<p>and more (about lung cancer and sainthood)</p>
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<p>[The</a> Associated Press: Religion news in brief](<a href=“http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRiEfTrANJniD2CWpkC3hNQnnBgQD91VN0580]The”>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRiEfTrANJniD2CWpkC3hNQnnBgQD91VN0580)</p>
<p>LTS, I don’t know about the rest of us, but I miss it when you don’t post. Your wit makes me smile (sometimes it helps me laugh out loud–like poop on the floor!) Your strength gives me strength. I know that if LTS can get through ome of her hurdles, I can certainly muster the strength for what I need to do. </p>
<p>I hope that the day finds you breathing just a little bit easier. I wish i had something profound to post or link to. But I will share my thoughts and my prayers.</p>
<p>LTS: I’ve been thinking about your care-givers lately as I heard about the four-year old nephew of a friend. The child has been diagnosed with some kind of cancer (I’m not sure which) but it seems that he has low white blood cells.
The father works, the mother has two other children, one seven and one two. They have limited English, so my friend needs to be the one to communicate with doctors and nurses. The child was given something like 20 different kinds of drugs, so my friend numbered them.
The child goes for chemo twice a week; he seems to be coping fairly well. But the mother and aunt are totally frazzled.
Like others, I’ve been inspired by you. I mentioned you to my friend. Fight the good fight.</p>
<p>LTS…you are my hero. You are an inspiration. We are all rooting for you. Hope today is better and can’t wait to hear an update.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, me too. I was away for 3 days and one of the first things I did upon returning was check on LTS. Hoping you and those around you have a good day today.</p>
<p>and more (lung cancer “survivors”)</p>
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<p>[Hamptons</a> Online - Guide to the Hamptons and East End of Long Island](<a href=“Home - Hamptons.com”>Home - Hamptons.com)</p>
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<p>[Donna</a> J. Nealey](<a href=“http://www.qualityhealth.com/psp/donna-j-nealey-/healthhero/healthHeroView.jspa;jsessionid=F262618C64577291F3B1C751ED90CE60.webapp7]Donna”>http://www.qualityhealth.com/psp/donna-j-nealey-/healthhero/healthHeroView.jspa;jsessionid=F262618C64577291F3B1C751ED90CE60.webapp7)</p>
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<p>–Monique Wittig</p>
<p>When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.</p>
<p>Harriet Beecher Stowe</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone; I try not to post too much because I am never sure how much people want to know, and, I do feel somewhat guilty using up CC space, which is intended for helping people who are trying to go to college. </p>
<p>I am thankful for the CC management allowing the thread to continue and didn’t want to wear out my welcome. </p>
<p>Things are improving incrementally; breathing is better and I may be discharged tomorrow, or, perhaps not until Monday. </p>
<p>I had a rather strange, frustrating day from an operational perspective. This case manager came to see me; they want to send out home health workers to my house, etc., I inquired hmrooo??? they said well we want to discharge you tomorrow. I said why discharge me tomorrow, I still cannot breathe very easily, I don’t want to go home until I have a plan in place and can actually breathe, and, my caregivers need to be a part of this discussion. </p>
<p>Their response was, did I know how insurance works in hospitals? I said, well, enlighten me, please. </p>
<p>They said - their exact words - I have very um, “liberal” insurance and my company is letting them do what ever they want and approving everything, so let’s get the physical therapy and the round the clock nurses and the furniture and the equipment etc. all lined up etc. </p>
<p>Anyway, I told them, I am not ready to even look at these issues, need my caregivers to be a part of the discussion, they’re not even all available at the same time until later tomorrow, so…</p>
<p>So the case manager says well the doctor is going to discharge you tomorrow, are you saying you won’t participate in your own care? </p>
<p>I said, no, I’m saying you walked into my room and said “discharge” - and - I cannot breathe very easily. AND I am wondering if my insurance is so “liberal” and you can just run an open tab here, then, what is the issue? Is there a shortage of beds?</p>
<p>I’m sooooooo confused. I am starting to feel better but I am just simply so confused. I don’t want to turn my house into a sick ward. I don’t want to stay in the hospital, either.</p>
<p>Please keep posting. You are not “off topic” for the cafe area – go visit Sinners Alley if you want to see off-topic & waste of time. You will not wear out your welcome – we all love hearing from you, and we start fretting if we don’t see a post after awhile… just the same way some of us freak out if we can’t get in touch with our college kids. </p>
<p>As to the whole hospital, discharge thing… ??? My speculation: maybe the “everything” version of home health care, with round the clock nurses, furniture, equipment, etc. - is still billed to the insurance for less $$ per day than the hospital charges…so your “liberal” insurance would rather pay, say, $1000/day for the home treatment than $2000/day for the hospital bed. (I’m making up the numbers of course, I have no idea what it really costs). Keep in mind that the way hospitals bill, if someone gives you a tylenol it’s +$20 to the bill; if they a new rubber tube to the IV machine, its +$25. (Again, making up figures, but I remember all of those incremental charges from the last time I was in the hospital, which fortunately for me was 20 years ago when I was there to give birth to my daughter-- they also rushed me out before I felt ready, but in those days it was pretty common for hospitals to try to get rid of mothers & newborns as quickly as possible).</p>
<p>Anyway, I think they are hinting that your insurance is “encouraging” a discharge… but I’m hoping you can get a straight answer soon.</p>
