We got a phone call at 7:00 this morning. It was a Home Health nurse calling to let us know that she had received an emergency message that she needed to come out first thing this morning to draw some blood. She told Paul that his glucose numbers were very high and they needed to see what was going on. His glucose numbers? Nobody said anything about glucose last night.
Paul told the nurse about what happened last night. He told her that we had been to the ER and they had drawn blood there. He told her that they said all his numbers were fine. She told him that she would call the hospital to see if they would give her the lab results and then call us back.
At 7:30 the nurse called back. This time I spoke with her. She said that she did not need to come out because the hospital gave her Paul's lab numbers and said that everything was fine (including the glucose number). Evidently, his blood sample that was taken yesterday got really messed up....
The nurse agreed with us that this whole incident should have been handled differently. In theory, they should have come back yesterday after they had the outrageous numbers and drew a new blood sample. Ironically, we still don't know who called us. The lab told the nurse the only people they told was Dr. M's office...Dr. M's on-call didn't know anything about it...
I really wish that Home Health would have a dedicated nurse coming to our house. We have seen four different nurses this past week. We really liked two of the four. The one yesterday was nice, but because she was in a hurry to get Paul's blood, she did not take the time necessary to get a good blood draw. She brought her kids with her because she didn't have a babysitter. She had put some Cathflo in to his PIIC line because there was a blockage not allowing the blood to flow out. Solutions could go in, but nothing could come out. I won't explain all the reasons for this...too much technical stuff... anyway, she left for a couple of hours and came back to see if it worked. She was able to get a blood draw when she came back. So, she hurried and took the blood and left.
As we have discovered from several nurses, PIIC lines can be "iffy" to get a good blood draw. Especially since the two ports come out at one spot (Paul has his TPN going through one of the lines at all times). They said usually you get a better draw if it is from a vein...
Oh well...he is alive and doing well! I am going to get him a milk shake today and see how that works!
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