Only 3 days home from Vandy then admitted to local hospital

amcp

Frank had his lung resection (wedge) sugery done on 2/10 and we came home on the 15th. He was doing good on the 16th and 17th. Home health came and was pleased with his progress. Then on the 18th his pain got worst and medication was not working so called Dr at Vanderbilt and they said see a doctor asap or go to er. Took Frank to ER where he was given three injection which put him out. He was admitted to hospital on oncology floor for pain management. He was there for 6 days being release today around noon. Given long acting pain medication one every 12 hours and then fast acting pain medication 1 to 2 every 4 hours for break through pain. While in the hospital he had to have resp. therapy for congestion, phy. therapy, a gastro. doctor was called in for constipation called by pain medication, and he had to have a unit of blood. We are so thankful to be finally home...just wish I could have got him back to Vanderbilt instead of our local hospital. It has been a rough week but made it through with GOD's help. Frank is sleeping alot and lost over 15 plus pounds since the 10th ...does not feel like eating much. Hope this pain medication works...pain was so bad last night it took two injections to get relief and they still sent him home. Dr said he was going to have pain so he might as well hurt at home and hopefully the pain medication will keep it bearable. Just wanted to let you know why we have not been online.
Hugs
Anna

Shayenne

Aww..
...So sorry to hear about Frank's pain, my prayers are with you, and I believe GoD will get him through this, and is holding his hand right now, I hope he gets better soon, you will both be in my prayers, no one should be in so much pain, and please let us know if he gets better, soon enough he will hopefully be eating again once this subsides so he gain his weight back. It's so sad for people to be in so much pain.

God Bless
~Donna

Buzzard

Shayenne said:

Aww..
...So sorry to hear about Frank's pain, my prayers are with you, and I believe GoD will get him through this, and is holding his hand right now, I hope he gets better soon, you will both be in my prayers, no one should be in so much pain, and please let us know if he gets better, soon enough he will hopefully be eating again once this subsides so he gain his weight back. It's so sad for people to be in so much pain.

God Bless
~Donna

Something else is up here........
I don't know what is going on but if he has pain the hospital should be administering to him....Did the hospital not in 6 days contact Vandy to see what he had been through ? Are they not giving you any kind of explanation as to why he is in so much pain. This shouldn't be going on. Something is wrong here Im just not sure what it is though. I would be contacting Vandy as to his condition and see why his pain can't be controlled. If a cancer patient has pain, the Drs have meds to cease it. No reason at all for him to be in any kind of pain...

Kathleen808

Anna and Frank,
I am so
Anna and Frank,
I am so sorry you are going through this. I will be praying for you.
Aloha,
Kathleen

Monicaemilia

I agree with Buzzard.....
Frank should not be in this much 'uncontrolled' pain. Make sure to call Vanderbilt and update them on his condition. I have found that whenever I ended up at my local hospital because it was closer, they would tell me to go to my cancer hospital as they would be more capable of dealing with my issues. My prayers are wih you and Frank. Monica

kmygil

Pain management
Hi Sweetie,

Buzzard is right--there is no reason for Frank to be in so much pain. Please contact the doctors at Vandy to try and find out a) why the pain is so severe, and b) why the meds are not adequately controlling the pain. If the current meds aren't doing the job, they have others. I'm so sorry to hear you both going through all this. You are in my prayers and in God's hands.

Hugs,
Kirsten

Shayenne

kmygil said:

Pain management
Hi Sweetie,

Buzzard is right--there is no reason for Frank to be in so much pain. Please contact the doctors at Vandy to try and find out a) why the pain is so severe, and b) why the meds are not adequately controlling the pain. If the current meds aren't doing the job, they have others. I'm so sorry to hear you both going through all this. You are in my prayers and in God's hands.

Hugs,
Kirsten

I would....
...be scared to go to my local hospital for anything cancer related, shoot, those nurses are so small-town they don't even know how to access a port, I have to get sticks in my arm! this is why I drive 2 hour to The James Research Cancer Hospital. I wish his pain was getting managed better.

VickiCO

Anna & Frank
I am so sorry you have to endure this. I echo what others say, call Vandy. After my surgery, the nurses and my doc said to call them, not the local hospital, if I had any problems. They have the records, and the experience, to deal with this.

Our prayers are with you.

Vicki

msccolon

pain
I have to echo what the others have said. I just got back from a colon cancer awareness program and one of the speakers was a woman who had lost both her parents to colon cancer recently. One thing she was speaking about was her father and some pain issues he was having and how his local hospital just wasn't managing the pain, etc. He was finally sent to Baptist Medical and was admitted right away. He had an abcess in his abdomen the size of a grapefruit that needed to be drained immediately. Not that I think this is what is going on, but definitely go back to your Vanderbilt doc, or another (if closer) cancer specialty center to have Frank looked at soonest!
mary

amcp

Thanks Everyone
First I want to thank you all for your messages. I agree 100% ...I contacted Vandy on the Wed. Frank began to have so much pain and they told us to go to ER if we could not get in to see our doctor and since it was so late here we went to ER. I again contacted Vandy the next day and let them know he had been admitted. I think we should have gone to Vandy instead of local hospital. I also think that it just took a long time for them to find out what medication would ease the pain without knocking him out completely and in a form that would allow him to go home. The first thing I did when we got home was email Vandy and they responsed this morning requesting that when we come we bring the hospital records and all xrays and CT scans done. Frank has had a good day today and has only had to take one break through pain medication and one ibuprophen besides the long acting pain medication that he takes every 12 hours. When he has his next surgery for the liver, we have decided that we plan to stay close to Vandy for at least a week or two to give him time to better heal and to be close if he has any problems. I think the trip home was too rough on him that soon and contributed to the pain. You are so right about the local hospital...we had always been pleased with them but after Vandy the local does not begin to measure up. Thanks again ...for your support..prayers and encouragement. We pray for each of you.
Hugs, Frank and Anna

Annabelle41415

Sorry
So sorry that he is in this much pain. It just doesn't seem right to me that the hospital would take such a flip attitude to his pain and say he is going to have pain so he might as well hurt at home. Doesn't sound like a very caring hospital.

Hopefully you can get some answers from Vanderbilt and he will feel better soon.

Kim