Last month we were leaving for vacation. Four hours down the road, Ken’s heart goes into V-Tac and stops. I started to go hysterical because we were out in the middle of nowhere and had an hour yet to drive to get to the city and hospital. Thankfully his AICD shocked his heart and got it started again.
My sister looked after Ken and I took over driving straight to emergency. In order for them to know what was happening, what his condition is and what medication he is on, I pulled out of his wallet a sheet of paper that I typed up which has his complete medical history, procedures and medication. Let me tell you why I have this and carry it with us everywhere.
We used to live in an isolated community in Hay River Northwest Territories. By the time Ken had his second heart attack, they had to call for a plane and medivac him to the nearest center which is 500 miles south. He was not stable and it was made clear to me he may not survive the flight. By the time he got to Edmonton, I was still in Hay River waiting to catch the scheduled flight, family was not allowed to accompany patients on medivacs. Fortunately they were able to reach me before leaving, as he was unconscious and they needed permission to start a medical procedure. That was one instance, the beginning of many many more.
After several other heart events and Ken being medivaced out to Edmonton, the cardiologists would ask me for the details on dates of his first heart attack, his second heart attack, when was his surgery, what medication was he on, when was a drug stopped or another started?
I couldn’t understand why they were asking me, because every time he was admitted, copious notes were studiously taken and recorded in his 3-inch-thick-and-growing file. So I didn’t see why I had to retain all this information. Wrong. I soon learned that those notes seemed to go onto a one-way escalator into a computer incinerator never to be seen again.
So that is the day I started taking notes, my own records. I retrieved from my memory, as best I could, everything that had happened and the dates. From then on I took notes at each visit.
I even noted what things the medical staff recommended. We soon learned that no one is looking after his health, no one is following up. You have to take the matter of your health into your own hands and do not assume your doctor is following up.
If you are waiting to get the results of a test, do NOT assume “no news is good news.” I have a friend who assumed that, but her lab reports were erroneously filed and here she had cancer.
If you or someone you love was faced with a medical emergency, would you be able to answer questions regarding your or their history? Don’t wait until an emergency happens, get prepared now.
Trust me, in the event of an emergency, you may be having a panic attack and cannot think straight. The information the medical team needs is LIFE SAVING. Sometimes the time factor is critical, they do not have time to sort through huge files for the information they need, they do not readily have access to the files, or perhaps those files are located in a different city or even country. So carrying and being able to produce this information is paramount. It saved Ken many times over.