Dear Ginger -
My husband's DaVita dialysis trainer was great although we've had difficulty with DaVita's system for sharing medical information. I definitely feel that the home peritoneal dialysis was the way to go for us and glad that I kept asking questions. Recently, however, he's had a major, emergency cardiac event and at a minimum will need another stent (they put in two more) and a pacemaker. I was an elderlaw attorney and was the guardian/attorney for many people during my career; I usually know how to get through the system and what questions to ask. This go round, I had a terrible time. Initially, he went in with shortness of breath and an impending feeling of gloom; once in ER, he started to have chest pains. Even though nitrogylcerin relieved his symptoms twice, all of his tests, troponin level, etc. came back normal and they were talking about sending him home. I've seen this before where people's tests are okay only to have a heart attack shortly after. I felt they needed to do a catheterization. I asked to talk to the cardiologist and they said he didn't do that, he was at home, etc. I said I didn't care and if he wasn't available, I needed to speak with the hospital administrator. They did the catheterization and found 4 blockages...one so bad they might decide to leave it alone. The moral of the story is to tell the staff you're an attorney (whether you are or not) and that you're very, very unhappy with the way things are going. It doesn't matter if you're at attorney or not, they won't ask you for your bar card or some boring legal question. I'm kidding but dropping the phrase "lawsuit" is good too. It's obnoxious - but it works - and it's also obnoxious that you have to go to these lengths to get needed care.

Even with my background, I didn't realize how difficult to get him transferred to the best local heart hospital (St. Luke's in Milwaukee). Apparently there is an agreement between the two hospitals that if the proposed sending hospital CAN do the needed procedure, the proposed receiving hospital won't admit him. Of course that doesn't mean the current hospital will do it as well. If he goes directly into St. Luke's, that's a different matter. Our 911 folks won't go that far so now he's home and we're trying to get him linked up with a St. Luke's cardiologist. All in all - it's been pretty much of a nightmare but the dialysis is going well! A long response but maybe someone else will face the same situation. Thank you so much for asking - it means a lot to me to have this support. Vicki