Bear Claw, Part 2
Three or four hours after being released from Century City Doctors Hospital early Saturday afternoon, the swollen bear-claw hand and the red interstate highway streaks on my left arm had returned. My resources drained by my 16 hours at CCDC, I had no choice but to check into the UCLA Olive View County hospital in Sylmar. I stayed there Saturday night and all-day Sunday and am leaving today. And I think things really are cured now. My hand was actually operated on yesterday and the infection has been removed and I've been told I'm over the hump.
Intravenous antibiotics administered for 16 hours at CCDH on Friday and Saturday morning had merely suppressed the infection for appearance's sake. The chumps at CCDH didn't want to actually attend to the swollen, senstive-to-touch, pus-filled wound on my left palm (they were afraid of something going badly -- private medicine procedure today is all about fear of possible malpractice lawsuits ), and by 5 pm Saturday I realized I had to go back into another hospital for Round 2.
I'd been told by a doctor at a Beverly Hills walk-in clinic a couple of days earlier that Olive View was "nicer than USC County", so I drove up the 405 and onto 5 and into Sylmar -- right up against the mountains in the northernmost area of the San Fernando Valley. I eventually found the hospital and was admitted to the Olive View emergency room by 8:30 pm.
Right away I knew I was dealing with very smart, ultra-focused doctors and nurses -- professionals of a much higher order than the ones I encountered at CCDH. The Olive View doctors and nurses are straight off ER and St. Elsewhere and other TV shows of that type, by which I mean they seemed to say and do the right professional thing at all times.
A friendly, youngish, no-b.s. ER doctor named Bloomfield anesthetized, lanced and excavated the wound, and I was given more doses fo antibiotics Saturday night and all day Sunday. Another doctor and a small team performed a 15-minute operation late Saturday afternoon (I was put to sleep with a general anesthetic), and staffers gave me all kinds of pain medication and more antibiotic drips after I got out.
So I'm out of here this morning, and thank goodness for the stirring George Clooney goodness of the doctors at Olive View. Bloomfield is going to be featured on an upcoming epsode of some Discovery channel show about unusual medical experiences, or something like that. (I'll pass along the details later.)
Do not ever go to Century City Doctors Hospital for anything, including directions. All they do is sedate and placate and get as much money as they can from you. I wouldn't exactly call them a disgrace to their profession, but they're contenders for that distinction. What they did for me on Friday was equivalent to a guy going to a hospital with a broken leg and the doctors saying, "Well, we're not too sure we want to get into the leg part, but here's some pain medication and we'll send a therapist to your room so you can discuss your feelings."
I'm typing this from the Olive View hospital library. The only thing good about CCDC is that they have broadband computer hookups in each private room. But that aside, forget it. They even refused to give me a copy of my medical chart so I could give it to the Olive View people. Or rather, they said I could have a copy but I'd have to come back to the hospital and fill out a form and give them $23 dollars, and then they'd fax it to me within 2 to 10 business days. I was told this by a bitchy senior nurse named Linda, who works on the 4th floor.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 21, 2006 at 8:37 AM
comment #1
mutinyco
says ...
First he thinks he's The Terminator and conducts X-Acto surgery on himself. Then he turns into Mr. Lazarescu. Then he's cured by Trapper John...
You might have a movie in all this, Jeff.
Posted by mutinyco
at August 21, 2006 9:45 AM
comment #2
corey3rd
says ...
You really need to get ahold of Michael Moore to be part of his upcoming film. Get well.
Posted by corey3rd
at August 21, 2006 9:55 AM
comment #3
Hallick
says ...
CCDH sounds like the hospital my mom just got out of ("sure, the MRI found a bad spot on her brain stem that's troubling - but we'd really like to waste 3 or 4 weeks getting her unrelated medications in order before we even think about sending her to a neurologist to find out what the "spot" is).
I'm glad you found a hospital that knows what it's THERE for, Jeff. And I hope the inconveniences are all a bad memory by the weekend.
Posted by Hallick
at August 21, 2006 9:55 AM
comment #4
Lisa
says ...
Wahey!!! Jeff's back!! We missed you.
Posted by Lisa
at August 21, 2006 10:27 AM
comment #5
Dan Revill
says ...
Good to see you're back!
Posted by Dan Revill
at August 21, 2006 10:28 AM
comment #6
tholl-yung
says ...
Really glad to see this whole dreadful experience hasn't dampened your tone. We will forgive the many transpositions fo letters as you type with you obviously bandaged and painful hand. Go easy on the painkillers and stop, just flat out stop everything for 15 minutes every hour - or else you'll need physical therapy on top of everything else. John Well's writing room, listen up. Stop flogging yourselves for another asinine story line, you got one right here. The Michael Moore suggestion is really good. It's so much worse than I ever could have imagined, thanks for sharing, reality in this case is stranger than fiction. Hope your friends are there for you.
