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My grandmother is 82 years old. She has lived in the same house for fifty years. She has had 2 doctors both belonging to the same hospital in those years. Everything she has ever had done has been through those Drs. and that one hospital. Never ever has she gone to another hospital. Last September she found blood in her stool. We took her to that same hospital. After many many many upper and lower scopys looking for the source of the blood, they told us that she needed an aortic valve replacement and a single bipass. She could not have the surgery until they found the source of the blood. My grandmother had so many colonoscopys that our whole family still teases her about her camera in a tube fetish. Finally they could wait no more. They did the heart surgery. She came through fine. The bleeding stopped. Must have been a leaky heart they said. Grandma recovered. Started getting her energy back. Normal grandma! Until today. I stopped by after watching people sleep all night to find that she was pale and week. She has had blood in her stool for three days and did not want to inconvenience me. So I gather her stuff and take her back to the same hospital she has gone to for fifty years. They gave some blood and admitted her. As of now she is fine.

My question is this.... Why did I have to give my grandmothers medical history and list of medicines to 8 nurses and 5 doctors. Why did they not already have the list as this hospital and these drs. are the only ones she ever is seen by. Why did not one of them make a list for one of the other drs. 50 years of medical history 20 of which have been in the computer ages. Never once did anyone bring a file in with them. I AM PISSED. Thank you fro letting me vent. I am going to try to get some sleep.

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You need a new doctor. All of my doctors answer the emails I send them and I have a wonderful Rheumatologist who calls me on the phone to tell me himself my lab or test results or to see how I'm feeling if I was sick like with a fever. However, it has taken me a long time to find doctors like this. I know that doctor's offices and hospitals ask for all of the same information so I put my entire medication list on my computer and just print off a copy whenever I have an appointment with a new doc. I also have copies of my tests and doctor notes. I have gone to different doctors and not told my current doctors, none of them know I have done this so how wold they know my medical history. Even though your grandmother has gone to the same doctor and hospital, she may have gotten a new medicine or stopped one she was on, or had something new happen since her last visit or had an allergic reaction they don't have listed. I used to take penicillin for years then one day I had a horrible reaction ad so now I am allergic. If I ever went back to the hospital or doctor I saw before I was allergic, they would not know I am now allergic unless I told them and may end giving me penicillin by mistake.

Mike said:
Not to break any new ground here, but to add my voice to the chorus... i am at a loss for what passes for professionalism in the medical profession. I can't even get a doctor on the phone let alone answer an email. It's 2009 and these guys are above using email in a service profession? I do not get it.
I think you missed the fact that I did tell them over and over and over and over. I am not upset with the act of telling them. it was the amount of times I told them, and the amount of time that was waisted in telling again and again. I think that part of the problem here is that you can go to a different dr and get prescriptions without your primary care finding out. I cant go to one license branch fail a test then immediately go to a different one and take the same test. I do not think that we should be able to do this in the medical industry either. Second opinions are one thing, but usually I tell my primary Dr. that I would like one. My family has done this numerous times with my grandmother. After we get the opinion usually we set down with both doctors and make an educated decision on what to do next.

Cameron said:
You need a new doctor. All of my doctors answer the emails I send them and I have a wonderful Rheumatologist who calls me on the phone to tell me himself my lab or test results or to see how I'm feeling if I was sick like with a fever. However, it has taken me a long time to find doctors like this. I know that doctor's offices and hospitals ask for all of the same information so I put my entire medication list on my computer and just print off a copy whenever I have an appointment with a new doc. I also have copies of my tests and doctor notes. I have gone to different doctors and not told my current doctors, none of them know I have done this so how wold they know my medical history. Even though your grandmother has gone to the same doctor and hospital, she may have gotten a new medicine or stopped one she was on, or had something new happen since her last visit or had an allergic reaction they don't have listed. I used to take penicillin for years then one day I had a horrible reaction ad so now I am allergic. If I ever went back to the hospital or doctor I saw before I was allergic, they would not know I am now allergic unless I told them and may end giving me penicillin by mistake.

Mike said:
Not to break any new ground here, but to add my voice to the chorus... i am at a loss for what passes for professionalism in the medical profession. I can't even get a doctor on the phone let alone answer an email. It's 2009 and these guys are above using email in a service profession? I do not get it.
Grandma update. They believe that she has some odd artery/vien issues where one or the other is ending in the lining of her small intestine. Thus the end result is her body is dumping blood into her system. Just a theory so far though. I guess that is why they call it PRACTICING MEDICINE. Just joking they are really taking great care of my grandmother. Last night we watched some comedians on tv and both had some good laughs. She is in great spirits.
Thanks for the update, Rock. How great that the two of you were able to have some good laughs and good times watching those comedians. Laughter can be such great medicine!!! I'm delighted that she is in such good spirits. That is so much of the battle at any age!!!
Well grandma is home and doing well. No idea about what is wrong with her, but the she is doing well. We all had dinner last night. They said that sometimes they just can't find it. Not sure how i feel about that. I guess we will continue to take it one day at a time. I think I am going to contact the mayo clinic sometime this week. If anyone has any suggestions i am open to them.
Well, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN has THE leading gastro clinic in the USA and if there's a bleed going on in the GI tract they're the ones w/the equipment, experienced techs, radiiologists, gastroenterologpists, etc. to find it. They "see" more GI tracts from mouth to anus than anywhere in the country on a daily basis.

Sure am glad to hear she is home and doing well - at least for the time being and hopefully for a long time to come!.
happy to hear your Grandma is home and that you were able to enjoy a few laughs. hopefully, someone will have some insight into what may be going on with her.

Rock Hinkle said:
Well grandma is home and doing well. No idea about what is wrong with her, but the she is doing well. We all had dinner last night. They said that sometimes they just can't find it. Not sure how i feel about that. I guess we will continue to take it one day at a time. I think I am going to contact the mayo clinic sometime this week. If anyone has any suggestions i am open to them.
Rock,
I am so sorry about your grandmother......I hope she will be doing better soon. If it helps any...I experienced the same here in SC.....
When I took my 87 year old in for a GI bleed I gave a list to the ER nurses and to the nurses on the floor, a list on paper and the next day they wanted to know what kind of meds he was on because there was nothing on his chart!!
I will keep your grandmother in my prays.
Did they figure out what was wrong with him?

Sandra Bozard said:
Rock,
I am so sorry about your grandmother......I hope she will be doing better soon. If it helps any...I experienced the same here in SC.....
When I took my 87 year old in for a GI bleed I gave a list to the ER nurses and to the nurses on the floor, a list on paper and the next day they wanted to know what kind of meds he was on because there was nothing on his chart!!
I will keep your grandmother in my prays.

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