Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Dr. A to Dr. Z

I have to admit, while I was telling you about how Ada was treated by those wonderful Doctors and Nurses, I had to take a deep breath and held my anger deep in my chest. First, I am angry at myself for spending almost 24 hour a day standing by my daughter bed side, but can neither oversee that she received the best care, nor make sure that no mistakes were made by the Medical Professionals. Lack of knowledge and experiences, I must say.
Here's the problem. Each group of doctor work as a team, so we have several teams of expert working and caring for Ada. At the same time, each team is working as an individual and neither play (work) well together with the other team nor being on the same page. So, there are a lot of "Oh, we don't do that", "We just do this", or "The other team should be responsible", blah-blah-blah.
So Dr. J from Nehro team said Dr. T from Trauma team should do this, Dr. W from Orthopedic team forgot about Ada and blame it on other team, the Neuro team refuse to take a look at Ada while she was in ER.
One patient, one body, can't we all get along.
Finally, Dr. Biggerstaff (my hero) , Chris Hilbush and his team was able to put all the pieces together. Still, Ada hasn't received her much need medicine for 5 days after being in the hospital. Dr. B team has to apologized for other people's mistake.
I can go on and on and on about this, but the point is, you cannot totally rely on the hospital, and the medical professionals that your love one will get the best care. Like Ardis said, I am not a doctor or a nurse, but I play one on the internet. Educate yourself or get a good friend who can help you, like I did.
But I would like to report that Ada is doing fine. She got all the attention that she needed. We will not put the bone flap back at this time due to the time crunch and it is ok for now. She got a new cast today under Dr. W's supervision. He still did not look into my eye and tell me that my daughter's ankle is going to be ok, or introduce himself when he enter the room. TJ came by and took the trach tube out of her throat. Yes, you heard it right, she is now breathing on her own nose. Her tube feeding had been lower down from her stomach to prevent the overflow. We still working on the right combination of medicines to help keep her calm and comfortable, so she will be able to focus on what else she can do. Oh, she will be able to talk now that the trach is out, so I can't wait to hear she say "Hi Mommy" again.
She will be able to go back to American Village on Friday to a nice and quiet room because we no longer need that Humidifier machine.
Bye for now, thank you for having us in your thought and pray.
Hugs
Ponsawan

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dearest Ponsawan,

I am glad to hear the good news about Ada. I wish I were with you when Ada calls out.

This posting is good therapy for you and for me too. Great measured writing; thank you for sharing.

Everyday this month I know that things will get harder before they get easier. I have a fear thinking that if this accident happened to my son, I might have the guts to be as strong and as determined the way you are.

All I can do is to let you know that everything you do and every word you say matter so much to me. You changed many lives for the better each day.

Love,
Yui

Anonymous said...

My dear Ponsawan,
How wrong I was, thinking that Ada had had good care after the incident on her first night in ER. I am so sorry that you had to put up with more health professionals mishaps over the past week, and I can understand your anger and frustrations.
It's good to hear about Ada's progress and I am sure there are more delightful surprises in days to come. A small miracle each day.
I wish I could physically touch you now and gave you a real big hug.
Take care my dearest friend.

Anonymous said...

Dear Ponsawan,

I am so glad to hear Ada is improving. I cannot imagine how much you go through.

But I want you to know that you have really inspired in a lot of something that wasn't there before this happened. You are so strong, and I think of you and your family everyday. My heart hurts when I hear of setbacks, but I am so happy when I hear good things about Ada.

You have inspired me to be strong in all I do every day, and to be grateful for all I have. Thank you for that.