Healthcare 65 Plus

After my husband had a successful Hernia surgery in 2023, we thought we were out of the woods and could perhaps get back to living life! Wrong! IThat following April , my husband had a sort of pulled muscle in his neck, and it hurt his arm to lift it. He called his provider at the V.A. and tried to get an appointment. About eight weeks later, he finally got in to see his provider. She wasn’t sure and said she would set up a sonogram, so we waited to hear back from the V.A. He waited and waited, but he never heard from anyone about his appointment. After six weeks, he called his provider again. She visited him via Teleprompter and said she would order a sonogram right away. This was  late July. August  5th, my husband was driving home from the store and passed out while driving on a street near our home. I managed to turn off the key and steer the truck towards the school yard, attempting to press the brakes. Our daughter, who was with us, was trying to revive my husband. I called 911, and an officer responded quickly. An ambulance came soon after, and he was taken to our local Catholic hospital. There, they did a CAT scan and diagnosed him with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the head and neck. They were not equipped for further treatment or diagnosis, so they arranged transportation to St. Luke’s Plaza downtown, K.C.  Once at the Plaza, a team of Doctors started assessing his condition.  He had an Oncologist, a Cardiologist, a Pulmonologist, an Endocrinologist, an ENT specialist, A Radiologist, and several Hospitalist Interns and residents.   I felt that with all these Doctors, surely,  there would be a relatively quick course to a decision to start treatment!  Was I ever wrong !!!  My husband was admitted to the Pulmonology floor because he passed out. That was great; there was a staff of Nurses there, who I am certain saved all the doctors’ jobs on a daily basis. That staff knew their stuff, had their Sh@t together, and were still caring, efficient, and professional.  That is a combination you do not find often, and especially in this day and age! I am speaking as a retired Supervising Nurse.  I thanked God every day for him being in their care. He called them “his crew,” but he had no idea those angels were looking out for and over him! The next day after visiting him and not getting answers from the Doctors I came home exhausted and finally went to sleep around nine P.M. Only to be woken sometime around midnight by the phone. I answered, and a Doctor on the other end identified himself as a doctor at the Plaza who was attending my husband and asked if I was his wife. I said yes and asked what was going on. His reply was ” your husband just died,” and after a rather lengthy pause, he stated for about thirty-five seconds. I was in shock and disbelief!! My daughter started shaking me and calling me, I wondered why. Then I was able to find my voice and asked if this was a joke. The doctor on the other end said it was not and that they had revived my husband and taken him to the ICU, so I could visit him there tomorrow. I said thank you, and he hung up! After not sleeping the rest of the night, I could not wait to get to the hospital the next morning. The morning of August seventh, my daughter and I arrived at the hospital and went to the ICU.  My husband seemed to be in good spirits and I was not even thinking of telling him the danger he was in. It seems the cancer had spread from his tongue to the lymph node in his neck, which was twelve (12) centimeters big and wrapped around his carotid artery, choking him. That was the same issue as when he was driving. He needed to start aggressive therapy immediately! I wanted to find that hair-brained Doctor, who had called the night before with his deplorable bedside manner, and just shake him! My daughter, thank goodness, was a voice of reason and I  abandoned any thoughts of physical violence. However, I made a mental note to find out his identity and pursue a complaint against his license.  My husband seemed to survive that death experience with minimal damage that we know of, and they moved him back to the Pulmonary floor the next day. Again, thank the good Lord. I was not impressed with their Intensive Care Unit. From the eighth through the sixteenth, the Doctors seemed to want to play ” King of the Hill.” Each one wanted to be in charge, each one wanted to push their own agenda! One of the Oncologists called me at home and expressed a strong desire for Radiation but my husband had three bad teeth that needed to be pulled. They could not start Radiation with those teeth. I nicely told her I would hunt for a dentist, She informed me that, meanwhile, they would try to do this in-house. At this point, we still had no PET scan; we really did not know what we were dealing with. This group of mad professors was all theorizing from a CAT scan at St Mary’s. They were all preparing to give him Radiation. I specifically said that had better not happen. At that time, I had to get our insurance company on the phone and make them his primary insurance provider. I also got approval for a PET scan and any treatments with a promise of a second opinion after chemo. The problem was they were billing the V,A, and we all know that will only result in a burial. I needed to change this around. We had an insurance company we paid for (thank goodness). The ninth, The Insurance company got the approvals and became primary, and we were good.  Meanwhile, my husband got a visit from a Cardiologist who wanted to put a pacemaker in his chest. I kept asking what was wrong with the various medications that do the same thing, and he finally said we could try them. We did it the very next day, and they worked! A day or so later, my husband got another visitor. This one was going to put a PEG Tube in, so he could be fed! My Husband called me immediately. I told him to tell her emphatically NO!  I told him to tell her I have a food processor. I can puree whatever I need to.  By this time, the poor man was terrified! They were trying to slice him and dice him, then fry him to a crisp!  No wonder Cancer patients don’t survive!  You not only have to fight the disease but the incompetent medical professionals as well!