Posts by Casey Palmer5

Are you absolutely certain about those two weeks? I mean, you can get a handful of tests done at a day surgery center in just a day or two—there’s really no reason to be stuck in a hospital bed for two weeks, even if you're undergoing a series of surgeries, let alone just waiting for results. Now, if you're saying the waiting lists here in the States are absolutely insane, then yeah, you're totally right about that...

Kate Collins67 said:@ Casey Palmer5

Look, if you’re going to post like this, you really ought to bring some actual medical arguments to the table—which, unfortunately, are nowhere to be found in your previous message.
If I understood that link you shared correctly, we were talking about NHL (Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, right?)
If you want anyone in the medical profession to take your arguments seriously, you need to include the discharge diagnosis from the hospital summary and the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis—at least that much.
Your post is absolutely loaded with emotion, but let's be honest: those feelings stem from that sense of helplessness, sadness, and pure rage that hits when someone close to you gets seriously ill. It's understandable, but in all likelihood, those emotions don't actually help solve the problem.

Regarding the transfusion—blood is typically given when hemoglobin (not hematocrit) drops below 8, though some might wait until it hits 7. There are plenty of exceptions where they won't give it even if it's lower, or they'll give it regardless of the specific number.

Medical staff have to maintain a certain level of distance—patients often mistake this for coldness or a lack of care, but it's necessary for them to do their jobs. That's just how it works. You don't have to like it, and you certainly don't have to understand it, but it’s a prerequisite for functioning normally; otherwise, most of them would end up in psychiatry within a week.

Personally, I’d like to know specifically which part you’re angry about, and what exactly you think should have been done differently to prevent the situation from ending up the way it did.

It wasn't about the NHL—honestly, the specifics don't even matter right now. What I'm actually furious about is how poorly the pain was managed and that whole exhausting battle just to get the medical records...

Since my fiancé is a doctor, there’s really no point in me looking for outside opinions; we've already gone over every single detail together. And the thing is, they promised us they'd run blood tests right when he was admitted. Instead, they didn't get them done until three days later—just three hours before he passed away. It's almost impossible to tell what his hemoglobin levels were after those three days because that specific result is missing, but his levels must have been plummeting fast, considering he had already dropped about 30% within five days before even reaching the hospital...

That’s the absolute ceiling, though it might end up being a bit lower. If you've already got an LPSC on the books, I’d say try to get that squared away ahead of time...

Google is already pulling this thread up in search results, which honestly makes me so happy. I just can't wrap my head around how someone could be so heartless while working as a nurse. Especially given our situation—I'm 29, he's 32, and she’s refusing to hand over the paperwork. It's such a disgrace to the nursing profession. Personally, even though I'm not a nurse and my job doesn't involve much direct contact with families, I could never find the nerve or the heart to act like that, even if someone over 60 passed away. You definitely don't get humanity just by earning a degree or a certificate. Over time, it's become obvious that her character is just decaying, much like this woman's condition. And all those professional accolades won't matter once she's been "exposed," and that's something that will stick with her on this forum forever...

Here is what I posted on the community forum for a fresh start:

I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Even if I couldn't land a job at any state institutions anyway, I decided to just go out and open my own practice. Hopefully, nobody tries to run me off the road for it...

Susan Rodriguez4 said:Casey Palmer5
The story is honestly as terrifying as it is plausible...
The real tragedy is that after disasters like this, people just don't have the strength left to fight for justice, nor can they spend the next ten years dragging themselves through the courts, constantly picking at their wounds over and over again.
On the day when a doctor's, nurse's, or administrator's pay is actually tied to how many correct diagnoses they make and how successful their treatments are—which is totally possible, since that's basically how private practice works—rather than being based on some bureaucratic quota of referrals, prescriptions, or tests, then things like this will finally be nothing more than a bad memory. I hope.
Until then, if we ever have to face this, we’ll have to deal with figures like Minister Milinovic, whose stubborn attitudes are destroying what little good is left in this absolute wreck of a healthcare system.

I’d love nothing more than to walk into that courtroom knowing I actually stood a chance at a fair verdict. But with the way things work around here and the "experts" we have on the bench... I just don't see it happening...

There are plenty of advanced algorithms out there that show exactly how to treat and manage these kinds of conditions. They’ve bypassed all the old protocols, but here's the kicker—our legal system won't even look at them if the findings come from an overseas expert. It’s like being sued by the very people who are supposed to be judging you... especially when you're dealing with the medical board. If I start digging into this, I might just end up screwing myself over in the process...

brisksurfer said:@Angela Wright/">@@Angela Wright, Kimberly Wright, Grace Stewart6: thank you guys so much for the support!
Even though I was so relieved when Angela told me his tests looked fine, things took a turn for the worse yesterday. He was struggling so much to breathe through all the congestion that I had to call 911, and they rushed him over to Springfield Hospital. Grace Stewart6 was right, unfortunately...😠😠😠
Even though the results from February 4th (Springfield) and February 19th (during radiation) were great and the tumor was barely visible, it turns out it has spread significantly. They told us his condition is critical, and Dad is drifting in and out of consciousness because he's been coughing so hard...

