Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Communication Malfunctions

Today has been a day of pulling teeth to get people to do what they should it seems.  Today was supposed to be my last appointment with the specialist to see how baby is developing and decide when I should be admitted to the hospital and all of that fun stuff.  This was not to be the case today I guess.

The first half of my appointment, the sonogram, went like planned. Then I found out that my original specialist is currently on vacation and a colleague, who seems to be fairly old fashioned and a sense of humor that falls flat under these circumstances, has taken her place for the time being. I don't know when she will return from her vacation and that concerns me a bit after our discussions today to educate her on the situation with the help of an assistant named Amy. 

I will grant you that there hasn't been a whole lot of research done on my condition, but my husband and I are no dummies and have read up on everything we can get our hands on. Plus, I remember distinctly what my original specialist and I discussed as far as my time table goes when I had my first meeting with her 2 months ago.  If this new specialist is to be believed, I could technically wait 2 more weeks before going into the hospital. This was suggested by her after she just got finished saying that it only takes 5 to 8 minutes for an unborn baby to bleed to death if bleeding should start before the c-section.  A comforting thought since we live at least 10 minutes away from the hospital.  So my husband asked her if there was any reason why I couldn't or shouldn't be admitted any sooner than 2 weeks.  Nothing could really said about that so they switched tactics and said that they could probably even admit me today. To which we pointed out that we would need a little time to go home and gather clothes, personal items, etc. to at least start my stay if we did something like that. This was when we were informed that it was kind of a mute point anyway since they would have to contact my OB because it would be their office that setup my admittance to the hospital. 

So flashback to last Thursday when I had my glucose test and regular prenatal appointment. Nothing was mentioned about the hospital situation since we had recently received a letter from their office informing us that they were going to start preferring to work with Via Christi instead of Wesley and would only work with Wesley on a case by case basis.  We had already made it known that we are having this baby at Wesley after the fiasco trying to deliver Nathan (whole other story).  I was told that it would probably be Monday before I heard anything about the results from my test.  So fast forward to Monday midday and I've decided I should probably call them since I hadn't heard anything only to find out that my glucose level was very high. Normal level is 130 and mine was 197 after the test. The nurse told me that she would talk to my OB about how she wanted to proceed since there were 2 options ( 3hour glucose test or direct me to the Mid-America Diabetes Association) and the nurse would call me the next day.

So today I go to my appointment where everything I wrote earlier took place with them finally saying that they would call my OB's office and that I should probably call too.  So that's what I did. I waited long enough to get out to the car and called my OB's office and left a message with the nursing staff requesting the information regarding my follow up to the glucose test and to get them started on the hospital admittance issue.  When the same nurse from yesterday called me back, she admitted that my OB  had not returned her message yet which is why I hadn't heard back yet. However, when she checked my chart my OB had written in gestational diabetes so they were going to set me up with an appointment to see someone at the Mid-America Diabetes Association.  This is when I asked how this would be affected by my admittance to the hospital and she started to tell me how they would normally wait for a letter from the specialist's office and would proceed from there. I then informed her that I had just come from there and that they said they would be calling them, not sending a letter, and that the original specialist was on vacation so I gave her the name of her alternate since she was going to go check with the receptionists to see if anyone had called.

Turns out the alternate had already called and talked to my OB, but my OB hasn't talked to anyone yet and no one knows what was said between the two.  The nurse promised to try to find out what was going on and to give me a call tomorrow (hopefully) so I made sure they had my correct contact information as I have errands to run in connection to my upcoming hospital stay and the start of school next year.

On the plus side I received a call from my supervisor downtown today and I was offered an additional position for the upcoming school year bringing me up to a .8 overall.  This could be good if I get everything in order before they draw up my contract.  Sounds like a good fit though. We'll see. Here's to having to fight for the health care necessary to bring life into this world because the people who are supposed to have too many communication malfunctions and probably dollar signs in their eyes to do what's right on life's path.

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