Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Always Trust Your Instincts

Our family has had a rough time the last 6-8 weeks. My beloved father in law was sick (as noted in a previous blog). So we got him through infection, surgery, and time spent in the ccu helping to take care of him. He really has had a hard time with his memory and when you read the lasted news, that probably is a good thing. Anyway he was finally discharged about 3-4 weeks ago to go to rehab and finish his recovery. He was admitted to Kindred Hospital. NOTE: NEVER SEND ANYONE YOU LOVE TO KINDRED HOSPITAL!!!! Our dad went from being able to get himself out of bed, move to a chair, and walk a little bit. In Kindred he went downhill so fast. They were constantly finding something wrong with him. First it was a blood clot in his leg, that I can understand, then it was his kidney and somewhere in this mix he needed blood, then it was his heart. The staff was very unprofessional, there were no communication between patients, family and nurses. They were disrespectful to our dad and that was with a family member present. We knew then that if they talked to him this way when we where around imagine what they were doing when no one was there. He lost his memory and couldn't even remember simple things. The final straw was there were two incidents where his condition has changed and NO ONE bothered to call the family and then they refused to answer any questions,we were always told we needed to talk to the Dr. That was fine except we could not get the Dr to call a family member even after requesting this many times. Finally somehow a problem was detected with his heart,and no one knew how this determination was made. He was placed in their ICU for close monitoring. All I can say is if that was close monitoring I will pass. The cardiac Dr put him on a lidacaine drip to regulate his heartbeat, unfortunately it interacted with his dilantin he takes for seizures. He was only supposed to me on this drip for 24 hrs at the most. He was on it for 3 days! Our beloved dad became catatonic and could not respond. This was the last straw. My wonderful sister in law called his PCP Dr and he helped us remove him from this place . He was then taken back to the hospital and put in ICU. Within 24 hrs of being off the lidacaine he was responding to commands and talking. His memory was still hazy and he still talked of crazy things. But he improved so fast he was able to come home in 5 days. Now he is staying with my sister in law and he is able to walk with a walker, dress himself, push himself in a wheelchair etc. It was amazing to see how much he improved. Whitney and I had the privilege to go stay with him today while my sister in law ran errands. Thankfully the Dan I know and love is pretty much back with us! I'm am so thankful that the family trusted our instincts and removed him from Kindred. I'm tearing up just writing this because I know that Heavenly Father listens and answers our prayers. So always trust your instincts because Heavenly Father will never steer you wrong. I am so thankful for my family and all the prayers that were said for us and our dad.

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