Mom almost died several times in the past 2 days.

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My mom has stage 2 breast cancer. Thursday she was admitted to the hospital to get a surgery to remove one of her breasts.

The surgery had a complication. when they put in the port (a device that is used to administer chemo)they got to close to her lung and made a hole in it.

they toled us this does happen from time to time and is not unheard of. but the problem is my mom has copd. copd makes her unable to breath without bottled oxygen for more then a few minutes.

because there was a hole in her lung it was leaking air into the rest of her chest. and if to much air got out there her lung wouldn't be able to expand and her lung would be crushed. So they had to put a tube in her chest to to drain the extra air whall her lung healed.

So that day i went to see my mom in the hospital . when i got there my dad told me how the nurse tried to give her the wrong medication that would have killed her if she had taken it. this showed me how incompetent the staff was here.


So i decided to stay the night with my mom to make sure they did not mess up again.

its a good thing i did.

around 10 at night my mom started having problems breathing. I told the nurse. and she called respiratory therapy.

as the minutes rolled past my mom got worse and worse. and she started heating up to the point where i could feel the heat of her body an 2 inches away.

I decided to check her oxygen (the one in the hospital room didn't work. another example how badly things were run.) so i used the oxygen monitor my mom brought with her.

in 2 mins my moms oxygen had fallen 10 points. i knew if i didn't help her she might die. and i told one of the staff. she told me that i shouldn't be so impatient . and that my mom is not the only person here at this hospital.

By this point my moms oxygen was at 74. and when the respiratory nurse did arrive she knew my mom was in trouble.

Within a minute 8 medical staff rushed in and 3 more were out side. they asked me to step out of the room whall they tried to save my mom.

they figured out the tube my mom needed to get the air out of her chest was kinked. so her lung was collapsing.

But they still couldn't get her oxygen up enough and they eventually took her to the ICU.

in the ICU they figured out the problem. the tube that they thought was kinked had actually been pluged. but by this time they had no time to get the sugery staff in the hospital . So the surgeon had to operate right there without any Anesthesia!

then my mom did get better.

but there was so many times when they could have helped her before it got that bad.

My mom is in the ICU right now. she will be until at least Monday.

The sad thing is , if i had not been there my mom would be dead right now. because people were not doing there job.

i am not even thinking about my moms cancer right now. I'm more concerned that she lives.

SHE HAD TO HAVE AN OPERATION FULLY AWAKE WITHOUT ANY PAIN RELIEF ! !!
THIS IS MADNESS!! !! !

What an awful experience! Thank god you were there.

I hope she gets better soon. And congratulations on your careful/alert observation and your courage in insisting on medical attention for her.

I agree that hospitals are often more dangerous and harmful than anything else.

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OMG I hope the rest of your mom's recovery is a lot better. And that must be unbelievably stressful.

But it sounds like you're doing a good job of being there and being pro-active. It's scary that it's needed, but you just have to do that, it seems. My mother was in the hospital for a brain hemorrhage in 2005 (she recovered really well), and mistakes were made that I caught, and I called for nurses/doctors over when no one was there to catch an emergency, and I asked a lot of questions that kept them from slacking off (or trying not to tell me when things were going wrong).

Anyway, hope your mom recovers soon (and uneventfully from here on out).

I second this.

I hope your Mum gets better quickly.

Please let us know when she is well again.

(((Hugs)))

That has to be one of the scariest things to ever experience in life. I'm glad you're there by your mom's side. Here's hoping she can make a full recovery and can be happy. I bet that would be a great Christmas present. *hugs*

Madness it truly is--And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.The nurses you encountered have no excuse.The hospital they work it is for the express purpose of preserving life--and they did not give their best to preserve your mother's life.

"You shouldn't be so impatient. Your mom's not the only one at the hospital" my ass.

Anyway...

Stand tall lady.Even though these people have no clue what their doing, it's clear to me that you do!

thank you for all your kind reply's. I'm very glad i was there, to help her. i just cant stop thinking about all the other people under there care who are not as lucky.

when my mom gets discharged we are going to sue for malpractice. my mom would have never had to endure such a long and painful surgery if they had done there job in the first place.

I cant handle the thought of the surgeon putting there hands inside her chest cavity with out any anesthesia. the pain must have been unbearable. but she had to bear it for almost an hour! thats just not right.

i really appreciate that you all care. i just want my mom to survive . and now I'm worried about her cancer.

I am glad she survived that blunder on the hospital's part. It was indeed meant that you were there for her. With hospitals these days, nothing surprises me. Keep a close eye on her, and I will keep her in my prayers.

My mother suffered in the hospital for four months following a surgical blunder and eventually died one year ago tomorrow, so I definitely know at least some of what you and your own mother are presently going through. I commend you for paying close attention and hanging in there!

Being the son of a nurse, I am well aware of how bad hospital's can be.

The entire coronary care unit at her hospital was shut down and turned into what is basically a "dumping ground."

In your case, we see one of our greatest strengths. Our sheer stubbornness. We see something wrong and we try to fix it. And heaven help whoever gets in our way.

Without you, your mother would have died. You saved a life. Not the hospital, not a doctor...you. You should definitely be proud and you could very well launch a law-suit against the hospital due to their incompetency.

I'm so stressed out right now. i keep catching errors and if i don't tell them in just the right way they wont listen to me.

i noticed my mom wasn't fully plugged into her vitals. and if they don't notice they aren't plugged in they wont know if she is in trouble.

i wanted to check them fully before i left but my dad rushed me out and i couldn't check.

what if she loses consciousness and they don't see. I'm so worried.

her oxygen was even unplugged. what if that happens when I'm not there to check all this stuff . i cant take all this !

Hi Just-me---you definitely have your hands full right now. I am trying to look at your options here. One thing is for sure, if your mother is not monitored there is the potential for disaster---so she must be watched carefully. By who? Well...the staff should be doing that---but they aren't---so...you must act as her guardian here. But...you are getting tired. Are there any other options? Is there anyone else that could watch her closely to allow you time to rest? Another option would be a better hospital---but that is easier said than done considering she is already in this hospital. Do you forsee her being in the hospital long? I wish there was a better answer here, but there is common sense here. If you hadn't been by her side so far---well...we don't want to think about that. You are going to be very fatigued during this. You know this situation better than me...and I trust you will do what is right. I have noticed that many hospitals just don't watch as closely as they're supposed to. There is a lot of negligence anymore. Just do what you have to do. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I think trying to get into another hospital might be a good option if you can do. I hope she has a speedy recovery. *hugs*