<p>That is confusing. When I started reading your post, I thought about how hospitals (and insurance companies) are always trying to kick patients out of their beds ASAP and send them home, often unprepared. Then I read the part about your “liberal” insurance company. So I’m feeling confused right along with you! I’d fight to stay until Monday if you think that’s best. Improve your breathing and strength, rest your body for a couple of days, and get a good, organized plan in place for what’s going to happen once you’re back home. What do your doctors think about all this? If a doctor says you would benefit from a couple more days in the hospital, through the weekend, it seems like your insurance company would approve it right away. Maybe the case manager thinks you really want to get home ASAP? Or is just used to sending everybody home as soon as it’s feasible? I also wouldn’t like to turn my home into a hospital. I’d rather spend a couple extra days in the hospital in order to get better enough so that I wouldn’t need round-the-clock nursing care, special hospital equipment, etc. in my home. Of course, YMMV. </p>
<p>Oh, and I think all of us love your hearing from you and are grateful to hear whatever you care to share. We don’t like being “left in the dark” if you stay away for too long! :)</p>
<p>You are right to be confused, especially since many of the ancillary services that the case manager mentioned cannot usually be set up over the weekend. Most offices that need to be contacted to set up this stuff aren’t open ont he weekend. I thought you were going to say that the insu co is pushing for discharge, so it surprised me when I read that the case manager said just the opposite. They cannot discharge you without an appropriate aftercare plan in place, if it isn’t safe for you to go home without some in home care, etc. So that may be why they have to get the process started. But if it is overwhelming, ask for social services to be involved. THis should be yor right. PLease keep us posted. Do not think for a minute that you are taking up excess bandwith. For some reason right now (maybe the sad state of the economy, the “quiet” time on cc before kids head off to college and the nest round of “chance me” threads begin, but there seems to be a lot of sniping going on of late. So, your thread is a welcome one.</p>
<p>I think “liberal” insurance company could mean “more liberal than most, but not all that liberal”…</p>
<p>LTS-
When you are feeling better and at home, that will be the time to go into this issue that confronts people with less “liberal” insurance. I can contribute stories about my father’s experiences with sudden (to us) discharges.</p>
<p>For now, hold your ground and get the advice you need to move yourself and your care out of the hospital on your terms.</p>
<p>You can do this.</p>
<p>I’m sure I’m not the only one here who feels a sense of elation that you have posted today…with the news that you are breathing a little better, and showing improvement, …and that you are improved enough to be discharged, whether tomorrow or Monday. Please stand by your guns and stay the extra couple of days though if you feel it would better benefit you.</p>
<p>LTS:</p>
<p>I’m so glad that you posted. Much of the cafe bandwidth is taken up by rather snarky political discussions–nothing to do with college!</p>
<p>I agree that you should not be discharged until all your ducks are in a row, and I would doubt that this can be done during the weekend. I’m wondering if it’s not so much a matter of insurance–which does not seem to have been bothered until now, but staffing; this is summer and probably lots of people are taking their vacation.
Anyway, I trust that you can stay until you are prepared to be back home, not before! Breathe easier.</p>
<p>Dear LTS, It’s good to hear that you are improving. As someone in the field of home health your tale of the Fri visit from a discharge planner looking to get you out on the weekend without consulting with you & your primary caregivers in an unprepared manner is an all to common occurrence. You have rights as a patient to appeal your ill prepared discharge( thru the hospital or state department of health ect please check your patient bill of rights for phone#'s, everyone gets them on admission). You should ask to speak with a supervisor or administrator as well as you MD. Although home care will usually get an RN in on a sat or sun to open your case to home care and some vendors do deliver equipment on the weekends these plans should have been discussed & settled with you and your caregiver before Fri for a weekend discharge. You need to confer with your MD that indeed you are medically stable for discharge & that home is the most beneficial place for you to be ( less chance of hospital acquired infection & med errors ect) then should demand communication and coordination be arranged with you and your caregivers so your home needs are appropriately identified. Only once services have been arranged to begin in a timely manner with all involved informed should you agree to go. Hold your ground as this is unacceptable discharge planning.</p>
<p>LTS- So happy to see your post, and especially glad you are feeling a little better!! These services always take a couple of days to put in place and agree your caregivers should be part of the process as well.</p>
<p>LOL LTS, if anyone tried to stop this thread, there would be an immediate and massive boycott of CC!! You bring out the best in people. I haven’t checked any of the political threads and obviously shouldn’t from what people are saying here. Your thread, this thread, is such a life-affirming, loving, and instructive one. </p>
<p>Glad to hear things are getting better. I have had both an infant daughter, and an older dad and mom, in intensive care at various points and fretting about oxygen levels so this feels like familiar territory and I’m so glad yours are improving and hope that you get to go home soon, on your terms!! How can you be so smart to know that you need to set these limits?</p>
<p>LTS, May I entreat you to read John Donne’s Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. An electronic text is available at Project Gutenberg. May you draw comfort from the reading.</p>
<p>Keep well and my prayers</p>