I called to talk to my mom, but she was asleep. There was yet another new nurse assigned to mom, so I spent twenty minutes (once again) telling Nurse Angel my mom’s life story.
Kathie Gagne died 4,583 days ago.
I called to talk to my mom, but she was asleep. There was yet another new nurse assigned to mom, so I spent twenty minutes (once again) telling Nurse Angel my mom’s life story.
I again called EveAnn at (386) 254-4226 but she didn’t answer, so I again left her a voice mail asking her to return my call.
I called EveAnn at (386) 254-4226 but she didn’t answer, so I left her a voice mail asking her to return my call.
I received a phone call from Dr. Wafik. He told me that he took over as mom’s doctor yesterday. He said that her medical condition is very stable.
Dr. Wafik said that “medically and physically she is fine.” He said that yesterday he knew that she had taken a walk in the hallway, and that as far as he was concerned, all her medical problems have been resolved.
I called to talk to mom and a new receptionist — Jackie? — answered the phone. (Apparently Jeannette was on a break.) I asked to speak to her supervisor, because I am just trying to get in touch with someone in any position of authority there, anyone who can actually do something. I’m very frustrated because now there are doctors making completely contradictory recommendations: one doctor says she’s fine physically and her problems are psychological, another doctor says there’s nothing that can be done for her psychologically and she must have a medical problem.
Jackie transferred me to Kim, the Nurse Manager. Kim told me that Dr. Stoner is the Medical Director at Halifax Hospital and technically he is the boss of all the doctors. She told me his number is (386) 254-4226, so I called to try to get in touch with him.
Dr. Stoner’s assistant, EveAnn Magoulas, answered the line. We spoke for a long time — I delivered yet another twenty-minute history of mom — and she suggested I get in touch with Chuck Flavio, the Service Line Administrator for Psychiatry at (386) 947-4648. She also assured me that she would contact Chuck and make sure he calls me.
I called Mr. Flavio and left him a message.
I received an email from a family friend in Florida who visited mom last week. She said:
David,
My daughter and I visited Kathie last week in that room. She seemed serene, so they must have her on meds that take the edge off. […] I will share the address with the folks at church. They were waiting for her to come out of ICU before visiting.[name redacted]
I sent the following email as a reply (and copied my sister):
Hey [name redacted],
Right now the only psychopharmaceuticals she’s taking are Namenda and Zoloft. The Namenda is pointless and seems to just be something that they insist on giving everyone over the age of 60; but from everything I’ve researched it really has no negative side-effects or proven positive benefits, so I have just been letting it go. The Zoloft, of course, is fairly well-known and studied; it takes several weeks of regular dosage to have any impact, though, which may be why it is only just recently that she’s seemed to be stabilizing a bit.
I had 20-minute conversations with mom today and yesterday. She wasn’t back to her old self or anything as dramatic as that, but at least she wasn’t completely lethargic, catatonic, or unresponsive. She didn’t seem to understand that she was in the hospital, which is worrisome, but at least she was speaking in complete sentences for the first time in weeks and weeks.
Thank you for visiting her. Just today Nurse Ramos, in a somewhat insulting and pathetic attempt to make me feel guilty, told me that nobody has visited mom in a long time and that it was, “just so sad,” that I can’t bring my mom to Los Angeles to move in with me.
The psychologists are now saying that whatever is wrong with her is “medical” and they cannot do anything for her, which is pretty frustrating because the medical doctors are saying that she is fine medically and simply has psychological problems. As far as I can tell, the exact opposite diagnoses cancel each other out and they want to discharge her because she’s fine. That, of course, is absurd.
I have not heard from anyone at the hospital (other than the nurses) in well over a week, though I call twice each day, every day, and ask to have any of the doctors — medical or psych — call me. I’m going to call again tomorrow (Tue) morning to talk to “Keith”, who is the discharge coordinator, because I fear he is trying to push her out of the hospital even though (a) she’s obviously not well and (b) she has absolutely nowhere to go.
I will keep you posted,
Thanks,David Vincent Gagne
I called Nurse Ramos and asked for an updated list of the medications my mom was being administered. She told me that she was currently being given only Namenda and Zoloft, a suppository 1, and Lopressor.
Nurse Ramos said that my mom had not been visited by a psychologist or a psychiatrist since Friday, and that Dr. Greer had recently noted in her chart that whatever was wrong with her was a “medical issue”.
1 She didn’t specify what the suppository was and I didn’t think to ask.
I called the main number for Halifax Hospital and Jeannette at Reception gave me a number — (386) 304-3827 — which she said I could theoretically use to reach Dr. Kahn and Dr. Anwer.
I called Halifax Hospital to talk to mom. Nurse Ramos said she was very busy, but she took the time to transfer me to the phone in mom’s room so I could talk to her for a few minutes. Mom sounded almost, but not quite, as if she was what someone else might call “alert”. She sort of made sense, but it was very frustrating because she didn’t seem to realize it was me. After just a few minutes I had to hang up because my heart was hurting.
I called and spoke with Nurse Ramos at Halifax Hospital. She told me that mom was eating well, which was nice to hear. Nurse Ramos said that mom had been seen by Dr. Greer on Thursday and Friday, and that he had said there was “nothing he could offer.”
She also said that Dr. Anwer had been the physician monitoring mom for the last three days, and that he said she is, as far as he is concerned “medically cleared” to be discharged, and that the hospital staff was actively working to find her “placement”.