My daughter had knee surgery this past Monday. Good news/bad news – it’s over and she’s fine! She’s a trooper and we’re finished with her knee cap coming out of place. The better news? I have PHOTOS, LOL! 
See, Mr. Chimpy gets ready for his trip to the OR!
The nurse insisted my husband and I take the picture when my daughter didn’t want to. However, she became game later on when we were in the waiting cubicle. 
Unfortunately, as we checked in at 8:30 and she was scheduled for 10:30, no food or drink after midnight the day before, she wasn’t as happy when the surgery was delayed … for an hour and a half! 
I’ve had a few surgeries in my day. The most recent when I was older … and though what Julie went through was up there in recovery and pain, my foot surgery for arthritis was pretty awful, which gives me some idea of what my daughter is feeling and it’s breaking my heart!
What was really amazing is that her surgeon was an old high school friend of mine. One of my closest friends back in the day. We reconnected about a year or so ago and I ended up bringing the kids in for injuries, and he operated. That gave me such peace. I totally trusted him with my baby. The other great thing was that a neighbor of ours is an anesthesiologist at the hospital and though he wasn’t ours that day, I asked for him once we got there and he stopped by. That also gave us some sense of relief! I wouldn’t ever recommend surgery but having familiar faces there was a tremendous help.
I have to say that I was lucky they let me accompany her to the OR and stay until she was sedated. I also think I may have a second career as a scrub nurse. What do you think? 
Yes, I amuse myself!
All in all, I’m so glad it’s over. She was so brave, but as a mom I HATE having to watch my baby go through that! And now she’s pain and I wish I could take it away! But as always, having photos to laugh over after the fact also helps. She’s a great sport and I wouldn’t have posted these without her OK.
And now, I must remind you LUCKY CHARM is in bookstores NOW! In case you thought I’d spare you a day of mentioning it. NOT!
But for the sake of conversation, I have to ask, if you’ve had a hospital stay or have visited someone there, tell me why it’s so hard to get people to focus on YOU. If the patient has to pee, they need help. If their head hurts and they’re starving, why is it so hard to put on a huge smile and say you understand how awful she must feel? I mean come on. THEY might see patients day in and day out and get annoyed/bored but the patient has NEEDS! I don’t know. I just think things need to change in hospitals. Do you agree? Or is it just me?
Carly Phillips would like to take 100% credit for all her stories but the truth is, Carly’s strength is writing family, emotion, funky elderly people and animals. She couldn’t plot her way out of a paper bag, which is why she smartly found her plotmonkey pals early on in her writing career. Thanks to their support, Carly is now a NYT Bestselling author of 23 plus novels. Because writing doesn’t keep her busy enough, Carly is also a wife, a mother of one preteen and one teenage daughter, the primary care giver of her soft coated Wheaten terrier and an expert carpool mom.
3 Seductions and a Wedding
COLD SIGHT
Kiss Me If You Can
Wild For Him
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I’m glad everything went well with your daughter’s surgery and that you had a calme experience because of having a doctor you trust. That can make a huge difference.
Well, I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. I totally agree that nurses/doctors or anyone responsible for taking care of others should put that as their main focus, no question. It’s part of the job to see that patients are comfortable and their needs are taken care of.
In the same token, I cannot imagine how grueling it must be at times to be on your feet all day, taking care of more patients than you have time for. Nowadays there so many job cuts and it affects us. You wait longer in line at the post office or in the store because there are just not enough employees to go around. We might look at them and think “oh that person’s not doing anything” yet maybe they have been up and running for 6-10 hours straight and are taking a much needed 5-minute break. And they probably hear way more than their share of complaints rather than even the simplest of compliments. That wears a person down after awhile. It’s no excuse, and I don’t disagree with how you feel, because I’ve been in both situations and can see it from both sides because of it. I would hate to be in a situation where I had to rely on others for the smallest of necessities and not be able to get the help I need
And thanx for the reminder – must get to the bookstore.
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:monkee2:
Love the photos with the monkey and I bet you would make a great OR nurse!!!
Sorry about your daughter’s surgery. Hope she will recup soon and not be in too much pain.
And the saw the book yesterday in Borders; only reason I did not pick it up yet, is hoping I will get a copy for my bday end of the month – if I can wait that long.
