CHECK ONCE, CHECK TWICE, AND THEN CHECK AGAIN ANOTHER COUPLE OF TIMES

 A word on always check what others do.  

My mom is her 90s.  Today we took her to the doctor's office for surgery to remove a cancer.  

Mom has 2 cancers.  There was a big one on her forearm and a small one on her cheek.  Per our conversation with the office before I had expected that the larger one on her arm was going to removed today.  When I called and made the appointment I was told that no, this was to remove the small on her check and to consult with the doctor about if the same sort of surgery would be used to removed the larger one or if a different sort of surgery was needed.  

Mom is in a wheelchair and has trouble “transferring” from it to most alternative seating unless they are about the same height.  

Being a nervous person who likes to be prepared I had called the office last week and asked a number of questions and was told that no, this was to remove the small on her cheek and to consult with the doctor about if the same sort of surgery would be used to removed the larger one or if a different sort of surgery was needed.  So going in I now expected them to remove the cancer on her cheek (which is the one which concerns her more as people can easily see it.   At the same time I explained that mom has a lot of trouble transferring from her wheelchair to other seats, especially if they are higher than the wheelchair.   I have been terribly nervous and not doing well at all – not from mom having cancer – but from how this was all going to go.  My sister, who is mom's primary caretaker arranged for an ambulette and  an aide from mom's nursing home to come with her and help us.  This was a great help as it cut about an hour each way of travel as mom live half an hour further from us than the doctor is – so it was an extra half hour to her and then back again to the doctor (reversed on way home).  

When I went into the procedure room with mom apparently no one knew that they “could do the procedure with her in her wheelchair”.  It was finally worked out to do so.  Then the doctor started on her arm – which actually had made sense to me as it was the much larger of the two.  I questioned this and he said it was better to do it first – I agreed – but said that then I should not have been told the opposite.  Two things I did not expect – but yet, that is how crazy things are now.

The last time mom went in for the procedure her aide went with her instead of me.  I had thought there would be another session after wards.  The aide was handed the paperwork with the instructions for care and followup.  Since she needed it for the nursing home to follow, my husband took a good photo of it so we would have it for our records.  When we got home I sent the file to my sisters with my info about what went on.  Later in the evening husband printed out the paperwork for me to file in my records for mom.  He noticed errors.  “Did your mom have a something removed from her nose?”  No – her arm and the other cancer is on her cheek!  Someone else's name had been written on the form, crossed out and mom's info put in.  The appointment listed was for a different time.  Unknown phone number on the form as her phone number.  What!!!?  Just when my stomach was no longer feeling nervous...

I emailed my sisters again and told them all this.  Tomorrow we have to run some errands and now I have to call the doctor's office on Friday to find out what is going on – and then call mom's nursing home to let them about the errors and the resolution with the doctor.

Similarly, but less life threatening – a friend paid off their car lease.  A month later they received a past due notice and they have not been able to correct this matter.  

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

Check, double check and triple check – and then have someone else check – any important papers you receive and are filing away.  Don't trust someone else to have filled them in properly.