Monthly Update Pt. 2

I have about 40 minutes before i leave to give a big presentation to a major client on an application I have been working on for 3 months. I'm more than a bit nervous, especially since their installed version doesnt seem to be working so i might end up doing this demo off my laptop. Anyway i figured id post part 2 in order to distract myself from that.

This part is going to be tricky because it is mostly about a friend and deals with medical issues so I'm going to do my best not to reveal their identity in any way. That said, if you know who I am talking about you probably already knew this story and I'm not saying anything new. If you don't know don't ask, I won't tell, just enjoy the ridiculousness of this all.

So the weekend after we went to Toledo Amanda and I attended a wedding for the sister of a friend of ours. It was a nice ceremony and our friend gave a nice toast to the couple. I was Amanda's DD so i spent the night mostly sober but the rest of the crowd had a fun time with beer, wine, and amanda's mystery concoction.

You see the night after the rehersal dinner a few people in the wedding came to our apartment and Amanda mixed them a few drinks. Blended lemonaide with vodka and ice with a bit of fruit punch Kool Aid. Delicious. I had 3. The mother of the bride requested that amanda bring the supplies to make these to the reception as there was only beer and wine there. So of course i get to be the idiot carting in a cooler to a wedding reception (thanks babe) and getting stared at. Then halfway through the reception she breaks it open and starts mixing drinks (without the blender) on the table only to get more stares. Fortunatley when all was said and done everyone loved it and it became a bit of a badge of honor for her to see how many people were carrying the cups she brought.

Also during this time our friend had a few glasses of wine and a couple of Amanda's drinks. At the end of the night this person was a little drunk but not that bad. I mean let's be honest people I went to UD i know what drunk people look like and I would describe our friend as a tad bit beyond Tipsy. We left and our friend was driven to the hotel. We heard third hand that while at the hotel they were jumping on the bed, fell and hit their head. Then went to sleep. Here's where the scary stuff starts.

In the morning no one could wake our friend up. They had to take our friend to Hillcrest hospital where this person finally awoke at about 11AM. That wouldnt be much, Kooz knows that sometimes waknig me up is impossible, but there was no reaction from our friend. No gag reflex, strained breathnig, no sensitivity to pain, nothing. Completley and totally unresponsive. At around noon hillcrest released this person only for them to go home, fall asleep and later in the night not wake up again. An ambulance was called and our friend was taken to Lake West Hospital. (btw at this point i feel like a mobster with all the "our friends" and "this persons")

So after an anxious night in the ER and a transfer to the Surgical ICU (i think the normal ICU was out of beds, no surgery was planned), eventually this person woke up again. The hospital kept them for observation for a day and eventually released them. Only to have the whole thing happen again this time they returned to Hillcrest.

It's been a couple weeks now and we still don't know what was wrong. Eventually the blackouts stopped but with no diagnosis or treatment besides being in the hospital 3 days.

Now the important part of relating this store is the "quality" of care our friend receieved. First off when they were taken to Hillcrest the nurses and doctors spent all their time focusing on the fact that this person had been drinking the night before. They came in with a BAC of about .12 which, while over the legal limit, is hardly blackout drunk. However giving the doctors the benifit of the doubt they had little more to go on. At that point no one knew this person had hit their head or anything so occum's razor applies.

Lake hospital system is where everything goes down hill. To be susinct, if you are in danger of your life to drive the extra 3 miles to euclid or hillcrest i still recommend you do it. You're probably better putting your faith in whatever diety you may believe in to get you to a quality hospital than to put your faith in to the abilities of the ER of Lake West hospital. Our friend came in via ambulance and eventually moved to the ICU. The doctors there showed no professionalism, labeling our friend as a drunk and failing to see the "slammed head into wall" symptom even when it was presented to them. This person spent hours in the ER, eventually going on a venelator and it took them hours to do tests or get results. Finally when transfrered to the ICU an entire day was spent (over 8 hours) waiting for a routine x-ray. When our friend complained of a headache (you'd think that might be important for someone suffering from a head injury) the nurses not only spent hours before getting simple pain meds (we are talking advil here people not he good stuff) they failed to contact the neurologist who was involved in the case. Eventually our friend was released when the doctors found nothing only to relapse again. This time they were taken to a cleveland clinic hospital.

It may sound like im exhaggerating but overall the experience was horrible for our friend, their family and many a complaint has been filed. So avoid Lake Hospital System if possible, stick with the clinic in cleveland.