Why do hospitals have a triage system when they don’t use it? Last night I was so pissed at hospital. My son had a bad headache that wouldn’t go away with 1500mg of Tylenol,was dizzy,crying in pain,stumbling so bad that I put him in a wheelchair,wanted to puke,had blurry vision,has a coiled AVM,a repaired aneurysm,already had a stroke,hydrocephaly with a shunt,cranial ventricles that don’t move,history of seizures and a bleeding disorder and what does stupid hospital do? They take a kid back into ER who has a possibly broken foot. I know because I was talking to her family. They couldn’t believe that they were called back first. After waiting an hour and a half to be triaged and then a another 1/2 hour, my son wanted to go home because" they weren’t going to help him". We lleft. I spent all night checking on him and doing neuro checks to make sure he was all right. We definitely will not be going back to that hospital or any of their other hospitals either. Has this ever happened to anyone else? And how do you deal with a hospital that totally disregards your medical history?
According to Wikipedia, triage is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition.
I don't know why they would take a broken foot before your son. One thing I do know is that "Time Is Brain." Please always remember that "Time Is Brain" when you are making decisions regarding your son's care. We have to be advocates for our children and ourselves today. I hope that everything is okay with your son. I can tell you from what you have written that he has been through so much. I will keep your son (and you) in my prayers.
forget the hospital n take him to your nuerologist…hopefully they can get him act scan and in the hospital if needed…that is insane…good luck and prayers going up to get the help he needs…how old is he?
Hmm? I find this to be a bad hospital...I have been to many ER's and they always take heart or head problems first before anyone else...I would find a different ER and call your son's neurologist right away...
If it helps ... Sept 2010...I went to ER with worse headache and high Bp...got taken care of and then sent home next day...went back 2 weeks later because I collapsed...told by Doctor (who was a young women) ... she said...my problems were most likely menopause and we are women and women stress...ER male Doctor...said...nope I want MRI/MRA done ... they found a 9mm leaking annie on my Basiliar tip...I was released from Hospital without Doctor ever coming back to talk to me...ThankGod for the Nurse...she told me quietly and then hubby and I had a bit of a journey...till we found a wonderful neurologist and neurosurgeons...this is sad, but true...our medical people and insitutions in the US are not like they used to be...
Good Luck to you...and Keeping good thoughts for your son...Colleen
Thanks for all your replies. He’s 9 1/2 years old. All I want is an angiogram for David. MRIs are out because of the shunt and coils in his head. The coils are supposedly non-magnetic but nobody will touch him without a release. And when a hospital wants me to sign anything that releases them from responsibility if they scramble his brains, we’re not doing it. A CT doesn’t show anything. You can’t see about 65% of his brain because of the refraction from the coils. He’s got 15 ounces of platinum in his head. But I can’t get an angio. They all say that if he is bleeding,an angio will make it worse. I always say and? What’s worse: an uncontrolled,undiscovered bleed,a regrown aneurysm,a regrown AVM or the contrast in his head? They’re all potentially devastating anyway you look at it. The doctors look at me like I just grew devil horns and a tail,they don’t seem to like a parent who knows what she is talking about. It befuddles them when they speak doctorese and I don’t need a translator. Hahahaha. I wish I could go to Sunrise Hospital but my insurance doesn’t cover them anymore. They’re the only Children’s hospital in Nevada and they have no problems saying that he needs to go somewhere else and getting you there. They sent us to UCLA to fix him when we found the monster in his head.
Erin...
Who is your son seeing that makes the decisions about having, or not having, an angio? I mean the neuro specialists, Board Certified emergency md, or the pediatric (right word?) specialist or ?
It is hard to imagine your insurance policy limiting your child's care... except that insurance companies have a stronger contractual commitment to facilities/clinics than to those of us paying the premiums. We cannot get changes unless we start the marketeering...
Is your insurance policy thru your employer/HR? The one thing you can do...is market for that insurance company...tell us nationally / internationally...its name /which policy and its premium...what benefit(s) keeps you w/them...Will Sunrise be covered if referred to it by the other mds/facilities? Can you contact UCLA directly or only by referral?
Erin, I pray you get more info / support from others here and elsewhere...I am so sorry for all you are going thru... I do not understand refraction from the coils? I think that a CTA could reflect bleed (subarachnoid hemorrhage) ...tho may not be able to identify the exact location of the cause of a bleed seen on CTA... I have nooooo expertise...just my thought / opinion...and, knowing that CT (w/o A) did dentify the SAH...not the cause/location of the bleed...
You bring some humor...wondering if those doctors are intrigued w/the idea of researching / studying your devil horns and tail...
There are other parents of children on this site; I pray they wll respond to you... I am so confused on which doctors are addressing your questions/ needs/hopes /desires for the care of your child... and, what did any of them say about 1500 mg of Tylenol? I pray that you and other parents of children with AVM / aneurysms can coordinate / support one another...Can you address this on the main forum site...i.e. Parents Needing Help...some such... children do not have fully developed cells/tissues (whatever the ese) but they have more needs for their growth / development. Again, my personal opinion...
Prayers for your success with your mds/facilities/insurance...and, finding your peers who have children w/AVM/aneurysms, to support one another...
The refraction from the coils is basically the metal in his head. It shows up like a starburst on CT. It’s like looking the glare from the sun thru a windshield. He has 15 ounces of metal coils in his head. It’s the size of a golf ball. The glare covers about 65% of his brain. Plus his ventricles don’t move so even if he had a large bleed we would probably find it in an stomach CT before a head CT. His shunt would move the blood there and any bleed he’d have would most likely be fatal due to his von Willebrand Disease. That’s why I worry about every little headache. We just had to due another shunt revision again. He’d managed to somehow disconnect the tubing.
thanks Donna-wasnt sure what that mean't but that was my guess from context.Erin-so sorry u had to endure that on top of everything else-i pray that God will send you down the best avenues,our prayers are with you &yours
Erin,
I had to re-read all of this; it has been a long time. There is a pediatric group here; and, I do not know if you have been in contact with them.
Also, I never asked previously about your son, his age, when he had treatment, and all of those issues. Yu may have provied that elsewehre and I missed (and have forgotten) it...
Has he had follow-up this past year?