In memory of my dad

I didn't want to post anything about my medical situation until I found out more information from the doctors. I will try to keep this short.

I had non-invasive surgery for frozen shoulder. Low risk, but the anesthesiologist called me at home prior to the surgery date and said he wasn't comfortable having the surgery done in the orthopedic surgery clinic. Based on my medical history, he wanted the surgery done in the hospital. Learned something new since I thought the surgeon decided where.

They did the surgery on a Thursday and then on Friday I went to physical therapy. Over the weekend I started to feel like I had the flu. My temp. was 103º.
I just put cold wash cloths on my face and kept on my feet so I would not get pneumonia. Monday my temp was down to 100º and I still felt kinda fluish, not really bad. So, I went to physical therapy Mon., Tues. and Wed. and on Wed. also had a post op appt. with the surgeon. She looked at me and asked how I felt and I told her what I wrote above. She went and got her stethescope (sp?) and listened to my lungs and then went into another room. She came back and said she had called the imaging clinic and my family doc. I was to go get x-rays and go straight to my doc. I asked why and she said "because I said so".
Went and got the x-rays and then went to my doctors'. They did my vitals and my doc said I needed to get to the ER. I asked why and he wasn't volunteering any info. except to say I had pneumonia in my right lung (which I already knew since I read the x-ray report on the way to his office). My oxygen level was 85.

By the time I got to the ER they were ready for me and were taking my vitals and the doctor had a < look on his face. I asked what is going on? The were trying different blood pressure machines and oximeter readers. They brought the chest x-ray machine into the room and took some x-rays. Still the doc isn't telling me what is going on. I was looking at my other 1/2 with a look of concern. Then they put me on a automatic blood pressure machine that takes your blood pressure every so many minutes. It started setting off the alarms and when I saw the #'s I thought wth??? My blood pressure was dropping dramatically. Then the nurse came in the room to do a blood gas. So, I asked her what my oxygen level was and she said the doc would have to tell me. A blood gas is where they take blood from your artery to verify your oxygen level. Still the blood pressure machine alarms are going off during this and my blood pressure was still dropping. I told the nurse I was relaxed as possible and try not to miss that artery because it hurts like hell when they do. She got it the first time

Within 10 minutes they had the results and the doc said the pneumonia was already spreading to my left lung and my oxygen level was in the 70's. He asked me if I was dizzy. I starting laughing and said if you ask most people they would say yes. He said this isn't funny so, I said no I am not dizzy and why am I still alert and talking if my blood pressure is so low and my oxygen level is so low. He said he had no idea and I was going over to ICU asap.

From there things just went down and was continuing to go down. They had a lot of doctors working hard to try to save my life. The problem was they didn't know what was causing all this. I never lost my sense of humor though.

I might write more later and if anyone can learn anything from my experience that is good enough for me.

Oh, luckily I do have insurance and I will post the final medical bill when I get them all. People are betting on the cost to be upwards of $200,000.

After I was in ICU and hooked up, my other 1/2 looked at his watch and I looked at the clock. Finally I just said go to work. No sense in you sitting around this hospital doing nothing. Also in the morning go to work. The hospital will call you if anything changes. Just come by when you have time.

I called one of my best friends, that would be Bill, and told him I was in the hospital. Next thing I know he shows up. He took the entire time off of work and stayed with me in the hospital 24/7 except for going home to shower and eat and there was 1 night he didn't stay.

My other 1/2 had never met Bill so they finally got to met. The hospital staff was confused at first thinking Bill was my spouse and I had to correct them and say no, the other one is my spouse.

One of the things I did and some people don't know you can do this is when I would get the menu for breakfast, lunch or dinner and I didn't like the choices listed, I just made my own list. As long as you are not on a special diet, you can write in what it is you want to eat and the hospital does its best to accomodate you within reason.

One menu had salmon or ham as the choice for dinner. I don't like either so I wrote in cheeseburger, barbeque chips, chocolate pudding, diet coke, fruit cup and a banana. I would also circle things that were listed just in case they didn't or couldn't provide what I wrote down. I guess they couldn't find a small bag of chips because they sent up a whole big bag of barbeque chips.

I still really miss my dad. The experience in the hospital gave me closure. Now I think of my dad and there aren't anymore tears only smiles and laughter.

Well I might as well post what the shoulder surgery bill came to.
Hospital = $9765.00
Surgeon = $573

Dad, Noddy was a member of this site and she recently passed away. She seemed like a very nice person and I wish I would have been able to have had the chance to know her. You would have liked her.

I am so glad I spent every night in ICU with my dad. He would wake up scared and I would jump up and immediately reassure him that I was there and he was okay.

The 1 night Bill didn't stay in ICU with me is the only night I woke up scared. I was disoriented and I felt like I was in a horror movie. I kept thinking masquerade party because I had this full face oxygen mask on and I didn't have that on me when I fell asleep. The room was barely lit and I could see shadows, a broom, a hook from the ceiling and a closet door. I thought I saw the closet door open and there were a set of eyes looking at me.

That is when I freaked out. I tore that mask off my face and looked at it, screamed and tossed it. I tore the 5 leads away from my chest and jumped out of bed and was stretching the iv tubing trying to get to that closet to see what was in there.

