Hi
The past couple of months have been a roller coaster. I’ll try to be brief...
At the beginning of July my husband has a tooth abscess and was pushed backwards and forwards between dentist and doctors. He eventually was admitted as an emergency as he couldn’t open his mouth. The tooth was removed via his neck and because he was on blood thinners he bled heavily. ( he has pacemaker). This eventually healed ( although they cut through lymph nodes, so he’s lost full control of lips on one side), we were away for the August bank holiday and he felt v tired and lethargic. He went to his gp’s on the following Wednesday. Gp thought it was as a result of fluid around heart ( they had removed a diuretic he was on, during tooth incident). So gp put him back on diuretic and did blood test.
Thursday he had phone call at work to say go straight to A & E as his iron levels were extremely low. ( he always was on the anaemic side). Got there at 6pm ( he felt fine at this time), he was admitted onto ward before he saw doc at midnight. Doc thought GP had been over zealous. And thought it was probably caused by blood lose during teeth episode. Said that he would give him ct and endoscopy in morning to rule anything else out. In morning I get text from hubby to say they had now decided to give an iron infusion instead. Was told this would take 4/5 hours and he could go home afterwards. Late afternoon they start infusion. I get there later to pick him up but infusion still running. Took 7 hours. As it’s a fair distance to travel I waited and they discharged him late on the Friday night. They discharged him with vomit buckets as they said he’d feel sick ( he did). He slept ok but the next day felt washed out and stayed in bed watching tv.
In early hours of Sunday morning, he woke me up unable to breath. Called 999. Blue lights to hospital. There I was told he probably wouldn’t survive the night as he had acute liver failure and kidneys had stopped working too. Heard the resus doc saying he had been given an overdose of iron.
Long 3 days in critical care and then 10 days in a gastro ward ( awful place). They did ct scan to rule out anything ‘nasty’ and then said they didn’t really know what caused it. It could have been antibiotics or a arthritis drug ( only been taking a couple of weeks), but they didn’t think it was the iron. ( his rheumatologist disagrees). Anyway, they all appear to be covering their own backs.
We are now 3 weeks post discharge... sent home with a diuretic and omprozole . Told to contact gp. ( they haven’t a clue). No follow up from liver consultant.
He is now down to normal weight but still not well in himself. Tired, weak, no energy or appetite . Think it’s going to be long road. ( has now lost job as he was working on short term contract).
So... is it normal to be thrown out with no follow up?
Can an iron infusion cause liver failure?
Can I request to see his hospital notes?
What should we be doing? ( we have tried contacting consultant with out much joy).
Feel we have been spat out, not sure what to do.