Monday, August 16, 2010

Seriously???

I really have to question the service of Kaiser hospital sometimes. Yesterday I met up with my sisters in my mom's hospital room, because the doctor was supposed to discuss her illness and treatment with us. We waited about an hour and a half and finally asked the nurse where he was. She said he was in a meeting that should be about an hour long. Meanwhile my sister, Cheryl asked the nurse if she could let us know what my mom's current blood sodium level was and/or if it had come up any. The nurse said ok and left the room. She never did bother to come back or tell us anything. As for the doctor, we waited for him for over 3 hours. Finally Cheryl asked the nurse if the doctor could just call her once he was finished with the meeting. We all went home. Cheryl finally called me about 4 1/2 hours later. She said that the doctor had told her he was in meetings all afternoon. On a Sunday???!! I'm having trouble believing that. He said that since he hadn't actually seen my mom that he could not say exactly why her blood sodium level was so low. It's possible it could be from the antibiotic that was used for her bladder infection. He said that it appeared that the infection was cleared up though. If so, why are they still giving her antibiotics by IV? Also, how could he know this if he hasn't seen her? AND, why did he want to meet with us? (Actually, it is possible that my mom only said that he wanted to meet with us. She was so delusional on Saturday that she may have just thought he wanted to see us. Maybe he didn't really say that). Either way, it bothers me that he hasn't even bothered to check in on his patient. Cheryl said that the doctor is supposed to speak with her today, and she'll let me know the outcome.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Worried

My mom was admitted to the hospital for a few days last week due to a bladder infection which led to dehydration and a low blood sodium level. They released her Tuesday and she seemed to be doing well. She went back in the hospital this morning again. Her blood sodium level is very low again and she is extremely confused. The doctors say that low sodium does often cause confusion, but it is very scary. Phil and I will be going out to see her later today. I hope that the doctors can provide some answers as to why her sodium is so low. I talked to my sister a while ago. She was at the hospital earlier. She said that the doctors said my mom's sodium level was in the 120 range. I googled "normal blood sodium level" and it said normal levels should be 136 to 145. Not good! I'll let everyone know when I have found out more as to what is causing this.