DON'TFEEL YOU HAVE TO READ THIS RANT. I JUST NEED TO GET IT ALL OUT AND THIS IS THE BEST WAY FOR ME TO DO IT.
Mum was taken in to hospital yesterday so that she could receive better care than I was able to provide at home whilst her sodium levels are so low. The idea was that they would be able to stabilise her by bringing her sodium level up. What a joke!
I got to the Medical assessment unit at 2pm to find my mum with her lunch all over her face and wearing a hospital gown which was also covered in food as was the bed sheet. Her first words to me were ' thank goodness you're here!' She then explained that she had wet herself twice during the night because the nurses didn't come when she called hence the hospital gown. I cleaned her face and got her out of the gown and into a clean nightie, I was furious!
I went out to the nurses station and asked why mum had been left like that. The nurse told me she had been busy all morning with a patient who had been having a succession of fits and that someone had fed mum and she hadn't managed to get in to her. I said that mums dignity had been compromised and that I was extremely unhappy about it. I also asked about her careplan and was told that they were limiting her fluid intake. I asked about the meds that the doc said would be increased to help get sodium level back up. She picked up mums file and informed me that they had increased mums steroids and stopped the very tablets that had been prescribed 6 days ago for low sodium. I went mad, mum was clearly more confused and disoriented than she had been last night when I left her and no wonder. I asked to speak to someone who could shed light on what was going on.
15 minutes later the staff nurse came in and asked what the problem was. I explained my concerns and she told me that they were waiting on mums bloods and would change the careplan if mums sodium level hadn't improved. I advised her to change the careplan immediately as I knew there was no way mums sodium levels would have improved given that they hadn't done anything to help and, infact, had stopped the meds that were prescribed for that purpose. I also expressed my disgust at the way I had found mum when I arrived. She was very apologetic and went off to check if mums bloods were back. I left the ward and rung Christine, leaving an SOS on her voicemail. 5 minutes later Christine was by mums bed. She had words with the staff nurse and clarified that mum had to have the tablets and that the dose should be increased. She also told them to take mums steroids back down.
At around 6pm tonight mum was tranferred to the chemo ward. The nurses there were lovely but mum had only just arrived so they were not yet familiar with mums notes. The nurse took me to the relatives room and showed me mums file. She went through the meds with me and wrote down the various mistakes in terms of times, doseage etc so that she could speak to the doc and get any necessary adjustments made. The meds to improve mums sodium levels had not been increased as instructed by Christine on behalf of Dr Mehta. There was no mention of mums inhaler, and indeed no sign of it, and some of the meds were being administered at the wrong time of day. The nurse was lovely and went immediately and got mum an inhaler to have by her bed incase she needed it. However, there is nothing they can do about upping the low sodium meds until the doc writes it up. Mums bloods will be taken again tomorrow morning and I'm praying Dr Mehta and Christine will get the appropriate doseage sorted.
I noticed mums purse wasn't around and asked if they'd locked it away. Nope, no purse came up from MEU. I went down to the unit and was met by the staff nurse who had given her apology earlier. I explained about the purse and she said she would check if it was on the list of valuables that would have been recorded when mum was admitted. I clarified that no such list had been made as I had gone in with mum at 3 and not left her until after 9. The only people who had come near during that time were a nurse who took bloods when we arrived, a student Doc and a consultant. She said mums assigned nurse would have done it so I pointed out that we had met mums assigned nurse approximately 15 mins before she went off duty at 8. They were unable to find the purse and she told me that all I could do was put in a complaint. She was extremely apologetic, yet again. I pointed out I wasn't in the business of making complaints and was only concerned with my mums care so the worst part was not that the purse had gone missing but that her salbutamol inhaler had not been sent with mum.
So mum has now been in the hospital for 33 hours and has not received any treatment that is likely to improve her sodium levels. The lack of care in MEU was appalling and I might yet put in a complaint. I feel slightly easier as the nurses where mum is now seem more responsive and caring. I know Christine will talk to me tomorrow when Dr Mehta has been. Christine has confirmed my fear that the low sodium is most likely due to mums cancer being back with a vengence. I think mum will also have a full body scan tomorrow.
Tomorrow I am going to the hospice for my first counselling session. Christine offered to arrange it and I agreed that I probably needed it. It will also give me an opportunity to have a look round as I have not yet visited the hospice.
Finally if you've not yet done so can you use the link below to vote. By taking just a couple of minutes of your time each day until September 30th, and at no financial cost to yourself, you could help get £250000 to fund much needed research that could help find a cure for kids with cancer. These kids really need our help.
http://www.refresheverything.com/armswideopenchildhoodcancerfoundation
