At the emergency room on 1 February, the doctor said that as soon as we have the implant and the blood ready, Ate Malou would be scheduled for surgery. I said ok, please commence with the necessary laboratory tests, so she could be scheduled as soon as possible. And if you remember, we had everything ready by 4 February.
We waited a whole week to get all the results and complete the x-rays needed. On 13 February we were told that Ate Malou would be scheduled on 18 February. That's another week. They repeated that we're on queue, the waiting list is long, and there are more urgent cases to attend to.
On 16 February Ate Malou was advised that there are two more laboratory tests that needed to be done. One is for her calcium level; the other is for thyroid screening. Unfortunately, the blood extraction schedule is only done Mondays. And the test is not done in the hospital. They will only extract the blood, and you have to bring it to another laboratory outside for testing. Which means that the surgery will not push through on 18 February. I asked the doctor to please drop by at the ward to explain the situation to the patient.
To his credit, the doctor did drop by and spoke with Ate Malou, and lengthily discussed the necessity of those laboratory tests which are part of her clearance. The doctor was very pleasant. But it was not clear why the tests were ordered only on Saturday, when surgery was supposed to be for Monday.
On 17 February, the request slip given to Ate Malou was for five, not two, laboratory tests. The nurse wondered out loud why all these additional tests were being requested for a routine leg operation-- which added to the anxiety and confusion.
On 18 February, Ate Malou requested another watcher to bring out the blood sample to this other laboratory. The watcher was familiar with the procedure, having a patient who is also waiting for surgery, and that patient was also ordered a thyroid screening test. That patient, however, has been waiting for her schedule since November 2012.
The result was released the same afternoon, and this watcher also picked it up and brought it to the nurses. Then the nurses came back to Ate Malou and said that one test needs to be repeated (because the result was not clear), so she has to fast again that night, and the test will be done the following day.
Today is Tuesday. The level of my frustration is so high that I can feel white hairs sprouting on my head. I texted the doctor before 7am today, informing him that the laboratory results are ready, and that I sincerely hope we would have no more delays.
He said, 'I hope so too.'
No comments:
Post a Comment