All the medical techs were saying he needed an aspirator to clear out the mucus, but the doctor wouldn't even look at him or order the suction. In the end, we had to be the ones to step up and tell him it would be easier if they did it, and then he finally agreed. 😲

If it’s just a buildup of secretions, there's quite a bit you can do with certain physical therapy techniques—things like postural drainage, specific coughing exercises, or careful positioning. If those don't work, doctors use endotracheal suctioning (especially when a patient isn't fully conscious). It's something a technician, nurse, or therapist can handle in a minute without needing a special formal order every single time (depending on the hospital's protocol; where I trained, it's done based on clinical need). Doing that kind of thing at home is incredibly difficult.

I am so incredibly sorry you're going through this...

That’s exactly why I’m done donating blood, I'm done using their services, and I just hope I always have enough cash saved up to stick with private care. And don't even get me started on Ms. Rostohar Zorica... she’s this lady who, despite me being his common-law spouse (which, under our laws here, carries the exact same legal weight as marriage), refused to release the autopsy report to me. Instead, she actually had the nerve to insist that I drag his mother—you can probably imagine the state I was in—all the way down to Dubrava Hospital to pick it up herself, just because she wouldn't hand it over to me. It’s honestly shameful. Then there’s that instructor, Kastelan, who practically kicked us out of the office when we were just trying to get our paperwork...

Honestly, thank God lawyers exist, otherwise getting your hands on those few documents would be impossible. Of course, the General Hospital will make sure to charge you for every single photocopy $23.

I have some incredibly dark, honestly just grim experiences with our healthcare system. I used to be part of the system myself, thank God I’m not anymore. On one hand, I haven't had a single bad experience with my primary care doctor (she seems like a sane human being), but when it comes to the ER services... it's a different story entirely. Then again, you have to consider that since I worked in the field, I probably get better treatment than your average Joe (it's a total disgrace, really) because of my connections with my doctor.

I truly wish they would start using actual algorithms, because the way they operate right now—specifically at the local General Hospital, where we were bounced between the ER urology, internal medicine, and infectious disease departments after my GP sent us there—makes absolutely no sense. We had a patient with acute abdominal pain and a completely messed up blood count (high neutrophils, dropping red blood cells and hemoglobin, and a massive spike in liver enzymes), and they just tossed him back and forth like a ball. They kept insisting it was renal colic or a urinary tract infection, which had nothing to do with what was actually happening. They wouldn't even bother doing an abdominal ultrasound. We spent a total of maybe ten hours sitting in waiting rooms for infectious disease, internal med, and urology all on a Thursday night. All based on a wrong diagnosis, which wasn't corrected until Saturday morning when a private internist finally stepped in because I lost my mind with frustration, knowing something was seriously wrong. From there, I pulled some strings without any shame to get a CT scan processed, because otherwise, you'd never get it done through the standard channels—you'd have to go private—and it was an emergency (though clearly, my connections weren't good enough to get an immediate diagnosis). After the scan, which, lo and behold, proved it was an emergency, I used my contacts to get him admitted to the hospital, hoping for some actual action. The "action" resulted in him lying in a hospital bed from Friday afternoon until Monday, in excruciating pain, unable to eat for five days straight, while a nurse acted surprised that he wouldn't touch his lunch (honestly, screw their nursing diagnoses and assessments). I told her he couldn't eat, but there was no IV fluids offered, even though his hematocrit dropped to about 90 within just three days. I've seen a lot in my time, but I've never seen someone breaking out in a cold sweat from sheer agony that quickly. Man, my fiancé really had to show it for them to notice. It all ended badly because we were too late, largely due to those initial wrong diagnoses.

The following epilogue isn't for the faint of heart, but I am so disillusioned with the healthcare system that I have no intention of ever using these services again (as long as I have the money for private care, even if my future husband works at such an eminent institution), and if I ever have to, it will only be through connections. Because if you go the regular route without extra knowledge, you're basically left to die in the street. Obviously, if a patient or their companion doesn't have specialized knowledge or people on speed dial, you can just drop dead like a dog on the road. If I had gone the standard way, that is exactly what would have happened to my fiancé; he would have kicked the bucket just like a stray. Though, he probably would have had better company and been in better shape than he was in that hospital. A place where they use Ketoral as analgesics for people dying of cancer. From the first symptoms to death, it was less than two weeks. The tumor is specific and can be treated and even cured, even at those stages, but it is extremely aggressive and kills very fast.