Posted by tholl-yung
at August 21, 2006 10:32 AM
comment #7
Suki Jonze
says ...
Way to go, Jeff. For a second there I was wondering if this was in retaliation from MCN. They slipped ya a mickey, or an infected exacto-knife in this case, for criticizing MCN’s “butterscotch pudding on peyote†campaign with Little Miss Sunshine.
~ Suki Jonze
http://www.dvdnewsroom.com
Posted by Suki Jonze
at August 21, 2006 10:45 AM
comment #8
pauly
says ...
Jeff, not to be a ghoul, and I'm glad you're feeling better and back posting, but we need pics of the hand of death! C'mon, tell me you took some pics of it...if so, post em and gross us out.
I can't be the only one who wants to see the devil-hand pics.
Posted by pauly
at August 21, 2006 10:49 AM
comment #9
Todd
says ...
Jeff
Sorry to here about your mistreatment. Actually you do have a malpractice suit. Here's why. The first hospital should have done an I&D (incision and debridement of the wound) secondly you should have been placed on IV antibiotics fo at least three days then changed over to oral antibiotics such as Keflex. This is a standard treatment from what you have described. You were undertreated at the first hospital which is tantamount to malpractice since by undertreating your life was still in danger. I know what I speak of since I'm an RN.You should follow up on the inappropriate treatment you recieved at the first hospital so this does not happen to another individual. Also the first hospital is required to fax the treatment records to the second hospital within 24 hours with your signed authorization and the MD at the first hospital should have talked with the MD at the second hospital within a reasonble period of time (I've seen this done within 2-4 hours) about what treatment was done.
Posted by Todd
at August 21, 2006 10:54 AM
comment #10
Todd
says ...
I mean hear not here. oops
Posted by Todd
at August 21, 2006 10:55 AM
comment #11
L.B.
says ...
Damn, Jeff! What an ordeal. (And with at least a couple of descriptions that had me curled into a ball.) Glad you're feeling better now and that you found better doctors. Having been screwed over by second-rate hospitals before, I can sympathize. Not all medical licenses are equal. Take care of yourself, take it easy, and learn Photoshop. Or at least get rid of the dirtiest X-acto knife in the Western Hemi.
Posted by L.B.
at August 21, 2006 11:05 AM
comment #12
nemo
says ...
It was ominous and spooky when you went silent for a day and a half. Glad to hear you finally got medical help who were on top of things to clean out that wound.
I had a friend many years ago who took part in a summer house painting business. His business partner cheated him out of a substantial chunk of back pay just before leaving town. Some hot words were exchanged, and he punched the guy in the mouth. He knicked his knuckles on the cheater's teeth, and a few days later he went in the hospital with his punching hand looking like a grapefruit with fingers.
You were at serious risk, but it sounds like you're finally past it, not much help from the first hospital. My brother who died from a similar systemic infection last year probably would have made it if he had gone to a hospital a day or two earlier. He didn't have such clearly visible external signs of infection, and he was down with the flu at the same time, so he wrote off his suffering as part of the flu until it was too late.
He had a lot of other problems going that contributed: a tooth extraction few weeks earlier, which was probably the source of the infection after he used up the antibiotics; smoking; diabetes. These all worked together to bring on the systemic infection and the pneumonia. He downplayed it on the phone up to the last day (we live about 2,000 miles apart), and didn't have anyone responsible looking in on him.
This was a serious close call for you. Being aggressive about seeking prompt and proper care saved your life.
Posted by nemo
at August 21, 2006 1:26 PM
comment #13
Dixon Steele
says ...
Yep, when I first moved here in the 80s, I went to CC Hospital for a minor in-office procedure (don't ask). Lasted all of five minutes.
Did a decent job, but was outrageously over-charged.
Yeah, I know, hospitals are a business too.
But still...
Posted by Dixon Steele
at August 21, 2006 1:42 PM
comment #14
le corbeau
says ...
Glad you're better. Yes, one of the lessons of life is, if you live in a major city, go to the hospital that's nationally ranked for what you have. One of them will be, and there's no sense going anywhere else. Where do you think the best doctors in that area all decided they were going to work?
In the meantime, not to bring Death himself into this, but I went to Hot Doug's-- the coolest hot dog place in Chicago-- today and I thought people might be interested to see who the celebrity sausage is named for this week:
http://static.flickr.com/82/221374345_1d5ff609c5.jpg
Posted by le corbeau
at August 21, 2006 2:09 PM