need to vent!!

[peanut]

i am really pissed and sad about this. 6 months ago my best friend was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer which eventually spread to her brain. doctors gave her 1 to 5 years. she was doing great except for battling with a few infections here and there and her incompitent oncologist kept putting her on and off antibiotics for months.
so one night when she was home she started having severe diarreha and started slurring words. turns out she became so dehydrated from all the diarreha and when she got to the hospital they checked her stool and sure enough she had cdiff. so they hydrated her with iv fluids and of course iv vanco. but heres what really pisses me off..why wouldnt a doctor give a stage 4 cancer patient some kind of immune/probiotic support with all those antibiotics, and the real kicker here is the whole time in the hospital (1 week) they did not feed her anything,not even attempt to give her iv foods/supplements or immunoglobulins to at least help restore what the cdiff and antibiotics were doing to her.
well, she died in the hospital that week and it wasnt the cancer that killed her. it was cdiff and the incompitence of the hospital doctors and staff on how to properly treat this illness, especially in a cancer patient. my god...what has happened to the people in this world.

[maryinflorida]

peanut,

Sorry about your friend. I would be really pissed too.

Most people assume doctors know everything but they don't. We have to work with them but should always question what they are ordering and get a second (3rd and 4th!) opinion when it is something important. During my CDiff experience it became very clear that my ID doctor knew more about this problem than my GP, my GI, and even my surgeon. Having an advocate to speak for you when you can't is also very important, since some of these meds do a number on your brain. During my most recent stay at a hospital, I was very disappointed to realize that most nurses and other attendants didn't know the antibacterial gels in the dispensers in every room do not kill CDiff or MERSA, found it hilarious that my husband went around spraying everything with a bleach solution, and could not provide any yogurt no matter how many times I ask for it. It is depressing and scary! Just make sure the next time a love one or yourself end up in a hospital there is someone there for them improving the odds they will survive their stay, and make that as short as possible.

[sks001]

Dear Peanut,

So very sorry to hear about your friend's death. How old was she? I'm a bit surprised that her diagnosis was 1 to 5 years - stage 4 lung cancer is bad enough without being metastised to the brain.

I would be t'eed off also with her incompetent treatment for the C-Diff. With her immune system already so compromised, I'm shocked that they didn't give her oral vanco along with any antibiotics to try to prevent the C-Diff which is very common in cancer patients.

Mary is so correct that you need a family member or some type of advocate to oversee your treatment and, if needed, take matters in your own hands. I know that from personal experience, as I have no family and was terrified when hospitalized with C-Diff as had never heard of it before and didn't know what questions to ask and didn't have the knowledge I have now from what I've learned from this wonderful site.

Have you thought about contacting your local TV station to see if they will do an informative story about your friend?

[cindym]

I watched both my parents die with cancer and I hate to think what would have happened to them had I not been there to oversee their care. It is amazing how lax treatment becomes when it is obvious of impending death. I THANK GOD I was able to make their final days as easy as I could while making lots of nurses and doctors MAD in the process. My only hope is that when or if it happens to me someone will be there.