Mistakes like this should happen to none of us

[beth22]

As some of you know I relapsed big time with c diff this past weekend. I already was feeling kind of bad on Sat, the 18th, so I brought in a stool sample to the hospital lab. By next morning I had been sick all night with fever, severe diarrhea, etc. and went to the ER. They gave me some IV fluids and the condescending doctor told me that "we don't admit people to the hospital just for D*" even though she had my history in front of her. I told her I coudn't even keep water in without running to the bathroom and she just said one day wasn't that bad - to talk to my doctor the next day. My doctor was out of town and someone was covering for him who really doesn't know me and listened to the ER doc and wouldn't admit me either. They took more stool samples and sent me on my way.

Later in the afternoon I called the microbiology dept. at the hospital myself to ask if the test from the previous day was ready and they told me it was. THey wouldn't give me the results, but said that if it is positive they call the doctor. Just to be safe I left the number on the doctor's message and spoke to him later. He said he had checked and was told that it was negative for c diff. Well, he either didn't check or they told him the wrong information, because now I have a copy of the report and it was positive the whole time and worst of all the final result was that Sunday afternoon when I had been to the ER in the morning and kept running 40+ times. Had someone done their job right I could have started vanco immediately and saved myself a lot of suffering, pain, weight loss (lost 5 lbs) and never would have gotten to the point of just passing blood.

I have a call in to my regular doctor to tell him what happened. Maybe he can ask the doc who covered from him if he really did call or was just trying to put me off. He told me that c diff doesn't hit that quickly and that I probably had the flu and to drink Coke. Or the other possibilty is that the lab made a mistake or told him the wrong thing. I had a call from a doctor from the lab yesterday - 4 days after my ER visit wanting to make sure someone had given me the results of the positive c diff test. I didn't think anything of it, except that 4 days later is a little too late, but maybe there was a glitch, one that really cost me dearly.

So, I guess we all have to be our own advocates. My husband is going to pursue this with the hospital administrators if it turns out to be the lab's doing. Just make sure to always follow up on things as I have seen that few people take c diff seriously.

Beth

[sangeeta]

This kind of thing should never happen! I am still mad at the doctors who treated me for typhoid without testing and probably gave me cdiff. I am sorry Beth you had to suffer so much, you should take this up and find out where the lapse was.

[cindym]

Unfortunately it seems a lot of things never even make it to our doctors until we make them aware of them. If what just happened to you had happened to me.......I would be dead. I go from all faucets open (if you know what I mean) to deaths door within 4-5 hours. This is the reason my doctors all now take me seriously and have my charts marked appropriately to get in contact with them Immediately if I call. Geez, I wish all health professionals had to experience the wrath of this disease if only but for a month!