My mother fell today and was admitted to the hospital - for pneumonia.  

I'm sure her blindness was in her chart, but I think this guy was Mr I'm-In-Charge and didn't feel the need. Who knows. I've never run into one there like him before. It was a first because their staff is usually extremely patient conscious. It's their record keeping that is horrible. As many times as Mom has been there over the past year and I've been with her telling them I'm her emergency contact, they had my phone number from EIGHT YEARS AGO on file - I've given them my current number many many times, but somehow, that number found its way into the records again, just like a year ago, they claimed she didn't have any secondary insurance even though she'd had that SAME insurance since the 50s!! Someone had deleted the information from her records. I had to fight with them over it because they wouldn't believe me - until the office worker snobbily asked me, "Has she been in this hospital before?" WITCH!! I made her pull Mom's past files where they had indeed billed that same insurance they were claiming she didn't have and told them that they'd better stop deleting information from her records! Their billing office is the worst I've dealt with. But, their medical treatment is among the best.

I just spoke with her this morning and she's feeling ever so much better than she was yesterday. She loves the fussing and attention she gets in the hospital. It's funny - every time we go to the ER with her, the first thing she wants is a cup of black coffee. It hasn't failed - she just CRAVES a cup of black coffee while she's in the ER. I have no idea why because hospital coffee isn't known for its quality!

May I ask what "a white" is? I appreciate it because I know it's a good thing, but it's a term or a phrase I'm not familiar with. But, thank you!

Oh I should have saif white light, I believe we all have spiritual guardians and i have read a few books on this sort of thing and they of mention putting a white light arouns someone for protection, I remember readin how one person whenever she sees an ambulance go past she always sends a white light to surround the person for protection... much the same as I guess the white light that people see when they have passed away and have been brought back...its all a spiritual thing... I am glad your mum is feeling better...

Thank you again. Mom came home this past Tuesday night. She's weaker and more tired than in past admissions, but she sounds and looks a lot better!

I always wondered where the nurse went who had attended me after my daughter's birth - I think I now know!!! What a witch she was!! I had to pee, but she said I only THOUGHT I had to pee, that I couldn't possibly know that I had to pee because of the anesthesia. I begged her to let me go to the bathroom and she refused. I asked for a bedpan, and she refused, saying I didn't know what I was talking about, that I didn't have to pee because I couldn't feel anything to know that. Then, as she was leaving the room, she said, "And don't you dare get out of that bed to try to go to the bathroom! You're too big for me to pick up off the floor if you fall!!" I just began to cry, lying there, having to pee so bad it hurt. I finally got up anyway and leaned against the wall and inched my way to the bathroom. Two other nurses came in and ran over to me to see what the matter was and I told them about the nurse and that I had to go. They even measured what came out of me and there was almost a full 32 ounces that I provided for them. As they were taking me back to the bed, the old biddy walked in and immediately began to yell about me being out of bed. The second nurse of the two who came in grabbed her and pushed her out the door, then brought her back in and made her see that I had indeed had to pee and told her to get out. I never saw the witch again - I'm fairly sure she was removed from duty. Maybe you got her next - and I'm very sorry!!

But, I just spoke to Mom this morning and she is doing much better. They didn't tell her the xray results yet (or she didn't hear them since she's also almost deaf), so I'll learn more when I go up today.

As you probably know, Mom came home Tuesday night. Thanks for the moral support!!

I don't konw what the paramedics heard when they listened to her lungs, but the EMT didn't hear anything when he listened. The ambulance met the paramedics at the firehouse and then continued on to the hospital. The xray showed the pneumonia. She'd had some mild congestion this last week, but it wasn't consistent - like one day she coughed up phlegm and that was about it.

I know what you mean about dead weight, though. When Mom collapsed last year when they made me give her insulin at home against my wishes (I told them she didn't need it at home), she was just limp, but semi-conscious. She couldn't help us help her. She had just come home from 8 days in the hospital and didn't want to go back. But, she ended up going back for another 15 because the fall triggered cellulitis in her legs and she had hit the wall on her way down bruising her ribs making it difficult to cough up the phlegm. She's not fallen since (which is good at her age - so many do fall). And, those HIPAA laws are good - or at least intended to be, but when you're right there with her, they ARE allowed to tell you things unless she says in front of them NO. Mom's doctors tell me whatever I need to know because they know she is letting me in on it just being there with her. She refuses to give me POA, instead preferring to have my cousin be POA, but I have no problem signing for her or having them talk to me because she has verbally expressed that I can know. I can't see why any doctor would refuse to tell someone while they're standing right next to the patient who hasn't refused to allow them to tell.

