Arg!!

[EmmaG]

I'll preface to say I'm not looking for advice, just venting.

Dad calls tonight, and says "I've just got a question for you."

Uh oh. That never bodes well... (keep in mind I'm 350 miles away)

He tells me he has been miserable with a sinus infection, etc., and goes to his doc who gives him amoxicillin even though Dad tells him he is allergic to penicillin because "that was 30 years ago".

:stone

Dad says, "I've got this rash all over me."

He lives alone in the middle of nowhere, there's no way I'm going to tell him to pop a benadryl and forget about it... So I say "Go to the ER."

He argues. ER is busy. It's probably nothing. Yada yada. And by the way, what could they do anyway?

:stone

I tell him it might not be anything serious, or it could progress. He should go to the ER and have them evaluate the reaction and treat it. He asks what they treat it with. I said probably some benadryl and maybe some steroids. Well that gets him off on another tangent--- "I don't like the idea of having to take steroids. I don't want to catch diabetes."

"Dad, I don't think you're going to develop diabetes with a single dose of steroids to treat an allergic reaction."

"Oooookaaaay. If you say so...."

:stone

Then he says "oh by the way".

Uh oh again...

"I was awakened last week with my heart skipping around and couldn't get back to sleep. So I went to the doc and he gave me...uh, hang on...what's the name... digoxin."

WHAT?!

"He said my heart was going 150 beats a minute and that was too fast."

WHAT?!

"But the medicine fixed it. I guess I'm alright now. This morning my pulse was 50."

WHAT?!

"Dad, did you get a consult to see a cardiologist?"

"Do you think I need to see one?"

:stone

"Anyway, that is why he had to give me the amoxicillin even if I'm allergic because there is nothing else I can take while I'm on digoxin."

"Ooo... I seem to be getting redder. Oooo... there's blotches all over my neck! And a big strawberry looking thing under my arm. Wonder what that means?"

:stone

"Dad, go to the ER. Now."

"*sigh* Ok. But I bet it's nothing."

Now I know what will happen. The ER doc will tell him it's not a big deal, give him a benadryl that he "could have taken at home" and then Dad will call me back angry because I "forced" him to go to the hospital "in the middle of the night."

I can't win lol...

[Ms Kylee]

Emmanuel, your dad sounds just like my Grandma. She was an RN for 40 years, and she wouldn't go to the doctor. Her reasoning was she didn't want her Medicare rates to go up. Once she was in CHF and called my Mom's house. I answered the phone and she said "I can't breathe". I said to her, Gram, call 911, don't call here first. Then I hung up and ran out the door like Maria Andretti with her rear end on fire, driving to Grandma's house to make sure she did call 911 and to ride with her in the ambulance. After she got discharged, she wouldn't take her Lasix "Because it makes me pee too much". I'm looking at her with the deer in the headlight look and saying "Gram, that's what Lasix is supposed to do". The funny thing is, as an RN, she didn't trust doctors and had a home remedy for just about everything. I miss her so much some days....

[EmmaG, RN]

Emmanuel, your dad sounds just like my Grandma. She was an RN for 40 years, and she wouldn't go to the doctor. Her reasoning was she didn't want her Medicare rates to go up. Once she was in CHF and called my Mom's house. I answered the phone and she said "I can't breathe". I said to her, Gram, call 911, don't call here first. Then I hung up and ran out the door like Maria Andretti with her rear end on fire, driving to Grandma's house to make sure she did call 911 and to ride with her in the ambulance. After she got discharged, she wouldn't take her Lasix "Because it makes me pee too much". I'm looking at her with the deer in the headlight look and saying "Gram, that's what Lasix is supposed to do". The funny thing is, as an RN, she didn't trust doctors and had a home remedy for just about everything. I miss her so much some days....

Aww

[Christie RN2006]

I have my family/friends all the time asking me for medical advice... One time I had a friend call me and say "I was standing up and felt something pop, now it hurts really bad" he was a few days s/p appendectomy... my answer "call your doctor"

My grandma is the worst about calling me... the only problem is that she is hard of hearing and tends to hear things wrong. I can only imagine what she tells her doctors that I told her!! I can just hear her now... "my granddaughter said ... and she is a nurse" My grandma takes me at my word, if I say "go to the ER" she will go...my grandpa on the other hand I think does the exact opposite of what I say.

[Dixiecup]

Or you get just the opposite. They think you can diagnose over the phone.

My brother does this to me all the time. "I've got a lump in my throat, what do you think it is?"

How long has it been there?

"Afew weeks, and it hurts"

What! A few weeks. make an appt for the Dr. ASAp

"But can't you just tell me what it is over the phone?"

Drives me crazy!!