Thanks everyone.

Teppy, Dana, leading up to his surgery, Chris and I have talked a lot about putting stuff "in the back room," that is things we need to or may need to think about/confront. Sometimes, I tell him I'm putting stuff in the basement under the back room.

Until the crisis is truly past, this is in that back room, but it's first in line to come out.

When the surgeon first called me, she did say, "I will be dealing with the person who made the error." I let that suffice for the moment, because she was already seething, and all I really care about is him getting better.

We have a great relationship with his gastro (who wouldn't have written the orders; post-surgery he's under the surgical team's care), and with our particular surgeon (assuming she isn't the world's best actress), so I'm trying to get my head together on what to do once he's out of the woods.

I think, when I see the surgeon tomorrow, assuming I get to, I might broach the subject. I will at least ask who wrote the bad order (orders, really, since the Prednisone was an eff up of its own) and ask that that person be completely removed from Christopher's case, then go from there.

Teppy, would you say this seems like accurate dosing information: [link]

In other words, was he probably supposed to get 40mg once a day (I know he was only supposed to get X once a day and got Y twice a day)?

He was between 55 and 56kg pre-surgery, so if that Healthline dosing is accurate, I'm guessing they gave him 60mg every twice a day, for two days in a row.

To make matters worse, he's low-weight (due to the prior hospitalizations, the Crohn's and the two months of liquid diet), so he's in that weight range, where, if the article is accurate, the drug can stay in his body longer.

They could have killed him.

Holy shit. You must have been vibrating with rage.

That's a fucking malpractice suit.

I'm so glad he's bouncing back, and the surgery went so well.

Oh, Cindy, how awful! I'm glad he's recovering now.

Holy shit. You must have been vibrating with rage.

I think that's where the momness kicks in. I was scared. I had been going to drive in (as I've been doing every day), but instead I asked dh (who is all out of paid leave) to come home and drive me in.

While we were there, I just tried to reassure Chris, listen to the surgeon, and get the nurses to listen to us. I was glad the surgeon was in the room, when the Prednisone got brought up. Chris mentioned he'd only had 5mgs that day (pill; he'd been on a stress dose of an equivalent during the surgery and maybe for the day after). I knew he should be getting at least 10mg, because he hasn't been able to make it on 5mgs yet (hence the taper plans with the gastro & endo).

If you're on steroids and you have surgery, or break your leg, or something, they have to keep the dose up during surgery, and be careful with tapers. The long-term use interrupts your natural hormone production which helps keep everything running.

When I told the nurse he should be on 10mg, she started arguing with me. She took the surgeon over to the electronic chart station and I could hear her saying it should be 5mg that day and 2.5 the next, so I sort of called across the room and said, "We're not tapering while he's in here." The surgeon knew all about that and had to set her right, so she then ordered IV hydrocortisone (an equivalent) for right then and there.

That's a fucking malpractice suit.

That part's in the basement under the back room.

ETA

This is the first day I've really raged (and only at home, and it mostly comes out as strangled noises)

Teppy, would you say this seems like accurate dosing information: [link]

In other words, was he probably supposed to get 40mg once a day (I know he was only supposed to get X once a day and got Y twice a day)?

Yeah, based on everything I've read about abdominal surgery, 40 mg once a day is standard. People with joint replacement surgery get more, and heart patients get more. But there really REALLY should have been a protocol in place, or an alert in his medical record that would pop up to say Hey, this patient is an abdominal surgery patient and this dosage is really wrong.

This is the first day I've really raged

If it helps, I'm incandescent with rage on your behalf.

Thank you. If I'm reading that right, he should have gotten 80mg (TOTAL) over the course of two days, and he probably got 240mg (TOTAL) in that time.

Your incandescence does help, btw.

In front of him, I've tried to stay calm and positive. On Friday though, when I told him, "This is just a little blip, and you will be okay," the surgeon said, "This is a big bump, but you will be okay."

When I got home Fri and Sat, all I could do was cry. Today, the anger is a little more ready to come out when I'm home.

I think I don't trust myself to use my anger constructively, yet.

This was at a top Boston hospital. I am still struggling to understand that since Dr. Murderer wrote the wrong order, yet nobody from the pharmacy to the nursing staff said, "Wait a second. Why are we dosing him twice a day?" even if they didn't notice the difference from 40mg to 60mg.

Oh god, Cindy. The poor kid. That's terrifying. I would be screaming down the sky, although probably in the back room.

Cindy, I am so sorry. I can't even imagine your rage. I truly hope he's now able to recover.

Jesus, Cindy, that is terrifying and enraging!