Asian Hospital, Acute Tonsillopharyngitis t/c Peritonsillar Abcess & Pneumonitis

SUMMARY

I mentioned in my previous post that people have been getting sick this new year. It must be the cold weather. It’s been breeding some mean virus & bacteria which is very unfortunate for us humans . I was sick first week of January. I didn’t have my voice then and I had a slight fever. But that was all. Thank God I had my flu and pnuemonia vaccination in 2007 which was probably the reason why I may have built stronger resistance against this kind of infection or flu. As for my husband, Peter, he was not so lucky. Suffice it to say I spent 7 whole days babysitting my poor, sick husband.  It is at times like this when vows made in marriages (in SICKNESS and in health…) are truly put to test. It didn’t help that Peter can be very stubborn, so stubborn in fact that it almost (almost but not quite) cost him his dear life.Thanks to his  loving friends, they were able to motivate me to practice some tough love on my not-so-tough darling baby.

So anyway, by the 2nd week of January, Peter was already complaining of sore throat.  So I figured, he got it from me. I did the best I could to help him.  I let him take bioflu capsules and when that didn’t work, I bought him antibiotics (amoxicillin). He took a sick leave from work Thursday last week. I asked him if he wants to go to the hospital and he said that he’ll let the antibiotics do its job first. But as days passed by, it was just getting worse. He couldn’t eat, he couldn’t even drink the tea and sip the soup I made for him. Until last Sunday, he was already having a difficult time breathing. He was choking in his own saliva! This alarmed me so much that I plurked about it. His friends immediately insisted that I bring him to a nearby hospital. Asian Hospital is just 5 minutes from our house. It’s open 24 hours daily and so by 3am last Monday, Peter  (despite his condition) was able to drive us there (I should really learn how to drive!). He was admitted to the E.R. and was given first aid (throat spray to numb the pain). The doctor on call advised that he be confined. He will be given two types of antibiotics that will be administered intravenously for faster results. He resisted. He said he was more comfortable at home and he didn’t want to be injected.  For a guy with a high threshold for pain, I really couldn’t blame him. He witnessed his Mom die in a hospital after a long bout of illness (breast cancer that metastasized to the thyroid, lungs and brain) and prior to that, he was also there every time a nurse incorrectly injected a needle to his mom’s veins over and over again. He knew how much pain that caused his mom and he didn’t want to experience the same thing. So  I really don’t blame him for having such disgust at hospitals and nurses.  But I also didn’t want to be swayed by his pitiful requests. I wanted him to be treated as quickly as possible. The only minor concern I had then was how much it would cost us. Knowing that  Asian Hiospital cater to the more high-end  class of society, I was already expecting and considering paying big bucks.  And since we don’t have any health insurance covering for us, I more or less expected  a huge dent in our pockets. The doctor estimated that he might be confined for at least three days at an estimated cost of Php50,000.00. I said, okay. If that’s what it costs for Peter to finally stop his vice (smoking) and finally live a healthy life, then I’m all for it,  thinking that I’ll just postpone whatever plan I had of going to Jakarta and Bali. It’s just money. We can earn it back.  After much debate, Peter conceded.  He was given demerol  (a narcotic drug sort of like morphine) so he wouldn’t have to feel the pain anymore and that was when he finally slept. For the first time since Thursday last week, he was out.

“I never knew I could miss him snore as much as I did whan I heard him finally sleep.”

I never knew I could miss him snore as much as I did whan I heard him finally sleep.  To make the long story short,  after 20 hours, the two antibiotics they’re administering via IV worked.  The abcess in his throat popped & he was able to spit the pus. Otherwise his throat would have to be aspirated. Afterwards, he can  already talk & eat.  I thought everything would be okay. Then he started having chest pains. The x-ray results say he has pneumonitis or inflammation of the right lung. Fortunately, the tonsils got treated immediately with the right antibiotics so  that already  pretty much covered his lungs too. Otherwise, it could lead to pneumonia & that can be fatal.

Peter is now up and about. He got discharged last Wednesday (January 14). He still has 6 more days to finish the rest of his antibiotics though and hopefully never experience this kind of illness again.

ASIAN HOSPITAL

When you go to a hospital like Asian Hospital here in Alabang, you naturally expect the best. Their brochure says so on page1:

“ This is our commitment to you. At Asian Hospital, your health and well-being are important and we endeavor to make sure that with our hospital services, your experience will be as pleasant and as hassle-free as possible.”

