Monday, April 11, 2011

Broken

My mom, who has just recovered from two knee replacements, just called to say that the knee she injured a couple of days ago is broken, well, the tibia is. She went to the ER and they told her everything was fine, but she went to see her orthopedic surgeon today, and they told her that it was broken, and that the blisters all over her knee are called fracture blisters, and occur when a bone has broken to the marrow. I was originally concerned about blood clots, but she thought since she was sent home from the ER she didn't need to worry. Luckily, they sent her for an ultrasound today, and she is okay on that front.

I am so furious at the hospital, as they have screwed up her care repeatedly. When she was in the hospital for her second knee replacement, they had her on someone else's meds the whole time, and wouldn't give her enough pain meds, because she was so out of it. One of the things she was getting was something she's allergic to, another can cause stroke if you go off of it without tapering. The only reason any of the mistakes were uncovered is that she is a pharmacist, and knew that she needed to be tapered off of that medication, and that there wasn't a prescription for it  when she was leaving the hospital.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. But, their incompetence didn't cause the fracture, and it's not their fault she is going to have to have another surgery. (At least, I don't think they did anything to make it worse, though they did allow her to walk around on it for days.)

My life is a constant game of keep away, just when security, stability, and health are within reach, it is all pulled away.

No comments:

Post a Comment