{{{sumi}}} So much ~ma headed your way. It sounds like your doctor and the surgeon are on top of things.

Sean, my e-mail is always available for venting as well.

RAGE. My dad called to tell me that the hospital wants to "figure out" why he's having chest pains...but not until Monday, since doctoring is apparently like banking and is only a M-F, 9-5 thing. So they're keeping him all weekend, even though they WON'T DO ANYTHING to find out what's going on.

I told him, gee, if they really think your heart needs checked out, wouldn't they do it right away? But if it can wait for 2 days, then it's probably not that critical, and you can go home and come back Monday.

Seriously. He's going to just sit in a hospital bed for 2 whole days waiting for a doctor to show up and check it out. This is insane. It's his HEART. It's either important enough to check out now, or it's not important.

I am so full of rage right now it's not even funny. I mean REALLY. I got off the phone with Dad (who is pissing me off with his complacency ABOUT HIS HEART ["They say I have to wait, so I guess I'll wait." "Dad, you have a say in this! You aren't a prisoner there!" "Well, they say I have to wait until Monday."]) and just screamed at the walls for about 30 seconds. Screamed. RAAAAAAAAAGE.

Teppy, that is truly rage worthy. WTF are the thinking?

It's the weekend, so doctors don't work? I guess.

It's a total logic FAIL. If it were so truly critical that it needs to be checked/tested/whatever (after all, it's his fucking HEART), then one would think it needs to be done NOW, and that waiting might lead to damage. However, if it CAN wait, then it must not be that important, and he can go home. Because the only other option (that it IS critical, but they're waiting anyway) is malpractice.

I'm torn between driving 30 minutes over there to spew RAGE all over the place and find out what is going on, versus letting Dad be complacent and let people tell him what to do, even if it's nonsensical.

Even if there's not a cardiologist on staff for the weekend (which, wtf), aren't there some basic tests they can run? God, Steph, I don't even know.

sumi, still sending you lots of ~ma.

So, my good friend's husband had a cardiac event a few years ago. I think it happened Friday aft/eve. He was in cardiac intensive care and my friend said that the cardiac nurses were excellent - their main function is to keep patients alive until the surgeons show up.

I thought it was an odd comment then and I couldn't (at that time) spend another 20 minutes inquiring about what that all meant, but I think here is another example:

surgeons seem to be on a particular schedule and the nurses are doing the heavy lifting in terms of patient care and keeping patients alive.

They probably want to keep your father in the hospital in case something goes awry, and feel he'd be safer there than at home, but 2 days in a hospital bed without treatment or diagnosis sounds wild.

sumi,

I'm glad you are getting good care. my primary care physician would never see me in the hospital (our system is too disparate and specialized for that), so two thumbs up for that.

They probably want to keep your father in the hospital in case something goes awry, and feel he'd be safer there than at home, but 2 days in a hospital bed without treatment or diagnosis sounds wild.

He's not in a cardiac unit, either, though -- just a general floor. And I do understand wanting to keep him in case something goes wrong, but it seems like keeping the patient is done in the larger plan of actually treating the patient, not just making them wait.

I just don't understand making a 70-year-old man with a history of 5 heart attacks wait TWO DAYS to find out what is wrong with the aforementioned (not-well-functioning) heart.

Steph, that would induce a lot of rage in me, too! At least if he were on the cardiac floor you could have some belief that they are prepared for an unexpected event of any kind. But, still, WTF with making him wait until Monday? What's the point of having on-call doctors and residents if they aren't there to cover the weekends?

IOmeN, I'm sitting at the car dealer for some basic maintenance, so I'm playing on their computers in their "business center." The assholes have both live journal and tumblr blocked on their computers. Geez, Louise. I'm afraid to try AO3. I'm going to be bored to tears waiting for my car to be finished.

eta: Except for you guys, you're not boring! You'll keep me sane while I veg out here.

Teppy that is just unbelievable! I cannot believe that is their usual practice.

Got nack from my scopes. Apparently they went well . I will get more info when I talk to Dr. Wagoner. But I did get pictures. The info sheet says that mild gastritis was found in the antum and a biopsy was taken. Also I have severe divertulosis in the entire colon. Diverticulosis was found in the sigmoid colon & clips wew spplied to control bleeding.