The machine alarms were going off and a young nurse came running and asked "is something wrong" to which I said - Yes, something is really wrong, go get out while you can. The look on her face was priceless and she said "I'm new here". I told her she better go then while there is still time. She went running down the hall and she came back with another nurse. By this time I was awake and coherent. I told that young nurse apparently the hospital never told her that this was the psycho ICU unit

Oh yeah, ICU has visiting hours listed, but they are not enforced. If a family member or friend want to spend the night, they can.

Another good thing to know is that the hospital only keeps your x-rays, cat scans and mri for 10 years, then they destroy them. I don't know if this applies to all states or not. The doctor's offices keep those items indefinitely. I only found this out when I went to get the x-rays and cat scans that were taken when I was hospitalized for my right lung surgery. I was shocked and pissed because I wanted and needed those for a baseline for the doctors to go by. Now I go and get those items from the hospital and keep them at my house.

I received the hospital bill today. The total pre-negotiated rate was $60,169.62
The billing dept. employee even came up to ICU as I was being hooked up to the machines with that stupid credit card sliding machine and wanted me to pay my co-pay. I guess they wanted to make sure they got something in case I died. That is pathetic imo.

My dad wanted all 5 of us kids to get along. We are so different though. The other night all 5 of us were at my parents house when my sister and I got into it. I was trying to tell my oldest sister something and my other sister keep interrupting. I asked her to stop, but she wouldn't. I only had 2 sentences I wanted to say to my oldest sister. I couldn't even do that because of my other sister. Finally I just told her she was a bitch. My mom shook her head and my oldest sister stood there with her mouth open. Then my other sister said "f*uck you, I am leaving" to which I replied "good, go, because you are a bitch anyway".

She went out the door to her car and then I remembered I needed to find out what time she was going to show up in the morning. So, I followed her out and asked her, she asked me what time I needed her to show up. My oldest sister had a stunned look to her face. She said she thought I was mad at the other sister and I said "I am, what does that have to do with finding out what time she will be here in the morning?". My other sister and I decided on a time and my oldest sister said we were weird. I said no we aren't since that is the way we are and it isn't anything new. You just don't know me or her

If my dad were there, he would just have shook his head.

So, on this hospital bill the pre-negotiated rate was $60,169.62, but what the insurance actually paid the hospital was $40,616.26. The hospital wrote off $18,278.80 and since I paid $150.00 in ICU that leaves me with a balance of $1,124.56.

My sister's dog had 9 puppies last night. My dad always liked going to see the puppies. Not me, I rather wait until they are a couple months old. Then they actually look like dogs.

Back to when I was in ICU....after the doctor said he didn't think I would live, I looked at my other 1/2, who wouldn't look at me. I looked at Bill and he was looking at my other 1/2. Finally Bill said X (my other 1/2's name) did you just comprehend what the doctors said, they think TTH is going to die? My other 1/2 is still not looking at me and nodded his head yes. I looked at Bill and he looked at me and said I have to go and I will be back.

My other 1/2 finally looked at me and got up, took me by the shoulders and started shaking me, saying don't you die on me, hear me don't die. I remember thinking okay he is losing it.

Bill came back and my other 1/2 was mumbling about how he didn't know where the will was and he was going to plan something special for our anniversary. That pissed me off so, I ripped that oxygen mask off and started screaming at him to pull himself together. I said where do you think I would file the will? Lets see, hmm maybe under W!!!! and if you want to plan something special, plan a f*cking funeral. By then the nurses were there because the alarm was going off (oxygen mask) and they were hooking me back up.

After getting out of the hospital I felt bad for saying that to him. I went to apologize and he said he didn't know what I was talking about. I called Bill because he was in the room at the time and asked him what exactly did I yell at my other 1/2. Bill confirmed what I wrote above and I told Bill my other 1/2 said I never said anything like that. Bill set me straight that my other 1/2 wasn't dealing with the news very well.

Oh and my oldest brother came in the room, took me by the shoulders kinda shaking me and loudly was saying you are not going to die, hear me, you are not going to die. Geez, I though for sure these guys were losing it.

Yesterday I received the anesthesia bill. So, add another $1020.00 to the above costs.

I will still post the total hospital charges for being in ICU. Right now I have a huge stack of bills from doctors. I just haven't bothered going through them yet.

I finally went through the doctor bills. They added up to $7,524.00. I think more bills are pending though.

Dad,
I think it is time for me to let go. You were the best dad I could of asked for. Thanks for teaching me to be the person I am. Bye dad....

Just in case anyone is reading this or even cares, the drugs that were going into my IV were:
Saline
Potassium
Steroids
Antibiodics

There was a total of 196 lab tests performed from the blood draws that were taken. The tests were to find a bacteria or virus that was possibly the cause of the problem. That sounds kinda weird since the doctors didn't know what the problem was.

Dad,
I didn't forget, Thank You

U.S Marine Corps Tribute

So, the $ amounts for that ICU stay was all of them. Then it happened again. It = my oxygen level dropped to 79%, heart rate 42 & blood pressure 67/33. That was in October. I am just now starting to get the insurance statements. The doctors still don't know why this is happening. I will post the cost of that stay when I get all the bills.
Now I am being sent up to the U of W Med. Center to see if those doctors can figure out what is going on. Hopefully, they can figure it out in case it happens again.