I was a PT in my hospital YIKES!!!

[beckymcrn]

Recently I found myself in an interesting position. I was a patient in the hospital where I work. "YIKES!!"

After dinner at a local restraint I suffered severe nausea and some pain which radiated into my left arm. Like any good nurse I took a something for the pain and went to bed because although I knew this may be something serious, I also knew it could not happen to me. When I woke up the next morning I was still severely nauseated. I went about my morning activities without breakfast because my stomach would not allow. Now I was thinking I had food poison from my dinner out. I went to work. After a few hours when the nausea did not go away and I started to just feel "weird" in my chest I went to speak to a supervisor who got a doctor and I was off to the Emergency room. While walking to the ER with my supervisor I got tightness in my chest that felt like someone was squeezing heart in their fist and I became short of breath. After a work up in the ER I was admitted to the hospital for what I thought would just be one day of observation. My chest pain had stopped after I was given an aspirin in the ER. My admit was on a Friday afternoon so my one day turned into three, because as we all know you do not get test done on a weekend in the hospital.

On Saturday afternoon as I was expecting to be discharged the doctors told me I should have a cardiac catherization. Now I was terrified. I had more chest pain after the docs left my room. This chest pain was different though just a generalized pain across my chest to which I in my profession opinion diagnoses as a panic attack. All my test were coming back negative so the cath was to be preformed as a precaution to see what was really going on in my heart. All I could think of was this is crazy I can't be having heart problems. But the simple truth is I have several risk factors. I have hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. So it was very possible that this could be a heart attack and that thought terrified me too.

I had a cath on Monday morning. Thank God all turned out well and my pain and nausea was not caused by any blockage in my heart. My cath was clean I am told, most likely food poison or stress caused my problem.

I learned a lot through this ordeal. First I have to take better care of myself. I never want to go through that again. Only I can reduce the risk factors that I face. Although these risk factors are all hereditary that does not give me a ticket to bad health and obesity. I am the one who holds the keys to my future. So from this day forward I will take better care of my self by eating right and exercising.

Second, I gained knowledge from the other side of the bed. I spend my time as a nurse taking care of my patients and going about my daily duties. As a patient I lost complete control. I had to let someone else take care of me. From the emergency room to the cath lab, every nurse and tech that tended me was absolutely wonderful. They each noticed my anxiety and also acknowledged me as a nurse. Every one of them helped to make this experience tolerable for me. I would like to thank each of them and I will with acknowledgement to their supervisors for the great nurses that they are.

The moral of this story is simple. You really appreciate what it means to be a nurse when you are the patient, when you have to give over your control to someone else.

I only hope as nurses that we can treat every one of our patients as we our selves would like to be treated.

Thank you to all the nurses and staff that tended to me on 9 east. This acknowledgement is for you Dayna, Virginia, Lori, Connie and Melissa.

Thank you to all of you.

I would also like to thank Chris the ER nurse that tended me.

I only hope I can help my patients the way all of you helped me.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Glad you're OK, Becky. I had a similar experience last month. I was in the ER at a place where I once worked as a traveler with SVT, neck pain and shortness of breath. They ruled me out for an MI and released me in a few hours. I avoided the cardiac cath! But with my age and hypertension (and obesity to be perfectly honest!) I could have had a heart problem as well. Me, the CTICU nurse!!! I jointed Weight Watchers Online and have been even more diligent about exercising.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm glad you're o.k. It's awesome that you took the experience to learn from and to grow. Take care and best wishes. Thanks for sharing. :)

[hoolahan, ASN, RN]

I was a pt with my kidney stone about 3 years ago, and my ER nurses ROCKED!!

Thank God you're ok Becky!!

[V. Nightingale]

I found myself in a similar situation back in February. Worked all weekend, felt tired and listless on Monday and Tuesday, and woke up Wednesday with a sharp pain in my right ribs. Like any real ER nurse, I immediately decided that I'd pulled a muscle and that my low grade temp was a mere coincidence; I visited my chiropractor instead of my MD. Hubby talked me into going to the ER Wed night by saying "If you're sick you won't be able to work your shift on Friday" (the rascal knows exactly what buttons to push).

I ended up a patient in my own ER that night, diagnosed with pleurisy and mild pneumonia, treated with Toradol and Levaquin IV, and went home. And ended up right back there about 4 am Thursday, hurting so badly I could barely breathe. What I thought would be a 1 or 2 night stay to get my pleurisy under control turned into a weeklong ordeal that could have killed me. (Let me tell you, friends and fellow nurses, that pleurisy HURTS. And not being able to take a deep breath is the single most frightening feeling in the world).

You're right, Becky; it is very humbling to be the one who has to ring for pain meds every 3 hours on the hour. The nurses who cared for me knew I was a nurse and I think probably went out of their way to take special care of me. (They probably also thought I was a total drug addict, as I spent four and a half days in a Dilaudid/Phenergan/Fentanyl induced coma and only woke up to pee and ask for more meds.) They were courteous, caring and unfailingly nice, and they treated me like a nurse, not a lay person. (They also went for 2 days without checking an o2 sat, which was my only real complaint. When they finally checked it at my request, because I said I was really having a hard time breathing, it was 83%!) I try to keep that hospital stay in my mind when I work, so that I'll remember how scary it was to be there, and how much it meant to get what I needed quickly.

Glad to hear you're feeling better!

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Scary experience, Becky, to be sure. :uhoh21:

Glad to hear you're ok, and that all turned out alright in the end.. Always a learning experience, as well.