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Advice needed regarding antibiotics not given by hospital

Posted , 5 users are following.

kaydi
kaydi

Just over a week ago my partner was diagnosed with a severe water infection caused by his catheter and our GP prescribed Amoxicillin stressing how important it was he took them. He started the course but the following day our GP rang with his blood test result - he had almost total renal failure and was hospitalised the same day. He was rehydrated on a drip and discharged 6 days later but I was horrified when he told me he hadn't been given his Amoxicillin - he'd taken them with him along with other drugs he was on but they were taken off him and locked up. When he asked for them he was told he could only take tablets that were prescribed by the hospital. Unfortunately I was unable to visit him so knew nothing about it until he came home. I rang out GP who said the hospital must have put them in his drip and to check his discharge letter but there is no mention of any antibiotics at all. I found this strange as he was also on long term Trimephoprim. I counted his tablets and found he had been given the Trimethoprim and also his Omeprazole but not his Amlodipine or his Amoxicillin. On rechecking his discharge letter under Detailed changes to drugs since admission & reason it said his Amlodipine have been stopped and Bimatoprost issued as 300mcg/ml (these are his eye drops). No other drugs are mentioned, nor his other eye drops. Then I noticed he had brought two new boxes of tablets home, prescribed by the hospital. These are his Omeprazole and strangely his Amlodipine! 

   My partner did not seem much better when he came home and despite finishing his Amoxicillin yesterday has deteriorated further over the weekend, it burns when he pees and today he couldn't stop shivering. I rang our Drs surgery today and was asked to take a urine sample in which I did and it tested positive to infection. I then had to wait for the Dr to write a prescription and for it to be filled at the chemist, a total of almost 3 hours, leaving my partner on his own. He is so unwell he's not capable of doing anything for himself, he had his bowel removed in March due to a bowel obstruction and has a bag and I got home to find him in a right mess as it had leaked (again!) but at least I'd managed to get the antibiotics so it was worth it. 

    I feel very upset that he is suffering as a result of having a 6 day break in the Amoxicillin and feel this is a mistake that should not have happened.

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  • eric31962
    eric31962 kaydi

    Posted

    Dear Kaydi, Acute kidney injury (AKI) is sudden damage to the kidneys that causes them to stop working properly.

    It can range from minor loss of kidney function to complete kidney failure.

    AKI is common and normally happens as a complication of another serious illness. It is not the result of a physical blow to the kidneys, as the name may suggest.

    My legs became swollen and I went to the GP who had no idea, but because I had leg pain (DVT blood clots) prescribed Iprobufen. Got much worse, went to local hospital after a few weeks observation transfered me to a kidney unit . They found blood clots and kidney failure. I'd never been ill in my life before. Was pretty low having dialysis, almost a year ago, now. But I only had to have it for a few weeks and after a month they took me off.

    When I found this website I learned that there were people much worse off than me. Lovely to hear from you .

                                                  Regards, Eric x

  • kaydi
    kaydi

    Posted

    Don rang me today to tell me his reversal is booked for this coming Monday! He said he didn't realise it is a major op as they have to open him up but he has agreed to it as neither of us were coping with his stoma. He is so much better now but even so it does seem a bit soon but an unexpected opening has come up so he has to go for it. He's been through so much that I'm sure he'll sail through it and life will be so much easier without the stoma, for both of us. I'll post again to give updates on how he gets on.
  • eric31962
    eric31962 kaydi

    Posted

    Well............... sort of have an experience with this one ! My brother had one as a child. !!! My memories  are not happy ones! But that was in the dark ages, one would hope life will be easier 'today'. 

    Being 'back to normal' is going to be a difficult task for Don' as it's going to take patience and care on his part, but no doubt he can do it. 

    Any internal surgery obviously carries a risk of other complications and I'm sure you don't want to dwell on those issues. But at least there is nothing you, can do, at the moment the choices and actions are out of your hands. 

    Just hope for your peace of mind that it all goes well for you both.

