Kathie Gagne died 4,583 days ago.

Independence Day
July 4th, 2012 @ 3:00 pm

I called and actually managed to get my mom on the phone for a few minutes.

She barely made any noise the entire time I had her on the phone, which was about nine minutes. I tried to engage her repeatedly, but aside from saying, “Hello,” when someone put the phone to her ear, she was basically non-responsive.

Near the end of the call, I started to cry and asked if she could even hear me at all. She said, “I love you,” as clearly as she might have ten years ago and I felt a ray of hope. But then she didn’t make another sound for the remainder of the call and I eventually stopped trying. I said, “I hope you feel better, mom,” and hung up.

A Call from Keith
July 2nd, 2012 @ 10:00 am

Keith, the discharge coordinator from Halifax Hospital and my mother’s case manager, called to give me a status update.

He said I needed to “just wait”. Keith said that I should, “blame Obamacare,” and that because of it, “everything is changing.”

He said he would call me if anything changed.

Dr. Panja Calling
July 1st, 2012 @ 6:56 am

I received a voice mail from Dr. Panja at Halifax Hospital. Here is a transcript:

“Hi, Mr. David. This is Dr. Panja, again. Please give me a call back but this time please give me a good phone number, give me a good phone number where I can reach you. You can call me through area code (386) 304-3827 again area code (386) 304-3827. Have a nice day. Buh-bye.”

I should note, of course, that Dr. Panja had the one and only phone number to reach me; he just failed to remember that I am three hours behind him on the West coast.

Dr. Panja Calling
June 30th, 2012 @ 8:17 am

I received a voice mail from Dr. Panja. Here is a transcript of the message:

“Hi, this message is for Mr. David Gagne. I’m Dr. Panja from Halifax Medical Center taking care of your mother, so if you want to talk to me you can give me a call back on area code 304-3827 again, area code (386) 304-3827. Have a nice day. Buh-bye.”

Re: Medicaid for Mom
June 28th, 2012 @ 8:49 pm

Email received from my sister:

Hey, David.

I talked to Misty last week at Chamberlin Edmonds. She said we wait. I don’t have a number directly to anyone with Medicaid. […] I mailed in everything I was told to mail, and now they are reviewing it. It is not easy to get approved for Social Security Disability, and it takes time. And what I was told was that in the state of Florida, you need to be receiving disability to get Medicaid.

I will call Misty tomorrow, and ask her if she has a number I can call directly to anyone involved with Medicaid. I will also try calling Social Security again.

[…]

What is her medical status? Is she urinating ok now? Has her walking improved?

I called her twice last week, and she said a couple of sentences and sounded fair, considering. I called her twice this week, and she could not even speak. It was awful.

Also, I need your advice. I have some bills for Mom: costs to replace carpeting, fees from Coastal and Grace Manor, and some medical ones. I have been hesitant to pay because I do not know what we will need to get her moved into someplace from the hospital. Her Social Security Retirement has just accrued the last 3 months, so she has about [redacted] in her account. Should I pay some just to get her account back under [redacted] and keep close to [redacted] to pay for PT or whatever at a nursing home?

Please let me know what you think about the money.

Love you.

Beyond Ridiculous and Absurd
June 28th, 2012 @ 3:53 pm

I sent this email to my little sister just a couple of days after my 39th birthday. I was very frustrated when I wrote it, but I was right: You cannot wait for other people to care, because they won’t.

 
 
A Call from Marsha
June 28th, 2012 @ 2:24 pm

I just finished a phone call with Marsha Porter, one of the discharge coordinators at Halifax Hospital. (Marsha told me she was covering for Keith.)

Marsha told me that Keith had “called all over Daytona, Deland, Flagler, Palm Coast, and Tampa,” but had been unable to find any facility to which they could discharge my mom because of her lack of funds.

She said that they were considering a place called Jacaranda in Tampa, which provides psychotherapy services, but which didn’t currently have any beds available.

Talking to Dr. Panja
June 26th, 2012 @ 8:00 am

Dr. Panja from Volusia Hospitalists called me early on the morning of my 39th birthday. We spoke for about a half-hour about my mom. He was very nice and understanding, and seemed to genuinely care about my mom’s health.

He said that he did not think there was any medical reason for my mom’s condition, and that she seemed to be suffering from acute depression which should be treated by psychotherapy and not drugs. He promised me that he would note “in her chart” that she should be receiving regular psychological counseling / psychotherapy, and that she should be discharged to a facility that could provide that on a regular basis.

Eight Phone Calls
June 25th, 2012 @ 7:15 am

I spent well over an hour on the phone this morning simply trying to get anyone to give me additional information about my mom.

  1. First I called her room at Halifax Hospital to try to talk to mom, but Nurse Amber told me she was asleep.
  2. I called the main line (386) 425-0400 and asked to speak to “anyone there that’s in charge.” I was put on hold for so long that eventually I hung up.
  3. I called EveAnn but she didn’t answer, so I left her a voice mail.
  4. I called Chuck Flavio, but he didn’t answer, so I left him a voice mail.
  5. I called the numbers I have for Dr. Anwer and Dr. Kahn, but nobody ever answered the phone and it never went to voice mail; both numbers just kept ringing forever.
  6. I called Keith the discharge coordinator, but he didn’t answer, so I left him a voice mail.
  7. I called the number I have for Dr. Nasr, but was told that he is on call at the hospital this week so would not be able to return my call until next week; I left him a message just the same.
  8. Then I called mom’s room again.

By now there was a new nurse assigned to her. Nurse Beth was very busy, but she took the time to read me a list of the medications she had just given my mom:

A Call from EveAnn
June 22nd, 2012 @ 9:28 am

I received a one minute and fifteen second voice mail from EveAnn at Halifax Hospital. Here is a transcript of the call:

Hi. Mr. Gagne this is EveAnn returning your call from Halifax Hospital. I re-routed your, your inquiry to Sam Cassel, who is the Director of Medical and Surgical Services and she’s a person … I’m glad to hear that you at least maybe spoke to Chuck or Darlene on Wednesday and I just … it’s taken me a while to get this information moved in the right direction, but Sam Cassel can be reached at our hospital number extension 50508 and her cell phone is [redacted] I forwarded her earlier the email that I had sent to Chuck so it kinda gives a synoptic review of what we had discussed so please know that I’m moving this forward I just don’t have any answer for you; I’m trying to connect you with the people, the clinical folks that can help you. So I hope this works and that you hear from someone today. I will try to reach her. I just tried now at her desk and there was no answer so I’m gonna try her cell myself, and ask her to give you a call then. I hope all is well and thank you for your patience. Buh-bye.

« Newer Entries
Older Entries »