The patient representative said I was given an injection of 40 units of 70/30 on admission and then the doctor ordered a sliding scale to go along with the 70/30 if needed but the nurse never injected them at the same time. The nurse documented that you did refuse (I did not) all insulin that was ordered after that dose. I complained a lot because they were testing me every two hours all night long, but I did not refuse. I woke up in the middle of the night with someone injecting insulin in my right arm. When I asked what they were doing, she said, "Don't worry, It's only insulin." I refused Tamoxifen. "The diet that was ordered was 1800 ADA (American Diabetes Association) Cardiac diet, which was appropriate for you." Has anyone ever heard of this diet? This must be what Paula Deen is eating. LOL. "It is standard to receive cranberry or orange juice on the breakfast tray as they count it as a carb." ?? along with a huge muffin and oatmeal? Mine was cranberry juice cocktail with high fructose corn syrup--not cranberry juice. Cranberry juice is not to be given to a patient on blood thinner. No mention of that. "They are aware of the interaction between Tamoxifen and Warfarin. However, it is a manageable interaction. Tamoxifen makes the Warfarin more effective and causes the blood to be thinner with lower doses of Warfarin. Warfarin is dosed based on blood levels, so the MD would see this and know to use a lower dose of Warfarin while the patient was on Tamoxifen. If you had been here longer with us, our anticoagulant monitoring service would have picked you up on its radar, monitored levels, recommended dose adjustments, and we would've done some patient teaching." Gee. How helpful. My prescription was not changed. I figured they would alibi out of this. Next time I go to the hospital, I will insist on a normal diet with me making food choices.
I never eat the amount of carbs that were given me. Cranberry juice is a no no for a patient on Warfarin. So is two servings of a dark green vegetable such as broccoli and collards, but although I mentioned it in my letter of complaint, the patient representative did not. It was that dinner that I supposedly was allowed to make selections. I could find nothing on the menu except for chicken and broccoli. That is all I ordered, but instead, I was served some kind of meat I could not identify with a glaze, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, corn bread, sweetened tea and a pudding that was not labeled sugar-free. I dread going to a nursing home. Yvonne Self; type 2; low carb when not in a hospital.
Your meals sound like mine when I was hospitalized with DKA. I was a newly diagnosed T1 & knew nothing, yet even I knew that the meals were over the top. Breakfast--pancakes, French toast (on thick Texas toast) or oatmeal, with fruit juice. No eggs were available because food was cooked off site & trucked in. Lunch--grilled cheese (also on Texas toast), soup with beans & corn or chowder, a small limp salad, lasagna, chicken & dumplings. Dinner--spaghetti & meatballs with garlic bread, some meatloaf thing with thick gravy, mashed potatoes AND corn, chicken pot pie with potatoes & a starchy sauce. Every meal I asked if they were sure it was a diabetic meal. They'd point to the sugar-free pudding & say yes. Snacks were fruit or cold cereal. Great, huh? I ate little & was reprimanded because I needed to gain weight. I don't know what my insulin doses were & can only imagine they were huge.
If it's any consolation, my BG was tested every 15 minutes around the clock in ICU for two days. I was hallucinating from sleep deprivation. I had no sleep for over 48 hours.
To complain, contact the hospital administrator. That's what gets action.
Yep, the hospital administrator is the person in charge when things go awry. Waste of time speaking with nurses, doctors & the rest. A friend was hospitalized & getting inadequate treatment. No one would listen to her concerns. I called the administrator on her behalf mentioned their liability & how I'd hate for her to have to go through legal channels. Ten minutes later, the administrator was in her room to resolve it.
Yvonne- I have been in the hospital 2-3 times since being Dx w/D. ( not related to diabetes) In both of the hospitals they had no clue what I should eat. I was served food similar to Gerri. I even called the kitchen and spoke to the head dietician, she wasn't too sure what I should eat either. I told her that I did know and ordered the proper food. I still got the usual food incl. 3 packets of sugar for my unordered oatmeal. Most hospitals and their personnel ( incl. nurses and docs ) are clueless about diabetes. One of them even told me they get about 2 hours training on diabetes in nursing school. We have to train them when we are patients. We must be the "squeaky wheel" for our own advocacy.
Pitiful the head dietician was clueless. What in the world do they learn in school? Guess it's really about industrial food service. I've never understood giving any patient a load of starches when they're lying in a hospital bed.
Does anyone know who employs these "Patient Representative?" This one was clearly representing the hospital--not me. There were so many inaccuracies in her response that I felt it was necessary to correct them and request the last letter be kept on file with the others because of this. She totally ignored the fact that I was never given the "Coumadin Diet."
I asked my daughter who hired the "patient representatives" for the hospital and she said the hospital hires them. So. They are not on our side. And the one I got was in over her head. I'm going to mail a copy of my last letter with some added remarks to the hospital administrator, but I don't think it's going to change anything. This rep obviously doesn't even know the difference between cranberry juice and cranberry juice cocktail with high fructose corn syrup. Nevermind Ocean Spray now makes cranberry juice sweetened with Splenda and has very few carbs. I give up.
After you write the hospital administrator, follow up with a call. You could add a sentence to your letter stating you'll be calling to discuss. You need to show you're serious & don't want to get a form letter thanking you for your feedback, they'll look into it, blah, blah.
