I associate the phrase, Mind the Gap, with admonitions in the London Tube. It’s stuck in my noggin although I don’t know if it is really said or how frequently. But the phrase came to mind when I was thinking about our health care system, for gaps there be
I am well into my third week at home with a catheter. As a senior couple, we haven’t haven’t had one visit or even a phone call to ask how we are managing with it.
We were given the equipment and sent on our way without any follow-up provision, not even a flipping pamphlet. This is the gap that we have been forced to mind.
It’s a good thing that Sue is both competent and tenacious, for she has ferreted out information from the internet. It was only with the help of the internet and daughter's workplace that she figured out how to clean and take care of the infernal apparatus.
There we were with no one to officially bridge the gap and check in on us. If I may be permitted to change my metaphor, it was a case of being left alone in the deep end and desperately trying to swim and not sink.
I know that I have been going on and on, ad nauseam, on this topic, so I’ll try to stop now. It’s just that dealing with this device has been almost the sum total of my life for almost three weeks.
Some healthcare system. This is where the visiting nurse is needed. We had them for similar situations with Handsome Partner, financed and provided through Medicare. I thought you'd have similar coverage, and I'm sorry you don't.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that you are being neglected by our health care system & thank goodness for Sue & your daughter to find things out. Isn't it strange that you had to turn to Google to get help, when so many doctors tell you to absolutely stay away from Google for medical issues. As you know from my blog we have been surfing through the medical system with some good results & some neglected moments. It is scary.
ReplyDeleteI really sincerely hope this gets resolved soon. It's definitely neglect if you ask me. Maybe you need to become a "squeaky wheel" and let someone know how much you are suffering.
ReplyDeleteWe are so short-staffed. If you have a partner, they leave you on your own.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were discharged after JB's surgery, it was the same deal.
Of course, you are better being out of the hospital, but we did get pamphlets. Plus I've had clients with catheters. As a volunteer I am not supposed to do any of that, but who won't help someone if they can?
That's terrible for you all. So sorry the system doesn't have follow-through. My home health needs are also completely lacking. I can take equipment to the office (on the other side of town) or just figure things out myself. They call me when Medicare replacement parts are due...but I don't have any answers when I try to call them. ARGH! (C-PAP machine and Nebulizers are prescribed by the doctors, but they don't even know what happens at the other end of the line)
ReplyDeleteWhen I met my soon to be wife, she was a physician in England. Through my visits, I was appalled and somewhat terrified by the gaps I saw in their healthcare system. So many people got lost in the system without a way to insure prompt care. It made me a bit more thankful for our healthcare system, which makes it harder for people to get lost, but at the expense of horrible costs and sometimes people having to make difficult choices. Someday, perhaps both systems can be combined into some hybrid system that works better on all fronts.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the lack of follow up. But good for Sue for filling the gap!
ReplyDeleteThe system must think that if they don't hear from you all is well. If staffing shortages exist it's the problems that are addressed not the proactive check ins before problems crop up. Glad to know Sue and Sha are caring for you.
ReplyDeleteYep, you should have had at least a couple of home health visits. I'd call the doc office who put in the catheter and ask for a follow-up appointment and some care instructions sent to you pronto. You don't want to wait for 3 or 6 months, eh? The way you're experiencing all of the trauma, you and Sue could open your own clinic! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteIt is ridiculous what gaps there are in health care in this country. We are thankful to have a nurse in the family. I hope this torture is over soon, AC. Catheter free is where you want to be…
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to advocate for yourself in the medical system. I hope that someday soon this is just a blip in your memory.
ReplyDeleteHow frustrating and worrisome for you! My husband gets all his medical care through the VA, and they have been stellar. I have private insurance and it is nowhere like the care he gets. I feel for you both; and kudos to you and Sue for getting out there and learning, instead of just waiting for care that won't come.
ReplyDeleteThat's just awful. Not sure that my medical center would be better, either.
ReplyDeleteThis is what we have to look forward to as we age. It is good that you have Sue & your daughters workplace on hand.
ReplyDeleteSame thing here (WA state) and now most medical facilities are short-staffed. Our walk-in Urgent Care has gone to an appointment system now. Bless Sue and your family.
ReplyDeleteThose gaps are everywhere and it's scary and frustrating. So glad that Sue and your daughter are knowledgeable and can help out! I hate that you're still dealing with that d*mn catheter.
ReplyDeleteIt is surprising that there was (is) no follow up from the hospital after a procedure.
ReplyDeleteWhat you are going through seems ubiquitous these days. In the name of covid, short supply or short staff etc.
ReplyDeleteI have a good idea why you've gone on and on. My Dad went through what you're going through at a much more advanced age. He also had macular degeneration so saw very little.
ReplyDeleteI am unclear about this, so I apologize….. did you have the surgery and this is a post op catheter now….. or was your surgery delayed because they had no overnight bed for you afterwards?
ReplyDeleteEither way, so much discomfort….. I hope you did have the surgery and they just sent you home….. because it seems that would be the shortest route to getting it out for good.
PipeTobacco
The situation is not much better down here. Unless you live in a big city with big hospitals and have good insurance, you're out on a limb for health care.
ReplyDeleteThere are terrible gaps. For instance, when they decided to discharge Tim, it happened so quickly I couldn't even wrap my head around it. I was telling his daughter to get word out so that no one would make the hour and a half drive to get there, and I turned around to see that they were giving the discharge briefing to TIM, the patient. The man who had the stroke. They sent us home with no medication on a Sunday. One of the medications was supposed to be so very important, but we had to try to find a pharmacy on the way home (ON A SUNDAY!) because the medicine needed to be given before we even arrived home. THe number provided for the followup wasn't even a valid number. Oh my, AC, you have opened a can of worms. You are a lucky man to have Sue. Many patients do not have a Sue in their lives. What do you suppose they do?
ReplyDeleteI have had experience with both excellent at home care and the gap you describe. I think that one problem is that we polite Canadians do not complain enough when the service, which, btw, SHOULD have been there for youi, is not. The more at home service we have, the less we burden the hospital Emerg with what it is not there to do.
ReplyDeleteI would get on to your doctor, if it were (and Praise Be it is not)mylack of follow-up.
The lack of follow up card you described is indeed troublesome and while it is good that you do have family members who can help out, there should be some assistance from the health care system.
ReplyDeleteSuch a problematic situation.
ReplyDeleteYou make really important points. There is a huge gap. At the very least, a nurse or someone should call, much less visit. What if you were incapable or alone but bluffed them all with a show of pseudo-confidence. Very sad indeed.
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