And of *course* the answer is ...

[sparkofcreation]

The person who called me on Friday and told me someone would be setting me up within the next 48 hours had absolutely no idea what she was talking about and there are still no loaner AutoPAP machines IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Comments

Re: Growr!

[palliddreamer]

You're blaming the system for one physician. Clearly this was not an emergency otherwise it wouldn't have been solved by a warm soak. Yes the surgeon should have addressed his concerns sooner and doing so would have made him a better physician. But that doesn't relate in any way to the American system, however flawed it is

Re: Growr!

[sparkofcreation]

While I agree with you on this (really), we were in fact assured repeatedly (at the initial consult, during pre-op, when the doctor spoke to me while G was in recovery, and during the discharge process) that there would be no pain ("only very minimal discomfort, all you'll need is ice"), no chance of anything non-straightforward, complete healing by last night and no need for Gareth to take off work today. I mean, they completely failed to tell us anything to do to treat anything that went wrong. It's only because I kept asking questions that we know what little we know. The doctor also completely failed to tell me the problems G. was having as soon as he was out of surgery--G. (who was still coming out of the anesthesia) had to tell me what problems he was having because the doctor had just told me (immediately after seeing G.) that he was "absolutely fine and would have no problems." Yeah, absolutely fine except that he was unable to walk or sit up or down on his own. I mean, the doctor basically told me that we'd be able to walk

Re: Growr!

[sparkofcreation]

Trying to sum up my rant here:

It just seemed like the entire philosophy of all the medical personnel involved was to insist that nothing could possibly be wrong when something clearly is. I mean, getting any information about what to do if anything went wrong was like pulling teeth. "So if he still has pain after the T-3, can he take anything else?" "Oh, no, the Tylenol 3 should take care of anything, there should be no reason to take anything else,... but if he really has to, I guess he could take some ibuprofen." "So should he be wearing some sort of support?" "Oh, the doctor didn't say that so I suppose it's not really necessary,... but if you really want one, I suppose I could give you one just in case." I mean, the doctor outright said that he'd be able to shower Friday, go to work today and have sex by Wednesday. We're 0 for 2 so far, and I'm not betting on the third.

[albinomare]

Sweetie

[sparkofcreation]

Okay, the very abbreviated version is that (by phone) the surgeon thinks it's just blood pooling under the skin: your standard bruising. He told him to take a bath to try to get the blood moving and that seems to have helped; the bruise looks better and the swelling is less. There hasn't been more bleeding and there doesn't seem to be any more pus than there was earlier

[albinomare]

Well, from what I read, (and yes, I've been reading up on it since I knew you would be needing one) the reason to rent before buying is just to ensure that the machine is the right one for you. Better 300 to find out it's wrong than 675 spent and stuck, apparently for YEARS

[sparkofcreation]

Argh! Just lost my comment.

My understanding is that the reason to rent is actually because your insurance doesn't want to pay for anything until they're sure you're going to use it. Of course, you'll end up paying 10× as much to rent it as you would to buy it.

My insurance doesn't give a damn about cost. They changed me to a more expensive BC. (Same pills, different packaging.)

At least back East, we were paying one-sixth as much for our insurance, and our co-pays were less than half as much as we pay here.

If we were in the UK, I'd still have another month to wait for my sleep study, so I hear ya.

The issue with NJ is that the federal interpreter there ... I don't think the District of New Jersey is as accustomed to following Best Practices for Using Interpreters as the District of New Mexico (and the Southern District of New York) are.

[sweet_tea79]

They take healthy adults, and then they stop them from sleeping more than four hours a night for a week. Consider that. When was the last time you got four hours of sleep a night for seven nights in a row? Okay. Remember how you felt after seven days of that? Okay. Now try feeling like that while holding down a high-power, high-stress job and taking care of someone who's just had surgery and can't walk and trying to get the house in order.

Heh, starting July 1, that's going to be my life. ;)

[sparkofcreation]

And I've never understood why that's considered the best way to train doctors. I mean, I wouldn't want myself operating on me. I'm not even really supposed to drive a car.

[sweet_tea79]

There's a reason why they're called residents; they literally used to live at the hospital and be on call 24/7.

The good news is that with the 80-hour workweeks, I won't be operating post-call. However, having every fourth day last for 30 hours is going to be taxing.

[sparkofcreation]

Yes, but why?

I mean, I've been reading a lot of studies on fatigue lately, and it's really scary what physical lack of sleep or prolonged mental effort will do to you-and doctors have to work with both (seeing as I have UARS combined with being a federal interpreter, so do I, but that's beside the point). I mean, not letting interpreters have sufficient breaks is considered a breach of the defendant's Constitutional rights. And all that's at risk there is the defendant's liberty, not his life (usually).

It just boggles my mind that there have been so many studies in so many fields on how badly people can screw up without realizing it when they're fatigued, and yet the medical profession is the one that insists on continuing to work under those conditions. Given the choice between having an exhausted interpreter or an exhausted doctor, I'd take the interpreter, y'know? But neither I nor any other reputable interpreter would agree to work under those conditions.

[itchyfidget]

Aiiiiiiii.

Sorry I can't offer anything more useful.