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Carly, I’m so glad your daughter’s surgery went well and you had friends there who aided in her medical care. Give her a hug from the Plotmonkey’s crew and give her our best wishes for a speedy recovery.
The last hospital stay I had was when I was pregnant with my daughter back in 1990. I had pre-eclampsia and was in the hospital for quite a while. I have to say that the nurses and docs I had taking care of me were wonderful. Especially after Lilly was born and I had to remain on labor deck after the emergency C-section for 2 days. At that point I was completely helpless due to the drugs like mag sulfate to keep my blood pressure from rocketing into the stratosphere. The docs and nurses taking care of Lilly in the Neonatal ICU were fantastic. They visited me daily in my room to give me an update during my recovery and hers from a premature birth. I was incredibly lucky with the people taking care of me but also in the fact that I lived along with my baby girl. We could have both died so easily.
It’s unfortunate that Nurse Ratchet may still inhabit our hospitals. It must take a great deal of patience to be a nurse. I’m sure they get their share of not-so-nice patients. There is good and bad apples in the nursing profession as in any biz including publishing. But when our loved one is hurting we want Florence Nightingale at their side and not Atilla the Hun. I guess at that point we have to put on the boxing gloves and duke it out with them. I’ve certainly done that more times than I can count with the school system.
Have a terrific day all,
Cher
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Carly I hope your daughter has a speedy recovery. I myself had 2 c-sections and my son was 4 weeks pre mature but weighed 7lbs 2 oz was taken to nicu for 2 weeks that was hard. but the time when he was 2 his eye all of a sudden was swollen shut I thought he bumped it but when it was hot around it I thought it was an infection so I took him to the urgent care that saw it and diagnosed it as something celluitous (SP) and sent me to the er where I sat for 3 hours in the waiting room and another hour in the room waiting for a doctor who came in and said they had to admit him to make sure the infection didn’t spread. So a Nurse comes in to take blood and give an Iv mind you my son is 2 as she got ready an orderly came in and said he needed to take him for a cat scan she is like well I;m going home how long will it take and asked if he would lay there I said no and she got mad she was throwing stuff around the guy left and she did the iv lost the blood viles on the floor when my husband arrived we still were waiting for them to move him upstairs when 2 other nurses came in trying to figure out what they were suppose to do looking at the iv the original nurse came in and asked me if I refilled the iv bag then left it turns out that she didn’t have the iv in right when they moved him upstairs I noticed that it wasn’t dripping and told the pediatrics nurse, because they finally at 1 am took him up to his room. I was furious after this experience. I try not to go to the dr if We don’t have to.
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I’ve had pretty good luck so far with hospital visits, but I know from my friends that are nurses that it isn’t always that way. I had out-patient surgery about two months ago on my foot. I was really lucky and was at a great hospital. They even called me at home the next day to make sure I didn’t need anything.
I’ve only stayed in the hospital one time and was very lucky that time too. I had to have an ovarian cyst removed so I was put on the maternity ward. Those OB nurses were the best on the face of the planet. I did stay with my sister after she gave birth to her middle child. The nurses checked on her all night and each time they would put another hot blanket on me(my sister’s BP was so high they had to keep the temp really low).
Glad your daughter’s surgery went so well and you had a trusted friend at the hospital. Hope she is out of pain soon!
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I was reading Lucky Charm last night- in the ER.
We got T-boned on the way home from Friendly’s. Kid ran a stop light. I saw him coming and was able to crank the wheel to the left so he didn’t hit the passanger door where my daughter was. He took out the read quarterpanel instead.
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Carly- glad to know she is ok. Surgery sucks. I was reading Lucky Charm last night- in the ER.
We got T-boned on the way home from Friendly’s. Kid ran a stop light. I saw him coming and was able to crank the wheel to the left so he didn’t hit the passanger door where my daughter was. He took out the read quarterpanel instead. She hit her face on the seat belt adjuster on the side of the car. I hurt. I may end up calling the dr.
The hospital was great as usual. Busy though. They could have used at least on more nurse. This is a small hospital, but while we were there- a 6 yr old had been admitted for a fractured leg in a soccer game, there was another young lady in the room with us who has to have her gall bladder out, a drunk in another room (comic relief actually), an elderly gentleman who had a blood clot, a friend of mine who had her blood pressure go way up and also hurt her ankle, and at least 4 others. They were packed. It took us only 3 hours to get in and out, which is not bad considering we weren’t that much of an emergency. They x-rayed her face and she is bruised. My hip and elbow are starting to hurt. I didn’t realize until I tried to get out of bed this morning how much I hurt.