So, I was a bit disappointed when I experienced several minor hassles. The following account was written as things were happening. I just copy-pasted it here:

Day 1, January 12, 2009

1.   Going back  to admission, the lady who gave me forms to sign can’t even answer my  simple question. There was a clause in the consent form that I was asking her to explain to me. If I remember correctly, the clause was about having to pay ONLY in cash. I asked because in the patient form, there were choices (either we pay via HMO, via credit card, via cash or via corporate credit). I was a bit confused (and was also considering paying  using my Platinum Visa card)  so I asked for clarification. She read it and looked at it. I felt she was as confused as I was. Finally, I just told her it doesn’t matter.  I let it pass.

2.   The nurse who administered IV to Peter was not that good (at least in my opinion). There were several drops of blood on the bed sheet before the nurse finally had the IV needle injected correctly  in Peter’s vein. Poor Peter, I can feel his pain.  I now understand what he felt when he saw the same thing happened to his Mom before and it just made me feel a lot worse knowing that I was the one who insisted that he be confined despite the fact that I know how much Peter hates needles and  hospitals in general.

3.   Before Peter got transferred to his own private room, the attending physician in the Emergency Room asked the nurse to give him 250mg of demerol via IV. The nurse said it’s a narcotic to relieve him of his pain. Few seconds later, Peter complained that his world was going around and before long, he was snoring and fast asleep. I thought that was good. It’s been a long  while since Peter really slept coz he kept drowning in his own saliva. Then when we were transporting him to his room, I overheard the nurse say to another nurse that the dosage of the demerol administered seemed a bit too much and they were worried  they might not be able to wake him up so he can help himself up to this other bed inside his own room (coz Peter has been in a stretcher kind of bed in the ER section and has to be moved to his  own hospital bed). The other nurse seemed to stop her from talking too much coz I was there and I just found it a bit odd. So, using my 3G Phone, I searched online about demerol dosage. The first few sites I browsed in google said that most of the time, patients are given between 50-150mg. Those patients given 150 mg dosage are the ones who have the most pain and are given to relieve them of it. So I was thinking, 250mg?! WTF?!

4.   I let it go. I’m sure they know what they’re doing. For Php20,000 deposit, they SHOULD know what they’re doing, right?!

5.  So we are now inside the room. It looks nice. There’s a view. We are at room 933 so we can see the whole landscape of the South Super Highway, Laguna de Bay and Festival Mall.

     I checked the bathroom, it has soap, tissue and towels but no toothpaste and toothbrush. So I just went down and bought some toiletries at a nearby Mini Stop across the street.

     Now, Peter wanted a  cable TV. Good thing that all private rooms have one. The problem was, it’s installed up near the ceiling and we need a remote to change channels. I had the remote replaced a couple of times.

     Aside from the fact that it took them 30 minutes to have the remote replaced, all four they gave us were not working.  I even had to buy my own batteries just to get the busted remote working. Now, that’s a simple hassle that we didn’t need especially since their patient is a TVholic. Looking at the bright side, it gave Peter reason to sleep instead since he didn’t want me reaching for the TV every time.

6.   At 5:50 AM, another nurse gave Peter skin tests for two kinds of antibiotics so they would know if he has adverse reaction to it. On his right arm, he was injected with a bit of CO-AMOXICLAV. The nurse encircled the puncture and noted that she will be checking for rashes at 6:20 AM. On his left arm, the nurse injected a bit of CLINDAMYCIN. She again encircled the puncture, wrote the name of the antibiotic beside it and noted that she’ll check it again at 6:25 AM. Well, guess what happened? The nurse checked both not at 6:20 AM, nor at 6:25 AM but at around 6:40 AM. I’m not sure if that’s good or not but I just expected them to check on my husband at the time the nurse wrote. We call that diligence, right?

