Should you learn about your lab work? Important!

[Guest guest]

Most liver patient learn a little about their lab

work and what it means, after their transplant..

But, I truly believe they should start as soon as

possible and I will explain why.

How fast do you think the doctor office received a

copy of your lab tests result?

I have gone to the doctors already and the nurse has

come in and asked if I had lab work done and when I

told her I did, she had to call the lab to fax them

the results right then and there.

Who do you believe is looking at your lab tests results?

Everyone believes that the doctor sees every lab test

results he receives on you. No he doesn't.

Think about this. When they fax the lab tests results,

who receives it...first the secretary, then the nurse...

and if she sees something on there that doesn't look right,

then the doctor. I've been finding out that sometimes the

doctor doesn't even look at the results till moments before

he see the patient in his office.

[However, if you are on the transplant list, that will be

faxed to the person in charge of your placement on the list.

(so you don't have to worry about it) However, those on

the transplant list have to be sure that the lab they have

the work done at, knows that it could cost you if they do

not fax it right away or the transplant department doesn't

receive it....it is still your responsibility]

Now, I'm going to tell you what took place in our own

situation...so you can see the importance of being your

own first responder and doing all you can to become active

in your own care.

I received a call from the Nurse that was in charge of

my husbands placement on the transplant list. She told

me he was at the top of the list, a 40 MELD score. I

called the doctor office and I talked with the doctor

who was in charge of my husbands care. He had to have

more lab tests done that night, which I took him for it.

I asked the doctor to fax me the form to take to the lab.

Since she faxed it to me, my fax number was on that form.

By accident, the lab faxed me the results of the lab and

the doctor, also. The doctor had told me to call in by

a certain time that next morning. I happened to look at

my husbands lab tests result, having never seen one before

and noticed that I understood it...When I saw the level of

his Sodium...it had a C after it. Then I saw this meant

it was in critical range. I knew that it had something to

do with the heart...but wasn't sure about it (I am not a

nurse). I called the doctor office early and the secretary

would not put me through to the doctor...told me I had to

wait till she was out of clinic. Even when I told her that

the doctor told me to call in and that this was an emergency...

she refused. So I got in touch with the Transplant list nurse

and told her. When she heard what I said, she said to fax it

to her right away. Within minutes, I received a call from the

doctor office telling me to get him to the emergency room stat.

(The lab should of contacted the doctors office, also, but didn't)

Do you see what took place here? Had I known that a low

sodium level could have caused his heart to start beating

out of rhythm or that his blood pressure would start to go

down fast, I would not of called the doctor office...I would

have taken him right away to the emergency room. The time

spent fighting with people to get to talk to the doctor and

not knowing what was truly happening, could of cost my husband

his life.

I truly believe that those who are caregivers should start

now to learn what the lab tests result indicate on their lab

work. I have learned alot about these tests now and have

notified the doctors office many times of things on there

that were important after his transplant. Doctors offices

receive tons of tests results everyday...whether faxed or

even now through the computer system. Do you believe they

have time to review each one as soon as they receive it?

If they are now sending the results from one computer system

to another: who knows if they will pull up every patient on

their screen and check the results of those labs.

I hope this opens the eyes of the caregivers, here.

If you want to learn more about what these tests mean...

you can go to http://www.labtestsonline.org or you

can just type the name of the test in your search

engine. You need to know more than just the labs that

are directly associated with the liver...like the

liver enzymes and liver function tests. You need to

know the ones that affect the kidneys and the heart

and the immune system, also.

Your loved one may never reach the top of the transplant

list with a 40 or over MELD score, like mine did....

but, the information you obtain from this learning

experience will open your eyes to what the doctors are

talking about, the reasons why they are doing certain

things, and it may save your loved ones life.