The poor kid (he’s 18) who hit us- and I do say poor kid- had just started with Dominoes delivering that day. He was looking down at the address when he missed the light. Everything was fine until his father showed up (he needed the insurance card) and tried to blame me for the accident. Cops were called. Turns out they have a history with the father. So the kid not only will loose his job, got a ticket, and his insurance will go way up, but the father, I am sure, took it out on him at home. He was very abusive, verbally to me, and I told the cop about my worries for the kid. (Mom’s never go off duty).
My poor truck- it is the 4th time it has been hit. :pray: Someone called it a jinx. I called it my Lucky Charm. Yeah, while there I realized that we had walked away all 4 times, with minimal damage to the truck. God Bless my Rav4. I refuse to get rid of it. It’s a little big to carry on my key chain like a rabbit’s foot, but after 6 years, 4 accidents and numerous snow storms it has gotten me home in, it’s my Lucky Charm.
Now I wait for the adjuster to call. I need a rental.
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I hope you daughter has a speedy recovery, knee injuries are horrible. My most recent surgery (1 year ago) was on my back and my doctors and nurses were wonderful and caring. I don’t remember alot (the pain medicine was excellent) but I can remember them always being there when I needed them.
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As someone who has had three knee surgeries – I can sympathize with your daughter. The first surgery was when I was 15 and I severly tore my medial meniscus. I have a 5 inch scar to prove that one. 15 years later I dislocated my kneecap – same knee. Tore the cartlidge on my left knee about 10 years ago. Better to get things taken care of now. You were lucky to have that peace of mind from knowing the capable people at your hospital. Best of luck to you both.
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ev…sorry to hear about your accident..
I know the nurses are overworked and understaffed.
I went into the hospital a year and a half ago to get two pints of blood (long story) and the nurses were awesome (although, never go ‘uh oh’ in front of a patient, little piece of advice for nurses). We had fun (if you can while getting some emergency blood) and watched DWTS.
It was the doctor who was on duty from my clinic who was horrible. He accused me of not paying attention to myself and yelled at me, not exaggerating here (after I told him that I did in fact tell the doctor who was covering for my doctor that I had concerns, but HE didn’t seem concerned so why should I, I am not a doctor, he got better but still accused me of not taking care of myself). I actually told the nurse on duty and she told me he was in a bad mood because he had to come in late at night (isn’t that his job? Just wondering). He probably had a hot date or something.
The nurses were awesome. I also try to leave the bed better than I left (sheets pulled, things organized so that the maintenance workers can just quickly move to the next room).
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Stacy, I agree about the nurses and staff being overworked. And it wasn’t that they weren’t nice, they just weren’t sympathetic. I don’t know. But I do understand what you mean!
Pat, LOL! Happy Early Bday!
Michele, that’s awful! I’m so glad he’s OK. But I always think you can’t avoid doctors “in case” they have attitude. So hard!
Ev, OMG! I’m so glad you’re oK. I’m sure you are sore from being jostled around but don’t play games if you really hurt. Take care of you too!
Thanks for the good wishes, ALL!
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NOT just you, Karen.
I spent a lot of time in hospitals this summer between me and my father. My care at the hospital was spotty at best. My dad was treated fabulously while he was in the cardiac center, but once he moved to the regular part of the hospital for recovery, we went back to spotty. He wouldn’t say that, though. I think he had lower expectations.
I had some really great nurses, but one that really screwed me up (in that she didn’t even tell me about doing the breathing exercises you have to do so I missed a whole day of that, which put my health at risk, IMO). I can’t imagine those people who have to go to the hospital who DON’T have family to look out for them. That’s just scary.
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ev! Dudette! :hug2: How scary. Quick thinking on your part. Glad you and the youngster are mostly okay! Ice and Ibuprofen, as you likely know.
