09.02.08
9-2-08 Floyd Jr’s Tulsa Visit and Frustrations
I was in Tulsa all last week but didn’t have time to slow down long enough to even think about updating the blog. My primary purpose to be back there was to care for my blood mom, Helen. She had knee replacement surgery on August 20th and I took her home on the 23rd and stayed with her till the 31st. I was busy nursing, cooking, washing and running errands every day. It gave me a whole new appreciation for those that care for others. That is a tough job but we got through it just fine. Mom (Helen) is recvering just fine and will probably have her other knee replaced within the year. I am confident she will see a whole lot better mobility and will double that once she gets the other replaced.
I was able to make it up to St Francis to see Marilyn. She was sound asleep and couldn’t be wakened. Al was with me and we stayed for over a half hour rubbing her leg, calling her name and at times shouting but she never woke up. She was moved to Inola the next day and I was never able to make it out there.
I noticed Chris recently wrote on her blog “Her nurse also mentioned that she needed better care at the nursing home, she said I am not supposed to say that but it is true. She said she needs to be suctioned more and bathed more often so that they could keep up with her skin infections, she mentioned that the condition she came in on Sunday evening wasn’t good.” First I want to thank Chris for being the most frequent visitor and keeping us all so posted on her Marilyn’s condition and sharing the bad with the good. I then want to vent at a very frustrating system we have in the medical world.
Where to begin??? Al was told the same thing by the nurses at St Francis. From all that I can tell when I am at Inola the care could not be better. Sure…if we could hire private nurses with an unlimited budget things could be better but as far as institutional care everyone I know has been satisfied with what we have seen at Inola. Where the real frustration really sits in is the day Marilyn was returned to Inola from St Francis I immediately received a call from Inola saying she should have never been released from St Francis back to the care Inola can provide her. In other words she needed hospital care and Inola was not equipped to provide her needs. She was running a fever of 101~ and overall was not well enough to have been released. After the fact Al brought up a good point and said maybe the fever started on her return trip to Inola while in the ambulance??? Moving forward with my story, the Inola staff asked me what we as a family wanted to do. After a rather long conversation involving medical terms and finger pointing, I said…“WAIT A MINUTE…WHY DOESN’T THE DOCTOR FROM ST. FRANCIS TALK TO THE DOCTOR AT INOLA AND BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM AS PROFESSIONALS DETERMINE WHAT IS BEST FOR MARILYN AND HER ONGOING CARE???” Is this where it would be appropriate to say “novel idea”? I was told by Howard, the Owner/Director of the Inola facility, that it would never happen. That my request was unrealistic to how the doctors operate. After a second request from me to at least try to get them to talk he said he would see what he could do but that we needed to decide what we wanted done because he didn’t expect the conversation between the doctors would ever happen. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? TWO PROFESSIONAL DOCTORS OVERSEEING THE SAME PATIENT CAN’T GET ON THE PHONE AND HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT IS BEST FOR THE PATIENT??? I feel like calling them myself and letting them know how I feel but I know it would only make things worse.
I am open to anyone’s suggestions and/or comments about what is the best for Marilyn. If anyone would like to add a comment on the blog, provide some possible direction and/or course of action please do so. You are also welcome to call me direct at 619-303-0844 anytime. I will be happy to listen and work as hard as possible to give Marilyn the best she can get for her remaining time on earth. I know I can say the same for Al. We both love Marilyn deeply, appreciate all she did for us, our father and the entire Rosson family. She is a great women who deserves peace in her life.