As for the "soul caretakers" on duty who might try to claim the condition wasn't treatable, I still have a shelf full of about thirty papers proving the exact opposite. Getting hold of the medical documentation was a nightmare; I could only get it through a lawyer after one of our "esteemed" doctors practically kicked me out of his office when I asked for a copy of the files. Getting the autopsy report was just as hard, and on top of that, they tried to make me sign a form saying I had received the complete medical records (when they actually tried to snatch the folder right out of my hands while I was looking through it). I dropped the lawsuit purely to maintain my sanity, knowing how things work here, and following my lawyer's advice because I just don't have the financial or mental strength to fight it.

Anyway, thanks, but no thanks.

In the end, he was a 32-year-old man who regularly donated blood, yet when he actually needed it, he didn't receive it (as far as I know, blood is given when levels hit 90, let alone when this happens in just a few days). I don't know the exact cause of death, but I can guess (pulmonary hemorrhage, where absolutely no intervention took place).

Probably just some hemorrhoids. You go see a specialist and they'll 🙂
It’s really nothing to worry about 🙂
...

Carl Lewis53 said:Tonight 🙂
instead of an MRI, they sent me for a CT scan—clearly they’re just trying to save a buck lol
The doctor on call said everything should be fine, told me to come back for a follow-up in a few days, and they're putting me in a cast. I'll probably be stuck wearing it for a month or two...
If anyone here actually knows their stuff, here's the report:
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7248/nalaz.jpg

It's not about money; in your case, a CT is actually the better way to go. An MRI is great for looking at soft tissue, but for this kind of thing, you want a CT. I can't really comment on the actual results, though—that's strictly up to a trauma surgeon.

Maybe check in with General Mills; I think I heard they handled something like that once. Smith probably won't cover the operation, no doubt about it.

By the way, we all hang out over on the Scuba Diving forum, and there’s also a dedicated newsgroup for diving enthusiasts.

mistyjackal842 said:Has anyone dealt with Breyer labs before? I was browsing their site, but they don't list any prices, and I'm really curious about what they charge. Are they super pricey?

I'm looking to get my blood sugar, CBC, creatinine, ESR, liver enzymes—basically just all the standard bloodwork checked. About four years ago, my blood sugar was fine, though it was hovering pretty close to the upper limit. How many days should I avoid sweets before getting my blood drawn?

I'd guess you're looking at somewhere around $300-$117.

Between all the stress and moving around lately, I can definitely feel the toll it's taking. You should really try adding some regular exercise into your routine—I'd bet anything you'll start feeling a whole lot better in just two or three months...

Losing 6 pounds in just three weeks is a bit too aggressive. Slow things down a touch and you'll be just fine. If you push it this hard, you might end up throwing your whole metabolism out of whack...

Oh, don't you worry about any resumes or anything like that, 🙂 just make sure you get nice and warm after your shower...

Out of all these options, you might want to look at the one from Zonasrc or maybe the HIMED-8050 being sold by Quantum Team. Honestly, my best advice is to aim for at least 4 channels and as many programs as possible, ideally with standard electrodes. It might also be worth checking out what Iskra Medical has available and seeing what their pricing looks like now. I actually own one of theirs, though it was specifically for $2000, so who knows if the prices have dropped since then... Compex definitely has some solid solutions too, but they tend to use proprietary electrodes, which ends up making the whole setup way more expensive in the long run.

A 4-channel setup is honestly the sweet spot for me. A 2-channel one feels way too limited, but you really don't need to go all out with a 6-channel unit. Just remember, the number of channels basically tells you how many electrodes you can plug in—so with a 4-channel device, you're looking at 8 electrodes.

It’s tough to pick the perfect one without seeing them, but my advice? Look for something with a huge variety of programs and, more importantly, check that it doesn't have annoying restrictions. You don't want a device that automatically shuts off after a set time or won't let you crank up the intensity while you're actually using it. You'll probably be looking at a price range of $400-$200. Do a little digging into what's available and send me some links... then I can give you a much better recommendation.

Another big thing to consider is the type of electrodes they use. They wear out pretty fast, so you'll be buying replacements every now and then. If the device requires some weird, non-standard pads, you might struggle to find them or end up paying way more than usual. For comparison, a pack of 4 standard ones is about $33 at Hospital. Personally, I always order mine online, otherwise I'd go broke!

If you're comfortable navigating English, you should check out this American forum dedicated entirely to testicular tumors. There are tons of people there who have gone through the exact same treatment process.
http://www.tc-cancer.com/forum/index.php

Anyway, wishing you the best of luck!
If you don't mind me asking, which subtype are we talking about? I've unfortunately learned way too much about these types of tumors myself...

So, LDH is technically a tumor marker, but honestly, it can spike because of all sorts of other things too. You'll definitely want to run this by an oncologist...