It might be different though with any kind of Highly Confidential Information as in psychiatric cases...technically speaking information can be discussed about medical issues between a doctor and a third party, but not psychiatric. All I know I was ignored either way...think the jerks just plain didn't understand the Hipaa Laws themselves..believe me I got very well acquainted with those darn laws..and even when I was explaining the laws to THEM...they ignored me

That may be, Pye. My son spent several weeks in a psych ward when he was 8 because he kept talking about killing himself. But, being the custodial parent, I had no issues (and HIPAA wasn't law yet). I'm glad I haven't had to deal with it since, other than my own personal foibles. Mom's home, though, and halleluyah. We just got done dinner. She began craving dried beef gravy Sunday and didn't get any until Thursday. But, she sure enjoyed it! She's funny - she craves coffee in the ER and will get a craving just before she's discharged. You'd think she was pregnant!!!

Hi Elic - I admit I only saw part of it because I had so much going on. It was kind of a busy day. But, yes - that's what I meant. It's like you think it's this, but it turns out to be that.

We had a lady in town who was taken to the hospital with what appeared to be appendicitis. She was in her late 40s or early 50s, I guess, her kids were all older than me and were graduated from HS. They xrayed her to see what the problem was and found not appendicitis, but a full-term baby trying to get out!! SHE WAS IN LABOR!!! She didn't even know she was pregnant!!! Now, THAT'S a surprise admission to the hospital!!!

I've been watching discovery health and they did a show with several women who didn't know they were pregnant having kids - so I can believe it.

Thank you, plunket! This is her third bout of pneumonia in the past couple years. Apparently, a very easy thing to get with emphysema. But, other than her feeling generally lousy, there were no other symptoms. So, I guess it was good she fell (if that's a good thing) to force her to be checked out. She's got her wits about her for the most part and could tell you loads about the past. How her grandfather refused to use a car and drove a horse and buggy until he was killed by a car in 1929, how the Depression didn't affect them too much because they were already poor itinerate farmers until he passed away leaving the farm to my grandmother (no more renting farms and moving from town to town), going to a one-room school house, loads of things she could tell.

Now that she's home, she's telling people, "no one told me I had pneumonia (she probably didn't hear them), but they told my daughter and I heard the nurses talking about it, but I never knew." Yet, again, that wasn't why she went in. But, it's good that she did because they found it early on. Thank you for the hug. I have shared it with her!

Yeah, I don't know what the hell that bonehead was thinking - even the nurse looked at him in disbelief. But, I won't be forgetting his name any time soon since me was so emphatic about her getting it right.

Thanks again, Goodie. Mom's home now, since Tuesday night. A bit weaker and a lot tired, but in many ways better than before. She kept saying she just didn't feel "right". Hopefully, now she does.

OWIE, Hatley!!! And, I thought my Irritable Bowel was bad!!! OWIE!! I had to limit certain foods for quite a while and I still have trigger foods during stressful periods, but I think mine is a cakewalk compared to that!!! DANG!! And, callous is a good word - just short of arrogant, but not much short of it.

Just to follow up - Mom is home and is doing well, considering. Her intake nurse for home care said she could hear better air flow in her lungs than people half her age, which is amazing because it's been almost 20 years since she was diagnosed with emphysema. She's more weak than before and says she is just sleepy sleepy, but otherwise, she looks much much better than she didn.

Holy moly! They've really opened themselves up for a parcel of problems, haven't they? What a lawsuit they could have on their hands, depending on the person they did that to!! And, you could have lost everything because of their refusal to even look at you!!

She was feeling quite a bit better this morning when I spoke with her - and telling me how delicious the lasagna she had for dinner was! LOL

Well, Mom's home now - and apparently Tuesday is lasagna day - she had it again before I picked her up. She's much better than she was, although she's weaker than I've seen her before. She does seem stronger today than the day after she got home, so it might just be a renewal thing and not the disease itself taking its toll. Only time will tell. Thanks for your support!!

Thank you, Razor. She was feeling tons better this morning when I called. I still have to go up, but I wanted to call to be sure things were going smoothly. She told me how good her dinner was when she got it (lasagna), but that she hadn't had breakfast yet. Told me what she needed me to bring with me when I come, etc. Lots to do today. And thanks especially for the prayers.

Mom came home Tuesday night and is better than she was - maybe a bit weaker, but sounding better. Today she's stronger than she was since coming home, it seems. She even did the dinner dishes whereas last night she went to bed shortly after dinner. No problem. Better she get the rest she needs than wear herself out.