Then at about 3 am plans suddenly changed. My wife woke up with terrible chills and shakes. It took several hours for her to stop shaking. Her temperature was in the 100 range and she felt cold and miserable. I canceled our reservations only to find that we would now be charged for a day's fees. After four calls I finally found a person who was willing to waive these fees because we had stayed there often before.
My wife did not get any better as the day went on, although her fever did not go higher. Because she continued to shake so badly, I finally called the doctor from our practice who was on call. Doctor A did not know my wife and suggested that we either go to the emergency room or wait and come for an office visit on Monday morning. My wife chose the Monday visit.
So on Monday morning we saw Doctor B, her regular doctor. He ran some tests and felt something might be wrong in her abdomen, so he ordered urine tests, blood tests and a catscan. He was unable to give her anything for her fever and shakes except for more tylenol. That afternoon the tests results were back and he reported that they were fine except for a few unusual blood tests results. She did have kidney stones and a gall bladder stone but they weren't causing the problem.
The shakes, the fever and the night sweats continued ond on Tuesday afternoon she was seen by Doctor C. He, too, didn't know what the problem was so he ordered a chest x-ray to be sure that she didn't have pneumonia. As we expected, that too was clear and the shakes and fever went on.
Then I recontacted Doctor B and asked about the blood test problems. He reconsidered and said that it could be something involving her gall bladder or something else in her abdomen, so he recommended contacting her gastro specialist, Doctor D. But since Doctor D is now in administration and only in one day a week, he said that he could see her in a week but thought that she should be seen sooner. His nurse set up an appointment with Doctor E on Thursday afternoon. After meeting with him, Doctor E recommended that she go right to LGH and be admitted to have more tests done. There she met Doctor F who listened and didn't feel that she needed these additional scans but he ordered more blood tests. And now the night sweats were getting worse.
We also found out that when there isn't a specific diagnosis, a patient must be entered for observation and not be fully admitted to the hospital for 24-48 hours. That means that Medicare A won't pay the hospital bills. Medicare B will pay some of the costs but with numerous co-pays and they won't pay for any meds that are given during that time. So we have no idea what our final bill will be.
Anyway, back to the ill patient. The next morning she met Doctor G who told her that she looked good and might be sent home. He didn't really even ask how she felt or give her the blood test results. That really upset her. He did order another chest x-ray which was again negative. So all day on Friday all she did was lay in bed - without even an IV. Hardly anybody even came in to check on her and nothing was reported about her test results. It was like they forgot all about her. Around supper time an infectious disease doctor, Doctor H, came and asked the same questions once again. He ordered more tests. The nurse then came and said she was being kept for a second night.
On Saturday morning she met another infectious disease doctor, Doctor I, who did tell her about some of her test results and said that they think it might be a viral infection. A few minutes later Doctor J showed up. He at least sat down on the bed and talked to both of us. He admitted that the tests showed that she had a definite infection but they didn't know what it was. The shakes had now disappeared but the low grade temp and the bad night sweats continued. However, he felt that she should go home. And that afternoon she did.
On Monday morning her test results finally showed up on the LGH portal. I printed them out and was very concerned about two of them in particular, especially one that was really out of whack and could indicate an infection of her heart valve. So we went to see my family doctor, Doctor K. Are you counting? He went over all the results with us and was also concerned about the one test result. So he ordered an echocardiogram and, praise the Lord, we were able to get it done within an hour. That was amazing. And that afternoon he called us to tell us that the test was also normal. He thinks the spikes in her test results will soon return to normal and they will do more tests in a few weeks to be sure. He also now thinks that it might be a wicked viral infection and with her normally weak immune system it has thrown her for a loop.
As I write this, the fevers have finally moderated, the shakes and chills are gone, but the night sweats continue and now she has a cough. And, as has been the case all week, all she is taking is tylenol. This afternoon she will keep her appointment with her gastro specialist, Doctor D. And he is her favorite doctor and will certainly evaluate everything carefully.
So will she be billed by all eleven doctors who have seen her? Probably. Will we get hit by a large bill for her 48 hours of "observation" time in the hospital? Probably, but we still don't really know what might be covered. Will she be billed excessive costs for meds that were administered, even though she had her own which they wouldn't allow her to use? Definitely.
But will she get better? Hopefully and I believe she is now on her way to that. And that is really the only thing that is important. But it has been quite an experience. And, unfortunately, it is not an April Fool's Day joke. I wish that it were, because I have just been too busy this year to come up with my annual prank - the end of a fun tradition.
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