Allergy-Unfriendly Places, Like the Hospital

Warning. This is a bit of a rant.

Hubby’s at the hospital right now. He had outpatient surgery Thursday but by Friday had developed a fever, so I took him back and he was admitted last night. Turns out he has pneumonia, a known complication from his surgery (breathing problems because of the pain, which causes the lung to collapse, etc., etc.).

So last night he was taken off solids and dr. ordered that his diet be clear fluids ONLY. Last night it was chicken broth (and not the homemade kind either, it smelled suspiciously of those instant bouillion powders or mixes that have all kinds of chemicals in them, sodium probably the biggest percentage). I had bought him Chinese food (I didn’t have time to go home and cook because I was with him at the hospital all afternoon), but he wasn’t allowed to eat it. After the fake chicken broth, I asked the nurse for some Sprite, to balance the salt with some sugar. LOL.

This morning, he was allowed hot tea. Then the dietitian came and said he was now allowed to have solids, so she was going over his food order with him, and she NOTED that he had food allergies, which I told just about everyone who came in contact with him yesterday. I told her I was going to go home and prepare him something, but I was told (in a bit of a snotty tone) that they deal with food allergies all the time (IOW, back off, woman, we know what we’re doing). I shut up and waited for his meal to come.

Ten minutes later, the aide comes with his tray, and in it are:

• saltine crackers
• A turkey sandwich
• Chicken noodle soup, emphasis on the noodles, because there wasn’t any veggies at all in it

So I told the aide that my hubby couldn’t have any of this and to please have the dietitian come in. She comes, and I explain that my hubby can’t eat this, and she goes, “So he can’t have any wheat AT ALL?”

Well, YEAH!!! (Isn’t that what I said in the first place?)

Then she goes through each item:

Dietitian: “The crackers?”
Me: “No, that’s made with wheat.”
Dietitian: “And I guess he can’t have the turkey sandwich?”
Me: “No, bread is made with wheat.”
Dietitian: “What about the soup?”
Me: “Pasta is made with wheat.”
Dietitian: “I’m sorry, I was just grasping at straws there. The lunch was basically already prepared when I was getting his order, so I just got whatever was available. I just wanted to make sure he had something to eat.”

I was tempted to ask, “Didn’t you tell me you dealt with food allergies all the time?”

So we go through the list together — which, I want to add, she had written on in BOLD letters when she was putting the order together: ALLERGIC TO WHEAT, DAIRY AND EGGS — and we decided he could have all the fruit and steamed veggies on it plus some tomato soup. I obviously will be bringing him dinner, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. These are the times I wish were in an Asian country somewhere instead, where the hospital meals would be sure to include rice. Sigh.

When things like this happen, I have fantasies of applying to be part of the staff so I can “change things”. But something tells me 10 years from now this still won’t be solved. Too many things at the root of the problem and not enough people concerned to really do something about it.

One more question: what do dietitians learn in school???