                                                     Warmest regards, Eric 

    • kaydi
      kaydi eric31962

      Posted

      When you go to the forum it doesn't automatically go to page 2 and this is where the threads I couldn't find are hiding. I wondered if maybe you too couldn't find them?
  • lynne69494
    lynne69494 kaydi

    Posted

    That certainly is quick, but as you state he,s feeling much better, so should be more prepared to cope with it, and dont blame him for going for it, so all l can say is best of luck for his recovery and being able to return home soon.  Hope your able to have a good weekend of r and r, be a long day for you Monday.  bes wishes
    • kaydi
      kaydi lynne69494

      Posted

      When you go to the forum it doesn't automatically go on to page 2, this is where the threads I couldn't find are hiding. I wondered if you too couldn't find them?
    • lynne69494
      lynne69494 kaydi

      Posted

      l never think to look on next page, but seen your messages now, glad to hear your husband is doing well, big op for a man his age, so he,s done well, doesnt suprise the docs forgot or didnt get round to blood tests, nothing suprises. l didnt really understand what you said theyd done, re sewing the remaining bowel together, so does he still need colostomy bag, and will the op stop him having kidney probs.  At least he,s well, so do you know when he,s coming home yet.  It must be steaming being in hospital in this humidity, l,m sapped tonight, but drinking plenty of spring water, and tea. though not complaining, as l hate the cold, and we get so little warmth, its nice just to be able to put light clothes on, but it certainly shatters, fit for nothing today, lazy day, luckily l,d an energy day yesterday, had a good house clean, and washed. l bet its draining going to visit the hospital in this heat. Lets hope he gets decent after care when he gets home. Let us know when he,s home and take it easy.
  • kaydi
    kaydi

    Posted

    I knew Don was going to theatre early this morning so I kept myself busy spring cleaning so the day went quicker. Got a call at 3.45 from an intensive care nurse that he asked to ring me and he's come through it really well and is in good spirits - phew what a relief. Yesterday while I was visiting him the surgeons under study came to see him and I asked how they can do the reversal as i'd been told his whole bowel had been removed and he said most of was removed but they will sew the ends back together. Mystery solved. I'm now hoping he will be able to put all this behind him and begin enjoying life again once he recovers. 

       While cleaning earlier I came across one of his discharge letters from when he was in in April. I don't think I had read it before but it said he needed another blood test in a weeks time just like the one I did read. I checked my diary and was pleased that he did have that blood test but then I saw it said under Additional Infirmation for GP, This patient became quite dehydrated prior to admission - please could you monitor his U+Es. Again checking my diary I found he had no other blood tests in the weeks following until he became really ill with dehydration again! This was when the GP talked him into going in hospital by telling him he had almost complete renal failure. Maybe that GP could have prevented it that time and again the next time if he'd done as he'd been asked and monitored his blood! 

       Yes I feel angry but I know I have to let it go as its done and can't be undone but I'm tempted to give the GP a piece of my mind. Trouble is he is also my GP and it may do more harm than good.

  • kaydi
    kaydi

    Posted

    I just wrote out a long post, clicked reply but the post is not here! So I'll write it again - a nurse from intensive care rang me at 3.45pm to say Don asked her to let me know the operation went well, he was awake and alert and in good spirits. Phew what a relief! While I was visiting him yesterday the surgeons understudy came to see him and I asked how they can do a reversal as I'd been told his whole bowel had been removed. He said most of his bowel had been removed but they will still be able to join the ends together. It's amazing what they can do with the human body so it still works! 

        Earlier today I came across Don's discharge letter from April. Same as the later one it asked for another blood test a week later and I checked my diary and was pleased that he did have that one. But it also says under Additional Information for GP - This patient became quite dehydrated prior to admission - please could you monitor his U+Es. Again checking through my diary I found this was not done! The next blood test he had was after he got really ill again with dehydration! This was when the GP told him if he doesn't go into hospital he'd die as he had almost complete renal failure. Little did I know at the time that the GP could may have well prevented it! I wish I'd read that discharge letter at the time but Don had filed it away so I hadn't seen it.

       Yes I feel angry and tempted to give the GP a piece of my mind, problem is he is also my GP and it may do more harm than good! 

