Obese lady

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I just have to share this...

I had a severe morbidly obese lady a few days ago. When I started the shift she was listless and had flat affect, pretty much no response to me. She had been a walkie/talkie before entering for surgery :(

I spent the day turning her, talking to her, making her bend her knees, move her arms while helping me move her (I had been told she was pretty much dead-weight, no assistance whatsoever, so encouraging her to get more active). I talked to her, teased her, hugged her (I am not usually a touchy-feely person; having my personal body space invaded really disturbs me usually). She became tearful around midday, apologizing for being such a bother, etc. I told her nothing doing, she was doing the best she could and moving even a little would help her in getting stronger. Toward afternoon, she was smiling for me and even laughed once.

Her laughter brightened my day. And it almost made me cry. Sometimes those patients that seem not to give a darn are the ones in the most need of encouragement, even when they become snarly 3

Specializes in PCU.
Your post made me smile. Thanks for being so good to her. Isn't it a great feeling at the end of the day to know you made a true difference?

Yes, it really is :) My patients make me realize how blessed I am and knowing that I have made a difference is what makes me keep going back :redpinkhe

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
while i agree that obesity is unhealthy and makes giving care in the acute care setting a lot more difficult, our personal thoughts on the matter should not affect the care that we provide. we are there to provide support and care and education. yes, educate the patient about obesity, etc. (i have/did/will), but make sure you are aware of how you come across when providing care, because the acutely ill patient is often at high risk for depression and this can seriously adversely affect their illness and prognosis. jmo.

the fat kills link shows that obesity has health implications it isn't the evil doer everyone claims it is.....

everyone knows that obese americans are driving our health care bills to the moon. some argue that they should pay higher insurance premiums. meanwhile, those extra pounds are sending millions to an early grave. and we all know that if our obese neighbors would just put down their forks and get on a treadmill, the pounds would melt away.

but as is so often the case, what “everyone knows” just isn't true.

myth #1: the u.s. spends so much on health care in large part because too many of us are just plain fat.

here, the conventional wisdom ignores a compelling 2007 mckinsey & co. study which demonstrates that obesity does not begin to explain why, in 2005, we shelled out $480 billion more for health care than peer nations.

make no mistake, obesity is expensive, and linked to a host of diseases–especially later onset diabetes.

but when mckinsey expert number-crunchers compared the prevalence and cost of 130 diseases (including obesity, heart disease and diabetes) in the u.s. and six other countries (japan, germany, france, italy, spain and the uk), they discovered that the u.s. spent under $25 billion treating all 130 conditions—a fraction of the “extra” $480 billion that we spent on health care.

where did the other $455 billion go?

myth #2: if they would just “eat less” and “move more” the problem would be solved.

if only it were that simple. but as physicians who treat obese patients reveal in an eye-opening pbs documentary titled “fat,” even when compliant patients diet and exercise under a doctor’s supervision, 95 percent regain whatever weight they lose.

the merely overweight can, in fact, lose fifteen pounds, and keep it off—if they do it very slowly, and focus on eating smaller portions. (those who buy into some of the quicker solutions offered by our $40 billion weight-loss industry are likely to find themselves shedding, and re-acquiring, the same 15 pounds, over and over again.)

the truly obese face a far more difficult problem. obesity is an extraordinarily complicated disease caused by a combination of bio-chemical forces, genetics, and environment. many physicians who don’t specialize in this area “still believe that obesity is caused by eating too much and not exercising enough, but such thinking is too simplistic,” says dr robert lustig, an obesity expert at the university of california, san francisco.

“if it were that simple we would have solved it a long time ago,” adds dr. lee kaplan, head of the weight reduction program at mass general. “more than 400 genes are involved in weight regulation.”

myth #3: fat kills

not necessarily true, says hadler, pointing to two 2010 studies published in obesity and the journal of the american geriatrics society which suggest that only the “morbidly obese” (with a body-mass index over 35) and the “abnormally thin” (bmi under 18.5) “incur any increased risk of death before their time.” (a standard measure of heft, bmi considers both weight and height). “obese” subjects (bmi of 30-35) died no sooner than “normal folks.” those who were “overweight” (bmi of 25-30) actually lived longer. padding offers some protection, particularly for the elderly. as for the underweight, apparently you can be too thin.

Specializes in ..

Maelstrom, do you realize your post has over 60 'likes'? Maybe that oughta tell ya somethin'! (or every nursing student and new grad should read your post... along with some experienced nurses, too!)

You are an inspiration! I'm beginning nursing courses in August, and I've been a bit down, reading many negative posts lately and rethinking everything. But...your post made me well up. Because I'm overweight...not morbidly so, but enough to have been the end of jokes and comments for much of my adult life. Your kindness and regard for the person inside the body, that meant so much to your patient, I"m sure. I only hope to be as compassionate a nurse as you someday when I grow up (I'm 39 lol). From my heart...thank you for being an awesome nurse!

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