Mom had a heart attack, then a 5 way bypass in Dec. 2010. As she was recovering from the surgery, she had a stroke. This is when my caregiving journey began.
She went to the same hospital system where she had the surgery for 18 months before we moved her a few hours away and found a new doctor. The internal medicine internist who asked to be her doctor met her as she was in the CICU recovering from her surgery. So she knew that Mom had gone through the surgery. At no point did any doctor recommend that Mom see a cardiologist. There were no follow-ups specifically about the surgery, although Mom was prescribed meds for high blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid, and aspirin.
Mom had an episode this week (leg felt “wooden”) and ended up in the hospital for about 24 hours. The doctors are in disagreement on if she had a TIA or not (did every test you can think of), though all agree she is a high risk patient. They’ve asked why she didn’t see a cardiologist in the past 2 1/2 years. So did I drop the ball here by not asking about a cardiology follow-up? Am I wrong to expect that the experts would direct us/her on such a matter?
Mom has always avoided doctors and now goes to them because all us kids want her to. So it isn't easy. Her doctors recommended other things in the past few years like a colonoscopy, osteoporosis tests, mammograms, pap smears. No one ever mentioned seeing a cardiologist. I'm a bit upset about it.
Part of our larger issue is mom's life-long irresponsibility when it comes to her health. Well, actually, in her whole life. So here's one more consequence. Sigh.
Mom went to a great hospital part of a university. World class teams, yada yada. I just want to know for my own peace of mind if I'm crazy to think someone who knows how all this works (as opposed to me who's never had heart problems) should have told Mom to come back to see him to make sure all was okay.