Bottom line, I had a blood clot form in my leg, possibly from a long airline flight.  I was put on IV blood thinnners in the ICU and will now take anti coagulant pills for three to six months.  Case closed.  I hope to resume the first ‘leg’ of my Argentina trip next week.  See what I did there? Leg?

The nurses at St. Joseph’s in Tampa were caring, professional and kind. But  after spending three days and nights confined to a hospital bed, I’m convinced our medical needs an overhaul.  The labyrinthine and disconnected lines of communication would give Kafka the creeps.

I won’t go into details here, but one of my key physicians was completely out of touch for two full days as I lay in a hospital bed. No checks, no updates, no questions, no answers. I called his office from my room asking for a call back. Nothing. (I should note, other doctors were very attentive.

Generally, communication goes in one directi0n.. always AT the patient.  The essential problem in my case seemed to be multiple doctors, and multiple departments failing to communicate with each other- none of them fully responsible for your care.  For me, it resulted in irritation and frustration. I’m a pushy reporter so I can irritate them back.   But I’d hate to be wheeled into that same system with a more serious condition that prevented me from being the squeaky wheel.

I’ve drawn a lot of flack for  criticizing healthcare in the past.  Doctors will blame  the cumbersome insurance bureaucracy, non-compliant  and uneducated patients and, of course- Obama. I’ll acknowledge we have the best medicine in the world in some aspects, but it many ways, we don’t. I’m just saying, lots of cumbersome and just plain silly practices need to go- starting with hospital gowns.  They’re not gowns. They’re large hankerchiefs and they make patients looks like deranged flashers. And I have haven’t even got my bill yet!