Ah, hospitals. I’ve had really poor experiences – had a doctor go off duty while I was still laying in the ER cubicle waiting for treatment. An orderly finally stuck his head in an hour later because they needed the room. Oops. Didn’t get charged for that visit. We lost my FiL due to med/mal. I could go on…
On the good side? My daughter’s had corneal transplant surgery, glaucoma surgery, and is about to have cataract and a second glaucoma procedure within the next month. Everyone on staff has asked to be invited to her wedding. (Still two years away after she and her fiance finish their degrees.) She’s had marvelous care and since she’s my only child (though at 21, she’d argue she isn’t a child anymore – yeah, right), I always worry.
There’s a chronic shortage of nurses. Many doctors tend to get a “god complex”. Not all mind you. I’ve know some incredibly dedicated and excellent doctors. Everyone has bad days, but…. a life usually doesn’t hang in the balance.
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Just wanted to say what neat photos! And SO happy that your daughter’s surgery was in good hands and that you had that peace of mind going in! Glad she’s on the mend now! Hooray!
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As I have an aunt and many friends who are nurses, I know how overworked they are. I feel bad for them because they always have to walk the line between being sympathetic and caring and making sure that everyone they are caring for has what they need. It’s definitely not a career for those who can’t handle other people making demands on them.
My worst experience at the hospital, personally, was the 6 hours I spent in the ER 5 years ago trying to figure out what was causing my severe abdominal pain. However, even that experience wasn’t that bad because those 6 hours were spent doing all kinds of tests culminating in an x-ray and an CT, though that still didn’t lead to anything conclusive. The worst part of the whole thing was that I didn’t get home until 4am and I had an 8am final that day, which was my last one before I graduated from college.
My sister, however, had a horrible experience over the summer when a bowl slipped out of her hand, shattered, and cut into her thumb deep enough to cut one of the tendons. It didn’t take long to get her into a room, but there were definitely some communication problems between the PA, who was extremely nice and took care of my sister for the most part, and the rest of the people who were supposed to have come in to examine the thumb and determine what needed to be done.
Aside from that, though, she’s had some great experiences during her 4 knee surgeries (2 on each knee). She had her first at 16 and had her last 4 years ago at 21, 3 months after her daughter was born. The same orthopedic surgeon has done all of her knee surgeries and he has been absolutely fantastic. We don’t really trust anyone else to work on her knees.
Carly, I hope your daughter’s recovery goes well and that she heals as quickly as my sister did after her first two surgeries.
Ev, I’m glad to hear you are okay after that accident.
Silver, I’m 27 and my parents still call me a little kid, which makes me laugh since I really am just a big kid and I hang out with my 7 year old nephew and 4 year old niece almost every day before my sister gets home to pick them up.
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Ev, I’m so sorry about your accident, but I’m SO GLAD you and your daughter are okay!!!! Poor kid…I hope the cops took your concerns about his well-being seriously.
How, exactly, does someone blame the other driver when the first driver ran a red light??? :scratch3:
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So glad to hear everything is going fine! Congratulations on the new book, Carly!
I don’t know.
As for hospital stays – thankfully I haven’t had one yet. As for the rest…
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:giggle: , Karin. I’m *mumblefiftykofffivemumble* and I was “Daddy’s little girl” until the day he died. I was an assistant fire chief at the time, married and a mother. Didn’t matter. :doh:
It’s a parental thing. No matter how old you are or what you do with your life, you are always going to be a child in your parents’ eyes. :grin1:
I’m with you, Julie, though I’ve seen it happen. A lot.
(since that’s the closet to *headdesk* in the icons.)
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Thanks for the get wells guys!!
I did take myself to the ER (the drs office was so busy I never did get anyone to speak to me, just kept me on hold, waiting for the next operator) and they triage had me in and out in half an hour. I strained my arm, neck and back when I turned the car and he hit me. My mechanic just pick up my baby and will look it over for me. Waiting on the insurance adjuster now.
But on the funny side- I picked up the police report. When the cop was filling it out, he was going over the info, as in name, address and age. He goes your 48? I said yes, he said you don’t look it. I took that as a compliment. When I got the report, it said my age was 60 (the year I was born!!!) and now I am dying laughing. Then I looked at the block for sex- m/f. It said 48!!!!
I needed that laugh!!
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:giggle: Silver, I know what you mean. I’m not the baby in my family, but I know my parents will always see me as their little girl – even when I do the planning for vacations I take with them.