    • kaydi
      kaydi

      Posted

      I can't believe it - I just wrote it again for nothing as the post is there now!!!
  • kaydi
    kaydi

    Posted

    I can't make sense of this - Don had his reversal op yesterday and I posted to say how he's doing but the post wasn't here so I wrote another one only to find the first one was then here so there was then two. I then wrote a short post explaining and all three posts were here but today none are here! 

        

     

  • eric31962
    eric31962 kaydi

    Posted

    Dear Kaydi,

                       This has been a huge post,(41 replies) so there are two pages. There are tools at the bottom of each page to access both pages.

    It's lovely to see this working out, compared to your original posts, I really hope you feel a little brighter?. Spent a couple of days on the coast where it has been much cooler.

                                    Regards,   Eric

  • kaydi
    kaydi

    Posted

    An update on Don - he was doing really well, said he felt on top of the world yesterday but he had a scan today which revealed fluid had formed and they needed to do an emergency exploratory op to discover what was causing it. Depending on the results they said they may have to reattach the stoma. My heart sunk as it would mean the other op was for nothing and he would then have the stoma for life. Neither of us found it easy coping with it as the bags leaked all the time and I prayed they wouldn't have to reattach it. Just got a call from his son and my prayers were answered as they didn't need to. Not got all the details yet but he's come through the op and is fine. Good news eh? 
  • eric31962
    eric31962 kaydi

    Posted

    It's going to be an uphill struggle sometimes, but if you look at your original postings one can see how far you have come and how positive you are about the situation now.

                                     Regards, Eric F.

  • kaydi
    kaydi

    Posted

    Hi Lynne, Eric, 

    Don came home today but as I feared it is far too early as his muscles have wasted and he is not mobile yet. I was only in the garden for a few minutes but when I came indoors he was shouting me - he'd managed to get from his chair to the loo but was unable to lift himself off the loo! I went to ask a couple of neighbours to help him and they got him up but his legs wouldn't hold him. I ran to get his commode for him to sit it (it has wheels) but by then he'd slid down to the floor. The neighbour used to work as a carer but has a back injury (which I was unaware of) and she knew there was nothing else they could do so she rang 999. Both Don and I thought he'd be taken back to hospital but it wasn't to be. On his discharge letter it says he is unsafe to be discharged with regards his mobility and activities of daily living. It was because of this that they wouldn't re admit him, my neighbour told me afterwards. The letter also said he'd refused support at home, intermediate care and all services offered! But when I asked him about this he said he couldn't remember refusing. Anyway the paramedics gave him a thorough check and arranged for the support at home to be put back in place but nothing was said about him being readmitted. After talking to my neighbour I realized he's burnt his bridges in regards to going back in hospital! I'm now waiting for him to transfer from his chair to our two seater sofa which is his bed tonight as he cannot climb the stairs! I'm looking to buy a sofa bed but this will take time. I was looking at second hand stairlifts until the hospital said he'd be at risk of falling down the stairs when he got out at top. But Don is now ignoring the warning and is determined to have one! I feel completely drained and just want this day to end. 

    Will post again with any new developments.

    • lynne69494
      lynne69494 kaydi

      Posted

      Hi, Sorry its not a better outcome, guessed it wouldnt be easy due to his age and health probs, and you,d need support, but didnt think it would be so bad.  Bizarre that they say he was discharged and classed as unsafe and wont readmit him due to that, but nothing suprises, seems to me there are more people needed for the different services, due to many with poorer health or social problems, could aslo say same for police services, all more need when services are being cut. l guess bringing paramedics at least got support services reinstated, they should be able to advice on stair lifts, sofa beds, l,m sure theyre able to fetch hospital beds for some, guess it will depend on how long its needed, re his recovery.  l think they could maybe have stair lifts that go just beyond the stair top with safety gate, but not sure.  But you need help asap, as does he, no way one woman can manage to lift or carry a man to and from toilet, or pick up if they fall.  Do they expect his mobility to improve, do they know, or how long it will take.  Just hope you get help soon.  Take care
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