Ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr just venting

[Freddie]

Ah, Zipper - no offense to Pamela, but you best let us all know when your appointment is. Sounds I best make that trip to N.B. real soon.

This is all good news to hear..........its about time!

 

[Lisa in Katy]

Doesn't the doctor have notes from your surgery? Here we would have two separate files - hospital and doctor - and they wouldn't be kept in the same place. Are you telling me that as recent as 2 years ago they didn't have the file in electronic format? Either on computer or at least on microfiche? Just sounds like incompetence and makes me wonder!

I'm sure there are places where universal health care is great, but when the government's screwed up, the whole system is. It sounds like you are caught in a whirlpool that will hopefully spit you out eventually and not suck you down!

 

[zipper2]

Lisa, Nothing we have found as of yet,no computer back-up
no nothing....the other alternative yet is the actual surgeon
who now only teaches to contact him and see if and what he has
if anything and if he has nothing....with all the surgeries he performed
likely wont remember 1 patients inpaticular the surgery
This sucks big time and did I think 16 years ago in my denial
make sure i get a copy.........nope i didn't just another one of
my black storms....i'm praying God throws a copy at us..from nowhere
i'm not sure,I did so much phoning and frustration myself today
all i got was a tremendous headache.

zipper2 (DEB)

 

[Freddie]

Lisa, hope your sitting down..............But in my doctors clinic and the pharmacy I go to are only NOW starting to use the electronic format..........well trying to get it up and running.

Oh and Zipper, I have my fingers and toes crossed for you.

 

[Bina]

Freddie and Zipper: You should consider moving to Ontario!
Living near Ottawa (home of Parliament Hill) sure does have it's benefits....

 

[Lisa in Katy]

Deb - Tell me again why it is important for them to have your old records? If you are having a problem now, why do they need to know what happened 16 years ago?

Bina - I agree. We had an exchange student from Ontario and I spent a month of my life in Stratford/Kitchener and heard mostly good things. The only complaints were about the wait times to see specialists. That was almost 30 years ago, but I would hope that it has gotten even better.

The lack of computerization scares me in today's world! I think about the recent tragedies that have caused buildings to me destroyed and shudder and what could be lost that's not in electronic format. Twenty years ago it might have been acceptable, but not anymore.

 

[zipper2]

Deb - Tell me again why it is important for them to have your old records? If you are having a problem now, why do they need to know what happened 16 years ago?

Bina - I agree. We had an exchange student from Ontario and I spent a month of my life in Stratford/Kitchener and heard mostly good things. The only complaints were about the wait times to see specialists. That was almost 30 years ago, but I would hope that it has gotten even better.

The lack of computerization scares me in today's world! I think about the recent tragedies that have caused buildings to me destroyed and shudder and what could be lost that's not in electronic format. Twenty years ago it might have been acceptable, but not anymore.

Lisa, I guess its like all that info tells them about my original
history and diagnosis and evrything they did to me 16 years ago.
But anyway EVERYONE we did find the files and they have been
faxed to Edmonton and I DO have 10 copies to never fail not
having a copy again and Edmonton is setting up for my catherization
and that is what will be done in Edmonton as soon as they get back
to me on a time very soon they said.
I'm so excited we are progressively moving with this


zipper2

 

[Freddie]

Hooray for you Zipper!
Its about time.
Special prayers that everything will now move swiftly for you.

 

[netmiff]

oh, Deb, that is the best news I've heard in a while ! I too wondered why they needed your old files so badly, I mean, it's not like it was recent, so much will have changed - with your body re scarring and all that, and with medical techniques etc.

hip hip hoooorrrrrrayyyyyy

 

[zipper2]

Thanks so much and i'm so excited to soon get it over with.
specially when i feel so rough,big difference from the way i had
accepted this 16 years ago to so yeah alot changes Netmiff.
and being on vr has helped sooooooo much and so many thanks to
Hank and Ross and (everyone) thats posted their personal experiences.
I will keep you all informed on a date for the cath and what after the
cath,sounds like surgery will take place fast also...

zipper2 (DEB)

 

[lance]

I had to read Bonzo's reply twice. *** has a very different meaning here, and I was wondering what Zip was doing with one in her mouth!

Lisa,
You are bad, bad bad.

 

[lance]

RossMan is right....become a nuisance. And do it calmly and politely for best results.

Be careful about that. "They" cause patients to be a nuisance and then blame them for being one.

 

[lance]

No waiting at all?

No waiting at all?

Heart surgery in Ontario and Quebec is very good, no waiting at all.

When did that happen? If true things have changed since 1999. It's good to learn they have.

 

[Bina]

When did that happen? If true things have changed since 1999. It's good to learn they have.

I'm speaking of the Ottawa and Montreal areas.
The non emergency testing can take several weeks to book.
It was much faster for me to be operated.....2 weeks.

 

[Adrienne]

Heart surgery in Ontario and Quebec is very good, no waiting at all.

The actual heart surgery may be very good in Quebec and Ontario, but all I can say is there definitely IS a wait in Quebec.

 

[lance]

Wait in Ontario?

Wait in Ontario?

The actual heart surgery may be very good in Quebec and Ontario, but all I can say is there definitely IS a wait in Quebec.

Hopefully things have changed since I had my surgery in 1999. Wait times, cancellations were the order of the day.

 

[Bina]

I should clarify that my surgery was in Montreal, Quebec.
Not at the Heart Institute, but at a major teaching hospital.
I had a meeting with the chief of CT surgery in April 2005 and he said "no rush".
Since I was in denial anyway, I wasted the whole summer trying to book an echo/stress test.
When I finally had it booked in August, a newer cardio looked at my echo and cancelled the test..."you can very likely die" she said.
I called the surgeon, saw him in September and we agreed to DO IT.
He had me back the next day for the angiogram, and he booked my OHS for 2 weeks later.
Then I was called in 2 days early. It worked out perfect for me.

 

[Freddie]

uhmmm, did you guys forget about me? I had no wait time.
Told on a Friday that I needed surgery. Phoned two days later on Monday to be put on the "on call list" and had surgery that same week on a Friday. Of course pre-op tests where done the day before.
Either I was in serious condition or I was special. I'd like to think I was special.......a special pain in thier butt.

 

[Bina]

Maybe it had something to do with your husband standing beside you with his cardiologist friend!! LOL

 

[Adrienne]

Bina, could it be that when you went back to the CT surgeon that he saw a note or something from the cardiologist that said you might die during the stress test and because of that, acted very quickly?

I will admit that when I went to the ER of the Heart Institute with A-Fib, they were ready to operate the next week. However, the surgeon I had already consulted with was going out of town. I had the choice of having another surgeon do the surgery the next week while I was already in the hospital or wait. I wanted to wait because I knew that my surgeon was an expert with valve repair. So, they cardioverted me and put me on all sorts of medication and said they would call three days before the day of surgery so I could get off the Coumadin. Since the surgeons at the Heart Institute never know their schedules until the beginning of each week (I don't know why it has to be that way), I kept waiting and waiting. Finally I had the surgery several weeks later.