Ev, as long as you can find something to laugh at from something like that, things don’t seem so bad. And, that makes me laugh as much as when my former prof tried to pass me off as about 10 years older than I am when the girl he was talking to didn’t even think I was my real age.
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Oh, Ev! I hope you feel better soon. LOL on the age thing. I’m glad you can laugh too!
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Hey ev! Glad to hear your daughter is doing well. Being very short-staffed day after day after day very quickly leads to a type of burnout called compassion fatigue. Even though the nurse is capable of carrying out her duties and performing tasks still, she is unable to have any empathy for her patients.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue
Unlike traditional burnout, taking time off does not resolve compassion fatigue. Many physicians refer to it as secondary post-traumatic stress disorder because of it’s similarities to PTSD. Like PTSD, only intense long-term therapy will help a health-care worker to heal.
Due to the nurse shortage, more and more nurses are being afflicted with compassion fatigue. Most nurses remember that they entered the profession to help people and continue to practice nursing even though they are compassion impaired. And that’s a good thing because if they quit the short staffing would be worse and put greater stress on the remaining nurses who would develop compassion fatigue faster and in greater numbers.
We nurses are doing the best we can and are developing psychological trauma due to our choice to enter a career as a health carer. Be a little understanding. The nurse is still doing her job. Family members will need to provide the empathy.
Families can also help to relieve some of the stress by providing what care they can. Give your loved one a bath. Assist them in toileting. Help them out of bed to a chair. Change sheets and gowns. Pull them up in bed. Yes, traditionally, nurses did this. But with staff shortages, patients may have to wait uncomfortably long periods of time for nursing assistance. Or even do without.
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Ev, I’m so glad you and your daughter are both ok. I hope the cop listened to your concerns about that poor kid. I had someone slam into the back of my car on the interstate and he tried to tell the cop it was my fault. I stopped as did everyone in front of me, he just didn’t hit his brakes in time and there was nothing I could do. He was in a company truck, so at least there was insurance to take care of everything.
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Carly glad to hear your daughter is doing so good. It is very hard to be in the hopsital I was there a few years back and I was there 12 days and I dont’ want to go again, I had to go back the year after that for another surgery and so I really freak out if they even think of saying I might need surgery. I had a bad experience at first the nurse was just terrible I was so mad I wanted to slap her, she didn’t even know what had happened to me and was saying I had a bag on so I would not need to get up to go to the bathroom (I was so upset becasue I had just had 12 inches of my colon removed) but she was wrong I was fine I had a huge cut all the way across my stomach but I didn’t have the bag and I was happy about that, that was one of my fears I know it would be okay but I couldn’t deal with it at the time. Well come to find out about it she didn’t know who I was and when she found out who my husband was things changed quickly all the nurses came in to make sure I was doing good. He has worked at this hospital for 23 years and so I feel a whole aot better about going there but I don’t want to be there anytime soon.
I will be there on Tuesday my oldest daughter who is 23 is going to have her baby and she said when she first goes in she is going to tell them who her dad is so there won’t be any problems . LOL
Carly I thought you looked great in the hospital gear, oh and I tried to buy your book Tuesday morning on my way to work and Walmart didn’t have it out yet, so I will be back. the lady who was putting them out told me where she would put them so I could find them.
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In light of Carly’s post today, I thought I should pass along this link to anyone who needs to have hospital care.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/02/ep.evan.handler.patient.advocate/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
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In light of Carly’s post, I thought I’d pass along this link to a CNN article on patient care.
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Hi Carly,
So glad your daughter is doing well following her surgery. I have the experience of
seeing surgery and patient care from both sides. I trained as a nurse and worked
in a hospital until my first child was born. I have had more surgeries than I care to
list now, including knee surgery. When you mentioned your daughter’s knee cap
popping out, it took me back to my eldest son’s med history. His first year in high
school we never knew when it would happen to him. It turns out that patellar
tracking syndrome is familial and all three of our children had the problem. For years,
we thought Honey was the culprit because he had such bad knees. NOT!! Turns
out I’m the “carrier.” All three and myself have all had surgery due to the problem.
Pat Cochran
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Carly, I’m glad your daughter’s surgery went okay. Since she is young hopefully she will recover quickly. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Ev, I’m so sorry to hear about your accident. Take care of yourself. I hope that young man will be okay, it is a wake up call for kids that driving is not just a lark. Glad you found something to laugh about.
Since my daughter is a CNA(Certified Nursing Assistant) that works in a hospital my perspective is mostly from her side. I’ve never had a bad experience in a hospital except being scared when I had my tonsils out at 3 years old!! That was more years ago than I care to think about & children were treated differently in those days! There are 3 levels of nursing care, the CNA’s like my daughter are at the bottom of that level, next are the LVN’s, (Licensed Vocational Nurse) and then the RN’s (Registered Nurse). They are all licensed and they all have to keep up their levels of expertise. The CNA’s do all the blood pressures, helping patients with talking a walk, giving them bath’s, etc. They do a lot of dirty hard work, they do not give any medications and are often not told things that would help them in dealing with the patients they are assigned each day. They often have to many patients and more to do then you can imagine. My daughter is often lucky to find 15 minutes to grab some lunch even though they are suppose to have a lunch break every day. I don’t precisely know what the LVN’s do. The RN’s are at the top of the heap are often administrative or in the OR’s ICU, etc. Maternity is a whole nother ball game! My daughter works with a lot of orthopedic patients and people on the cancer ward. She loves what she does, the patients usually love her but there are days she would chuck it all! Sometimes the worst people in the hospital are the friends & relatives of the patients, she could tell your stories that are hard to imagine why people would act like that!!
Here I am on my soapbox again! Thanks for letting me share another perspective. Nurses & doctors are people, good ones, bad ones, some that should not be in the profession. Insurance companies making decisions that should be made by doctors. Our health care system is really not a good one. Most of the people in health care are doing the best they can.
I’ll go now!! :wave:
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I totally think there is that compassion fatigue. Makes total sense to me.
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I totally understand the idea behind compassion fatigue and I do think it exists. I was very lucky that out of the 12 or so nurses and assistants who took care of me in the hospital for my surgery, only 1 was underwhelming. That’s 1 in 12! A pretty good percentage, IMO. 2 were outstanding, so they made up the difference!
I have a lot of compassion for health care professionals, but they hold people’s lives in their hands. If they don’t love their jobs anymore, they should find another vocation. Of course, I feel the same way about any job, including writing. If you stop loving what you do or start being disdainful toward the people you serve (in my case, readers!) then you should try and find something new to do.
Life’s too short!
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Julie, WOW WOW AND WOW.
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Fair enough, Donna! We shouldn’t tarnish them all with one brush! I know there are fantastic health care professionals out there. I met some of them too. I just see how they go through the motions and it sooo hard when it is your child who needs something!
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Uh, Huh, Julie. So the nurses should leave. That makes the short-staffing even worse. And then the nurses who are left get fed up and leave. Then who is going to take care of the sick people?
Basically, You are saying that compassion is mandatory in nurses. I have been a patient (lots of times) and am a nurse. Believe me, I would much rather have a nurse who is capable of doing her job – which includes a lot of things you don’t see – than have one who is compassionate.
I’ve worked with some very sweet, caring nurses who were very dangerous. I’ve also noticed that the more time a nurse spends in a patient’s room reassuring or just visiting, the more things go undone. Like looking up important lab and test results, reviewing medications to make sure no errors are made. I’ve seen a lot of medical errors and patients whose condition worsened because the nurse spent time she didn’t have interacting with patients. I’ve even seen patient’s die because of this tendancy.
As a nurse I am in a position to know. A nurse without empathy may be irratating but it’s not life threatening.
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I’m not talking about compassion, Stacie and I definitely understand the dilemma. Maybe training or sabbaticals or some kind of formal recognition of the mental health of health care workers should be addressed. Definitely. If it will keep them on the job, then I’m all for it! But it wasn’t compassion that was missing from the nurse (remember, only 1 out of 12 of my total stay) who blatantly ignored me, did not tell me I was supposed to breathe into that tube thingy or risk complications, did not bring my pain meds when scheduled, but only after I called multiple times and proceeded to make sure that I knew that she didn’t want to be on my ward when she finally showed up. I was way too weak (it was the day after surgery) to complain to anyone and I didn’t want to be a “bad patient” so I stuck it out, but honestly, I shouldn’t have had to deal with the stress of not trusting my health care. That’s my point.
