Tuesday Update

     I gave Vanderbilt yesterday to update me about the HVAC incident. We never heard a thing. Today I called Aaron Hirsch to get the last names of Brian's nurses and to get an update from him on what he might have heard. He gave me the names with no problem. Then he called Karen Broch with infectious disease for an update. He called me back with the info that there would be no investigation as they decided it was just regular dust. I told him that it would be regular dust at my house but not at the hospital! I then called Danett Guy:left a message, Susan Johnson:she has laryngytis. She sais the same thig...no investigation asit wasjust regular dust. She gave me  the name Vickie Brinsko the Director of Infection Control...had to leave message. I called Betsy Kay-Hall with Dr. Lambright to give him an update. She said she'd let him know. Haven't heard from him. I called patient relations and had to leave a message. Then I called Jamie Wyatt to give him an update. He called me back and I let him know how dissatisfied I was with the nonsense. He agreed. Said to give Patient relations time to call me back.
     Mike Garrott Director of Patient Relations called me back around 4:30! He tols me what he had heard about the incident and then asked me my side. I tried to be very deliberate in my retellin and gave him names of people involved. He asked if I would give him til tomorrow to contact these people and get back to me. I agreed and thanked him. I also let him know that I was very unhappy with the situation in it's entirety and the fact that we were left in that room for almost 12 hours repeatedly asking to be moved somewhere else. We'll see. Then I called Jamie Wyatt back so he was up to date on everything. Tomorrow will be another day.

Another update

     Apparently most of the hospital has heard about what happened. It involved 10-12 rooms. Some of those people are still in those rooms! Dr. Lambright is especially concerned as his patients are sent to that exact area!
     Brian has developed a bad headache and severe sore throat. We are still in the hospital on Sunday...probably go home on Monday. I want to know what they are going to do about this whole thing. I requested that Dr. Lambright’s office let us know what they hear. I also want copies of any reports that are generated from this issue. We’ll see if that happens. Brian’s nurses where Layaneh, who first saw the stuff on him, and Athena who came on duty that morning.
     I will update as I get more info.

Update on Brian

    We came into Vanderbilt at 5:30am on Thursday, April 12, 2018. Surgery was successful! Dr. Lambright was able to remove the whole tumor! It was larger (bigger than a golf ball) and much deeper in his lung than they thought. He has more and bigger incisions because of that. BUT IT’S GONE!!!!!
     Early in the morning on Friday his nurse came in and was quite agitated. Asking “What is this!? Please tell me you were eating Oreos! I don’t know what all this black stuff is!”. I got up and got my camera. Brian, his bed, his tray table, etc. we’re all covered with a black substance that had apparently come out of the air vent over his bed! The nurse(Layaneh) was freaking out. She got someone in (Blake) to help clean it up and I told them they better save that so we could find out what is was. They didn’t listen and continued to clean up. I got samples and asked for a ziplock bag to save it. We asked for a new room. None available. They got him into a chair and changed his bedding. I sat on the edge of the bed and stuff continued to fall out of the vent onto the clean bedding, onto his breakfast tray, etc. Asked to be moved. No rooms. Floor nurse came in. We expressed our extreme unhappiness and wanted to know what he was going to do to help us. I explained that Brian is compromised enough with cancer and less than 24 hrs out of surgery. He agreed. I also explained how dangerous it could be to the rest of us. He agreed. I then explained how this could be a major lawsuit in the making. He agreed. He left to try to find another room for us. About 30 minutes later about 7 people all wearing suits and having titles were in our room. Our room was so small they had to stand out in the hall. The main talking woman explained that the HVAC system was being worked on and they did something they shouldn’t have that resulted in that stuff blowing back into the rooms. They were sending some of it from another room out to be tested for mold, fungus, etc. I told her that we had our own samples and pictures. There was a very long silence. I explained that I had asked the nurses to save the stuff and they didn’t. I explained that they used a broom to clean up and therefore stirred everything up and then took the broom somewhere else. I explained that we had repeatedly asked for another room because stuff was still coming out of the vent onto us...and now them, too. Another long silence. I explained that I knew their job was protect themselves and my job was to protect Brian and I would do whatever I needed to to accomplish that. I explained that I had already contacted his oncologist, his surgeon, his Medicare advocate, as well as the mold epidemiologist. Another long silence. I asked for business cards for all of them which they did not have...hard to believe. They left after assuring us there would be an investigation and we would be notified of test results and moved to a new room. I had Aaron...floor head nurse...get me names and titles and phone numbers of everyone who was there. He did that. We weren’t moved until 4pm!
     Dr. Lambright came in shortly after that. He was furious about it all but tried very hard to be calm and meticulous with his words. I found out later that he has been trying for quite some time to get something done about the lack of cleanliness on 9N.
     Here are some pictures I took: