Hi Everyone,
Just a heads up – I’m not sure if any of my posts will have any rhyme or reason. I’m just going to try and post as often as I can and whenever something arises (i.e. this post). But some of you might want to know what’s happened so far within the 40 or so days I’ve been in the hospital, so I will try to make one of my future posts a recap of my stay to date. If you know me, you know I remember everything…so it will be a detailed recap – don’t worry. But with all the drugs, there’s some memory loss so my family and I have taken to logging everything down in a notebook..so we have it all down!
Anyway, on to the reason for this post. So I’m laying in bed (as usual – so I may stop prefacing with that!), and this X-ray tech comes in with his portable X-ray machine and says, “I’m here to get a portable chest x-ray from you.” I reply with, “Oh, you are?”‘ – because I wasn’t aware of any chest x-ray and I ask about every single thing that goes on with me, down to the last pill I take. Tech replies, I am if your name is Teena Katz. None of my docs had mentioned to me that I might be getting a chest x-ray today nor had my nurse. In comes my nurse and asks the tech what’s going on. The 2 of them go back and forth… “She doesn’t have an order for a chest x-ray.” “Here take a look, I have the order right here.”. “Who’s the doctor that put in for this order b/c I don’t even see it in the system.”, etc. My nurse leaves and says, “Ok, let me make a phone call and get to the bottom of this.” At which point this tech starts setting up. He moves the machine towards my bed and then he himself starts coming toward my bed. I say, “Ok, what do we need to do? Can you please just let me know what’s happening before hand?” (A few things – I don’t like others adjusting my bed for me. I like the doctors/nurses/techs to just all give me a rundown of whatever they’re going to do before they do it. I’m very vocal about asking questions about my care.) His reply to me, “You need to keep your hands in the bed.” Wrong answer dude. Mind you, I’ve received chest x-rays before so I knew the procedure for the most part; but different techs may have different methods. I just reply back with, “Do you need me to move the bed up?” “Yes, the bed needs to be moved up.”, he responds (a little snarky). I say, “Ok, I will do that myself”. He rolls his eyes at me and backs off. I bring my bed to a fully upright position, at which point my nurse returns and tells the tech that the order was canceled, which leads to more back and forth of this order. Another phone call and then some more talking amongst the 2 of them and the tech ends up taking his machine and leaving. All in all, I didn’t have to have the chest x-ray b/c there was never an order put in for a cheat x-ray for me. But why does all of that have to be figured out alongside my bed with all the back and forth, causing me stress and aggravation??… This also makes me question, if you didn’t speak English, if you just assumed everything was ordered by the doctor, or if you just assumed the hospital was doing what they needed to do, would you as the patient be having unnecessary tests performed on you and incorrect or unnecessary pills prescribed to you?…Makes you wonder…