURD red tape... The two sides of healthcare, right there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted February 3, 2021 Author Share Posted February 3, 2021 20 hours ago, jellysundae said: Yes indeed! That's sounding great! But, OH MY GOURD red tape... The two sides of healthcare, right there... Yep, to go from she likely won't make it to worrying about paperwork is good! And I got the letter! The Red Cross are happy, Anthony's command have been informed. They have since declined his leave because there isn't enough notice. *face palm* He's got leave approved for the beginning of next week instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellysundae Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 9 hours ago, Secre said: And I got the letter! The Red Cross are happy, Anthony's command have been informed. They have since declined his leave because there isn't enough notice. *face palm* He's got leave approved for the beginning of next week instead. I think military red tape is maybe even stickier than medical? *~* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 On 2/3/2021 at 7:37 PM, jellysundae said: I think military red tape is maybe even stickier than medical? *~* Very possibly. He's now awaiting the approval of the altered leave request... by the time they 'learn how to spell their own names' (in his words), it may well be considered too short notice again. But Mum has now been moved to a general surgical ward rather than the ICU and the doctors seem to be happy with her progress! Miracles happened, mum came home. However addiction is as addiction does. She spent a week sober. Maybe ten days at best. And then she went straight back into old habits. Seven days drunk, two days hungover... straight back into drinking. The nurses haven't even finished with the dressings yet... but she's getting comatose regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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