Dad was released from that joke they call a hospital yesterday. The night before he was to be dismissed, he was supposed to get some anti-fungal medicine by IV. Since he was to administer this IV medicine to himself at home, it was important to see if he had any adverse reaction to this new med while he was in the hospital so they could deal with any reactions.
The next day at the hospital, I was on the phone with the Home Health nurse discussing the medicine that Dad was to get at home. I walked over to the IV pole to verify the name on the medicine hanging there and I noticed two things: First, the medicine was still there! The night nurse (don't get me started about her!) did not ever release the clamp to start the IV. Second, it was not the medicine that the doctor had ordered! The pharmacy had substituted a different drug since they did not carry the drug the doctor prescribed. I specifically asked the doctor to prescribe a certain anti-fungal that I had been researching. She agreed, then the hospital substituted a different drug!! So, if Home Health was going to provide the drug that was prescribed, we wouldn't know if Dad could tolerate it since he did not get the prescribed drug while in the hospital. Talk about a mess! I was furious! Not only was Dad now behind one day in his medication, it was not even the medication the doctor ordered!
Dad was dressed and ready to go when I discovered the meds had not been given. The doctor wanted him to have the first dose in the hospital, so that meant that they had to call the doctor (at 4pm) to ask her what she wanted them to do. The doctor ended up just prescribing what they had in the hospital for Dad to take at home. So, Dad is not getting the medicine the ID doctor wanted him to have simply because the hospital did not carry the drug. Home Health had access to the proper drug. Why didn't the hospital???
The Home Health nurse came today to "train" Dad on how to mix and administer the drug to himself via IV. I can't believe they would expect an 82-year-old man to give himself IV drugs! He even has his own pole now. I'm still unclear as to why the home health nurse does not come each day and give Dad the medicine. It takes an hour for it to be given and he has to be on this medicine for 4 weeks at $2500 per week. Yikes! However, before he was giving himself Zosyn 3 times a day and Vancomycin once a day. My Dad is amazing!
He has a yeast infection and my thought is that the yeast have colonized his ureteral stents and formed a biofilm that the meds can't penetrate. He just had his stents changed out about 10 days ago, but I think he should get them changed again in case the yeast has taken up residence on the stents. He has been on IV Diflucan for about 2 weeks with no results. Once they stopped the blood thinner (Lovenox) and aspirin, Dad's bleeding seemed to stop. The dose of Lovenox they had him on was astronomical! His blood pressure is still high in spite of the 13 meds he takes twice a day.
The nephrologist has him on fluid restriction of 2000cc per day (about 67 ounces) which is much less than he usually drinks. He has dry mouth, most likely as a side effect of all the meds he's taking. I worry that he will become dehydrated. His output is reduced but so is his input. He is on oral Lasix, but so far he has not noticed that it has had any effect. He does not have to empty his pouch nearly as often as he did before the fluid restriction was implemented. His feet and ankles are swelling a little again. I am going to ask him to put the TED hose back on.
I'm glad he is home and not at the mercy of others to finally bring him his meds or anything else for that matter. Needless to say, we have added yet another hospital to the "don't go" list!