7.    At 8AM, another nurse by the name of Rachel came by. She told me that she’ll be taking care of Peter until the afternoon. Then she attached another IV to Peter’s main IV. It’s his first antibiotic. She told me that the 2^nd antibiotic will be added at 10AM. She also told me that the IV bag must always be up high and asked me to make sure that the IV is dripping properly to avoid clotting on the vein. Coz once the vein clots, it’s considered bad vein and they would have to look for another vein to attach the IV to. As much as possible, I didn’t want to subject Peter to any more  pain  so I religiously watched the IV from 8:00AM to 8:30Am before another nurse (a guy this time) by the name of Jay, came over. For some reason, Jay brought down the IV bag, so naturally Peter’s blood back flowed to where the needle was attached then all of a sudden, there was a leak in one of the tubes. WTF?! It doesn’t take a genius to notice that this Jay guy seemed to NOT know what he has done and he can’t seem to fix it.  What an incompetent nurse! He said that he will call another nurse to do the job. Well, in the first place, nothing was wrong when he came in and the moment he messed with the IVs, this happened. I wanted to run to Rachel but he said he will be the one to do it. I waited for 10 minutes, pacing back and forth the room. I was so restless. All the IVs stopped flowing and I remember Rachel telling me that that’s bad coz it will make the blood clot. Oh crap! After 10 mins, I couldn’t wait any longer so I called the nurses’ station. No one was answering. To think their brochure said  on page 5 that  “ Private Duty Nurse (PDN) provides personal, one-to-one service by carefully screened and trained nurse who can offer general care to clients both in the home and hospital setting, seven days a week and 24 hours a day. “ So I rushed to their station and found Jay. I asked him again and he said that Rachel is just with another patient. So I  went back to our room. After about 5 mins, she came back and checked the IVs. I told her about what Jay did and she was not happy at all. I asked her for Jay’s last name but she doesn’t know it. She said she can ask but until now, I still don’t have that information. She’s probably just protecting her co-employee. Anyway,  I guarded Peter’s IV after that. As I type this, I am glancing at Peter’s IV more and more often. Naturally, I was a bit scared when I saw the IV of the antibiotic not dripping. In my panic, I again rushed to the nurses’ station. The station was almost empty. There was a doctor waiting for her own nurse. Then I saw Rachel talking to another doctor. After about 2 mins, I came up to her and told her about it. A few minutes later, she came to the room. It was my mistake. The antibiotic IV was no longer dripping coz it’s already empty. I was looking at the antibiotic IV bag and not the IV cylinder so I didn’t notice. I apologized for my mistake but she said it’s okay and she even thanked me for being so concerned. I find her really nice. She asked if someone already went in to clean up the mess. I said no one has cleaned it yet . She said that she’ll ask for someone to clean up the mess on the floor. But again, until now (10:20 am) no one has done the job yet.. And weren’t she supposed to administer the 2^nd antibiotic at 10AM? My, my…

Day 2, January 13, 2009

1.   At 12:30 AM, after 20 hours of wondering why Peter seems to be feeling a lot worse (he still couldn’t talk, he can’t eat his food nor drink his water, plus he was already having chest pains on the right side of his chest), his attending physician, Dr. Jaime Anthony Arzadon, paid him a visit. He looked outstanding in his “Armani suit”. Honestly, he really looked awesome and smart. He was very amiable, apologetic for not getting here sooner. He said nobody told him we were already here. He thought we were still in the ER section. I’m not sure if I believed that though coz Rachel, our nurse, told us that she already contacted Dr. Arzadon  numerous times. She actually thought he already visited Peter earlier. Oh well. It must be miscommunication.

2.   The doctor looked at Peter’s throat using a throat swab stick (I’m not sure if that’s how one calls it). Then he asked Peter to gargle with water. When Peter spit the water out in the sink, there was pus. After that, Peter can already talk and eat! Yay! Dr. Arzadon said that the antibiotics were working now. Since Peter has Acute Tonsillopharyngitis t/c Peritonsillar Abcess, co-amoxiclav (also known as augmentin) and clindamycin helped the abcess release its pus. If this were not the case, there would be two options for Peter to choose from: a.)throat aspiration (draining his throat of the pus using a needle injection) and b.) tonsillectomy (taking out the tonils via surgery). Both can be very painful and uncomfortable and I’m glad he wouldn’t have to resort to that. So thanks to Dr. Arzadon for diagnosing Peter’s illness correctly and giving him the right antibiotics. In my head, he’s like Dr. House. He doesn’t show his face much to his patient, but when he does, results are produced. So I guess I forgive him for not gracing us with his presence  earlier. ^_^ On the other hand, the doctor still recommends tonsillectomy for Peter in the future to make sure that he never gets tonsil infection ever again. Hmmmm…

    On the way to recovery… 

Day 3, January 14, 2009

1.   The last nurse who took care of Peter was a guy named Topher. He was much nicer than the other male nurses before. He made sure that all the billing papers will be processed before 11am so even if we stay until 2 pm,  we won’t be incurring any more expenses.  The only problem was,  he promised that Peter will still be provided with lunch.  Lunch is  usually delivered between 11:30- AM - 12:30 PM. But since it was our last day, we didn’t know that as soon as I paid for all  the medical bills, Peter’s name would already be  deleted in the  system.  I paid for the rest of the bills at 11:00 AM. We waited for Peter’s lunch until 1 PM. It was a bit of a hassle but now that I look at it, at least Topher did try to get Peter his lunch even if he wasn’t already included in their system by then.

Overall, it was an experience I didn’t want to go through again. Peter realized that it’s really about time for him to stop smoking and start living a healthier life. We should too. Let’s not wait for something like this to happen before we wake up from the reality that we are all vulnerable and we are not getting any younger. Positive thinking helps but being proactive helps more. Cheers to better health!