Oh, and on the breathing thing…I didn’t know, of course, until the next nurse came in that I should have been doing those breathing exercises every hour. Actually, it was my father who noticed.
Several of the nurses I had were pretty abrupt and not at all friendly…but I could have cared less so long as they did their jobs, which they did.
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Hey everybody…
Carly, I am glad that your daughter made it through safely…yeah I know it is foot surgery, but it’s still surgery…
I have beenin the hospital for extended visits a time or two, and I know what you mean about ther focus being on others besides you…however, I have been in some places where there was just too much focus on me…I felt like I was under a microscope…I love anonimity, and it scares me to be in the spotlight…
I might actually have to have surgery on my shoulder soon…I go in for an MRI tomorrow, and I am hoping to hear some good news…
The scrubs look good on you btw…I immediately thought of plotlines with a woman in scrubs…crazy huh? I am a little…
I have to go, but I will check in again tomorrow…it is good to be back…
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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I have really never had any problems with nurses, it’s the dr’s. that I sometimes want to smack with an IV Pole.
I did find one nurse trainee when my dad was in the hospital who did set my teeth on edge, and it wasn’t her so much as it was the nurse who was in charge of her. She came into my dad’s room one morning while I was visiting (early, but I was from out of town and heading home, so they didn’t mind) and was taking out the garbage, straightening up his bed, etc. She the proceeded to change his IV- using the same rubber gloves she had one when she did the trash. I immediately stopped her, asked what she was doing, and then questioned her trainer as to why she didn’t remind her to wash her hands and change her gloves before she even thought of trying to change the IV. ick.
We did have one resident when hubby was in the hospital, who insisted I leave the room while he talked to him. Mind you, at the time hubby was out of it, had no idea how long he had been sick, or even what day it was. Yeah, like that was going to happen. Filed a complaint on that one. Idiot.
Off my
now
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Paula, GOOD LUCK! I hope you can avoid surgery.
Stacie Mc- training isn’t a substitute for compassion. I understand what you mean and nothing is more important than quality health care. But like Julie said, part of doing the job is compassion, IMO, and when its a child or an adult in PAIN, I do think compassion is in order. Just IMO.
LOL.
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I’m so glad baby girl came through okay, Carly. Big hugs and kisses to hers. Hope the recovery is smooth and easy breezy!
I have had really good experiences with my surgeries–which makes me very lucky, I know. The nurse for my most recent surgery was a total hoot and had me laughing right up until I was about to be brought into the surgical suite.
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Karen, So glad baby girl doing OK. She has my sympathy. 12 years ago I developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome–I couldn’t stand or walk, & spent 10 days in the hospital. All during that time I never spoke with ONE PERSON who spoke English–not even Spanish, which, at least, I could sort of follow. They were from India, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, etc. I never knew what meds they were giving me, what was going to happen next, etc. All I wanted was ice water, which I didn’t receive for the total period. Only thing they wanted me to understand was NOT to go to bathroom by myself (w/walker), which, because I knew it would be tinkle-in-the-bed-time, I ignored. I told my ex-husband that, if I died there, to sue on the kids’ behalf. I thought I would not make it out of there.
I’m certain that being a nurse is a hellish experience, but, as others said, it’s people’s lives being affected. Also, as others said, when a familymember/friend is in the hospital, please watch out for them. I didn’t have anyone doing it for me (ex continued to drink), but, I was just lucky my brain never disappeared, so, I could escape.
Thanks to all the nurses who never forget these are individual patients, not just people.
&, ev, hope you & daughter are doing OK. Must have been scary.
Patricia
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OMG! I’m just getting around to reading some of the blogs from this week. I’m so sorry your daughter (and you) had to go through this. I hope by now she’s feeling much better!
I have to say the staff at Duke is absolutely the best I have ever encountered. When we did the pre-op check-in, they told me it was all about my hubby. That he came first, and if they said I needed to leave, then I needed to leave. And they did exactly what they said!
He got overwhelmed right after surgery when all of his family was in there and they said, “That’s it. 1 at a time.” And they stuck to it. And I was so grateful. I hope I don’t ever have to go back there again, but I can tell you, they were phenomenal!! I’m sorry your experience wasn’t as comforting.
Big hugs to you and your daughter!