Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Chemo was a no go

Yesterday was a bad day.  I had to do the 24 hour rule, before blogging.  I was so upset.

We arrived for 8am at Humber River Hospital.  They gave Tony his monthly 2 hour IV drip for bone strengthening.  They didn't do blood work as it was all done and approved for chemo last Thursday.  After the IV drip, they disconnected him and basically said they wanted to wait for a room. They were going to admit him for the chemo.   Hours later, the Doctor came to find us and directed us to a private room.
She looked upset...... We both didn't have a good feeling......
She started by apologizing to us saying that chemo was not going to happen.  (chemo to reduce the lymph nodes)  It was an "administrative" thing.  WTF!  They gave him the chemo 4 weeks ago, why couldn't they do it again?  Apparently, (brace yourself) Tony was the FIRST patient to ever receive the Dpace chemo at Humber River Hospital as an inpatient.  Another first.  Seems to be the theme with Tony since this entire journey.
My problem grasping this entire day is:
-why wasn't this addressed 4 weeks ago when they administered this chemo?
-We were there last Thursday!  Why wasn't it questioned then?
-Why wasn't the doctor in Tony's care aware of this chemo not allowed at Humber River?  She's in oncology and has many patients with Multiple Myeloma!
-Was there a problem that we don't know about when they gave it to him the first time?
- If Princess Margaret Hospital instructed the doctors at Humber River Hospital, didn't they know that Humber doesn't administer this chemo?  A first?
So, after many, many, many heartfelt apologies for this delay, our appointment was over.  Done.  Just over.  Go home and Princess Margaret will be taking over now.  They will be calling you. Plan is that Monday, October 7th they will be begin chemo.  SEVEN DAY DELAY.
I swear, I felt like I was violated.....Not a good feeling.  If another person talked about it to me, I think I would have done something I would have regretted forever.  Seriously.  Felt like he was denied care.  In Canada!  How is this possible?
I emailed and left a message at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH)
Late last night they emailed a very brief response.  Blood work and appointment this Thursday.  Chemo is booked for Monday.  That's it.
Today, I was depressed and still shocked about this.  I wasn't sure how to best tackle this situation.  I know that we are out of luck in getting it sooner, but somehow, this needs to be addressed.  For Tony and the next guy.
Late morning someone called us to say to go to patient relations and get answers.  "Do not let this go".
hummmmm  They were pretty insistent saying this should never have happened this way.  Very apologetic as well.  Seven more days is seven more days.  Shouldn't have happened.
Guess what?  I got all riled up again.  On a mission.
I blasted an email to PMH and phoned Patient Relations. at Humber Hospital  Left a message with Patient Relations.  I was nice.
Around 5:30 (I'm impressed as they close at 4:30 as per voice message) a women called and wanted the details of my complaint.  She will be discussing this situation with the head oncologist and get back to me Wednesday.  All words that I'm sure is said to all.
Around 7:00pm, PMH telephoned us in response to my email.  Wonderful chat!  They always say the right things.  Basically assured us that 7 days isn't really harmful in the scope of things.  This chemo is administered every 4-6 weeks and this Monday will be 4 1/2.  The plan is to get reassessed with the blood work this Thursday and on Monday we go in to PMH and they will hook Tony up to a portable chemo IV system.  Portable.  Making him mobile.  Making him go home with instructions.  The following Wednesday we go back for them to change the bags and back again on Friday to disconnect.
We are now in the hands of PMH, where I wanted him to be for the last 8 weeks!


2 comments:

  1. Good outcome. But shocking experience. Strength to you. We've all got enough to deal with as it is, without incompetent medics...

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  2. Hi! I just stopped by and had a quick question about your blog. Could you please email me back when you get the chance? Thanks Tony emilywalsh688 (at) gmail.com-

    Emily

    ReplyDelete