Healthcare 65 Plus

 As we all know, in 2022, the year was still filled with the COVID-19 pandemic.  We were overwhelmed with masks, gloves, sanitizing sprays, and six-foot distancing. It was a mess and good  “ole sleepy Joe” told us to stay home and not send our children to school. 

The expert? Dr. Fauci, who had no clinical trials to prove anything, certainly had vaccines to make China wealthy! Boy, did that create an economic catastrophe for the middle class!  Unfortunately, I chose that year to have a stroke.

In June, I was rushed to the hospital, dehydrated with chronic vomiting; I could not keep any liquids down at all, and I was dizzy. The E.R. at our local Catholic hospital had a female N.P. or Dr., whom of which  I will never know. She determined I had a Diabetic incident and sent me for a CT scan to check out the stroke possibility.  It turned out she was closer to being right than all the specialists in the hospital, including the Hospitalist!

 You see, earlier that day, I had been shopping in Sam’s Club. As I turned a corner of the snack aisle, there it was…. the Holy Grail of cookies, of all Cookies!!! Nutter Butters!  I had not seen them in several decades!

As a New York transplant in Missouri, I had all but given up on ever finding them again. Now, here they were, not just a package but a BOX of Fifty-Two (52) individual cookies! I grabbed a box and held it tightly in my fingers as I hurried to finish shopping and check out. Once home, my husband went and got me a thirty-two-ounce (32) green tea Slushie, and I took that with my treasured box of Nutter Butters to my office. where I commenced to indulge!!  Boy, did I ever indulge! I ate over forty (40) of those cookies and slurped that delicious slurpie right on down! I felt like I was back in my childhood!  Later that same evening, I topped it off with a bowl of cherry ice cream. That night and the next day I wished I was back in my childhood! Because, I woke up vomiting and dizzy and it continued until the next afternoon, nonstop. I had chronic vomiting, and I know I was dehydrated.

My husband called the ambulance, and they were great!  I have to stop right here for a moment.  Those young men on that Ambulance are driving a rolling hospital. They save lives, and they do so with a bedside manner that surpasses anything I have seen since the 60s. They need great recognition because they are the greatest. I say that as a retired professional. You will have to look long and hard to find anything that surpasses CJCFPD because there just is none better.

My husband had informed the E.R. Doctor that I have adverse reactions to sedatives as well as antihistamines and most medications. She decided to give me a maximum dose of valium, and Benadryl. Needless to say, I was semi-comatose for four days; I just could not wake up or respond. When I did, I was told I had A-fib, Type 2 Diabetes, and a Lacunar stroke. There was no mention of Hypertension or obesity, which both cause A-Fib and Type 2 Diabetes.  Each day, I am told,  for eleven days, I had a team of about six doctors who gathered around my bed to see if I was dying or alive. They ordered a CT scan every other day and two separate MRIs. They brought in a teleprompter, which did not work, and on the last day, they brought a teleprompter that did work for a discharge. At one point, a specialist ( in I don’t know what) told me they were waiting to see if my brain had swelled, and if it did and went down, they would send me to another hospital for brain surgery! The good Lord was in my corner because that did not happen!

 The housekeeping was terrible! No pillow, no bedding, no blankets!  Just a lady with a Swiffer mop who was constantly making eyes at my youngest son. My husband brought my pillow from home, and my son found some warm bath blankets. Thank God I had family.

The hospitalist informed me she would put me on Metformin, I said it was too controversial, and my daughter and eldest son let her know they had attorneys standing by. I did not get Metformin. The Doctors said I had A-Fib, but they never discussed it, not once, but boy, did I have tests, every day!

They did not give me Rehab, which they said I needed. The Rehab Therapist would come in and walk me first to the window and back, then down the hall and back. The Doctors said I need more rehab, but my insurance denied it, of course. At that time, it was United Healthcare, and they gave you nothing!  Their idea of advanced therapy is a woman who came and watched me take a sponge bath, dress myself, brush my teeth, and comb my hair,

During all this, I kept asking for the Priest to come give me the Blessing of the sick. The Nurses just said they would see if they could find one! WHAT!!! This was a Catholic hospital!  Why must they find one? A priest finally came and asked me what I wanted. I told him the Blessing of the sick. His response was “I’ll give it a try”.  Hello? Where were we? A Catholic hospital ,I thought!

They had diagnosed me with Diabetes and A-fib, yet all the meals had extra sugar and salt on the food trays along with sweet desserts, mashed potatoes, and white bread.  WTH?  

 You could not get a shower. I begged for one for several days and finally said, I will crawl to the shower myself and take one. Then an aide was kind enough to volunteer to help me. They talked about my being discharged, maybe, but it was up in the air.

The Hospitalist said you need to go to a nursing home. My son said, That is not happening!  The next strange happening was; 

 I complained about the food being so high in carbs, and the hospitalist said everyone gets the same diet. I jokingly said Wow! The Joint Commission needs to have lunch in this place! 

 Then, all of a sudden, the next day after I had dressed, the nurse aid came in with a wheelchair and said, “Get in!” I was going home! No discharge orders, nothing! My son was handed a folder with what was inside we did not know. Just like that, I was out of there! Guess they took my joke seriously.

They gave me a walker and told me I had to use it at home because I could not walk by myself.   Once at home, I threw the walker away and started researching Rehabilitation techniques. I started cooking and doing everything for myself within a week of being home.  I rehabbed myself, I took control of my diet, I threw out the eleven different meds they gave me when they caused me to vomit. My trusty computer allowed me to research and find what would work for me, I just modified everything to work for me, One day I found this folder they had handed my son. When I was discharged ( if that is what you want to call it), inside it had appointments for specialists that they never told me about (Thank God) . I contacted the Mayo Clinic. N.Y. Hospitals, Johns Hopkins, etc. every place I knew as a Nurse, I spoke with. I called Doctors I had known when I worked as a Nurse in New York, I talked with Holistic Doctors. I left no stone unturned and was able to design a specific Rehabilitation program for myself. I had balance exercise videos sent to me, I treated this case like my life depended on it because, I knew it did! I designed my own Rehab routine with combining alternate medicine with western medicine and holistic medicine, with a lot of truth and common sense.

I followed my program to the letter, my doctor took me off the diabetic medicines within eight months, and I now control it with diet and lifestyle. I do not have A-Fib, and my BP is under control. I went back to school to become an Integrative health coach. I am happy to say I recovered 100 percent, and I am ready to teach anyone how to take control of their Healthcare. 

Currently, I coach groups online for an hour and a half per session at reasonable prices. I am happy and healthy at 79 years old and still going strong. You know what? Anyone can do it! We have a duty to police our own Healthcare. 

Licensed professionals are regulated, but nothing happens, and they do not get scrutinized if these agencies do not know what goes on.  Medicare depends on the recipients to report abuses and wrongdoing. However, Elders don’t. Why? Because they don’t know where to report these wrongdoings, nor how to report. That’s why the best kept secrets are the ones in Healthcare regulations. That is why Doctors bury their mistakes. Think about that. However I am here to teach you how, where and what to complain about with results.