ok, so are we all like me when we have to be patients?
i had a rotator cuff repair a year ago january, and basically it froze after surgery, maybe i didnt do enough to move it properly post-op, because i was also told it was an open repair and badly damaged, so was afraid to damage the work that the surgeon had done. so now i am 4 weeks post-op after having another open revision of the rotator cuff, removal of the hardware and a superior labrum repair. so its 6 weeks passive movements only by physical therapists and then rotator cuff protocol. but i am demented by the foam block sling that has to be worn, even to sleep with it, and the frustation of only having one arm
how do you all cope when you are the recipient of health care?
Specializes in renal,peritoneal dialysis, medicine.
i can answer this one after last year when my appendix burst and I was a whisker away from being in HDU with a nasty peritonitus. I hated being in hospital, for me it was like being at work and not getting paid!!
The machines were bleeping all night! I wanted to turn them off!!, a woman in the next bed to me had an IV running which kept alarming as it was in the crook of her arm, on the second night i kept getting up and straightening her arm as it was driving me nuts! they wanted to catherise me to keep an eye on my fluid balance, i refused telling them it was a lazy way of checking it when all they had to do was measure my bedpans, infact i said me and my family would do it instead if they didnt want to!
on day three, i got up with difficulty, showered, put make up on and smiled at the surgeon lied and told him i felt fine so he would discharge me, which he did, I was glad too as by then the other patients were asking me to do things for them after cottoning on i was a nurse, even though i had just had abdo surgery myself and could hardly walk!!
When i got home it was such a relief but i really felt ill, and ended up with a nasty wound infection from the peritonitus, wouldnt go back and eventually got better after 4 courses of oral ABX
the answer for me is that although i behaved i hated it!!
it is now 6 weeks since i had my surgery, so after a visit to the surgeon and some x-rays he has given the go ahead to change the physical therapy from passive movements for the superior labrum repair, to rotator cuff protocol repair, which he had to do a revision of while he had my shoulder open. he said, he had to do a lot of cutting and repairing as things were too tight and other bits including the rotator cuff were torn. so i had my first session on friday, so lots of new excercises, can wean off the sling, which was the one with the large foam in the middle to keep my arm abducted at all times, so thats a relief. after exercising, the therapist had me lie on my side and his left arm was literally trying to make its way under my shoulderblade while he stood on a stool and put all his pressure on the shoulder from the front. hes over 6 foot tall so it took some effort from me to keep the shoulder relaxed for him to do it. i cant believe that i alow him to do this, it makes me cringe just thinking about tomorrow when i return.
When I went in for my gastric bypass last year, the surgeon had already made the staff aware that I was not only a nurse, but a DON. Thanks, Doc. I have to say, though, that they gave me a private room, and the staff that took care of me were wonderful. I like to think that they were wonderful to EVERYONE, and not just because I was a nurse...
When I went in for my gastric bypass last year, the surgeon had already made the staff aware that I was not only a nurse, but a DON. Thanks, Doc. I have to say, though, that they gave me a private room, and the staff that took care of me were wonderful. I like to think that they were wonderful to EVERYONE, and not just because I was a nurse...
We were on holiday in Florida this month when we were involved in an car accident. I have to say that everyone was fantastic: police, paramedics, and later the RNs and the doctors in the hospital. I was frightened, hurt and in a foreign country but they were warm, caring and professional.
I was going under a GA, I cried and sobbed and cried somemore. The anaestetist didnt unerstand what i was allergic to and i couldnt explain it any better to him between my tears. The nurses tried to calm me but hat didnt really work. When the meds went into my IV i had a horrible pain rght the way up my arm that i tried to pull away and sit up from. They werent best pleased. Soon enough i was asleep though and couldnt keep fighting back!
i am now 10 weeks post surgery and going back to work in 2 weeks time, only because my fmla runs out, this is a us government mandate, that means my job is only protected for 12 weeks and after that they can replace me. so rather than risk having no job, i asked the surgeon to sign me back to work. so although the therapist and the surgeon thinks that it could take another month, i am allowed to go back and to still continue the physical therapy. so i am apprehensive about returning after 3 months, i am quite looking forward to getting back to some form of normality.
I was a patient in my hospital earlier this week. I didn't tell anyone when I was admitted to A&E that I was a nurse at the hospital. But one of the porters recognised me and told my nurse, about 10 minutes later I had a visit from my ward sister and our ward clerk. so much for patient confidentiality!
the sister stayed with me for a while and was telling the staff what to do as she wasn't pleased with the care i was getting. She even said at one point, i'll go back to the ward and get some 50% glucose to give to you if they don't hurry up and do it themselves.
I think I was well behaved and didn't question things that i thought should have been done. e.g. i dropped my blood pressure so they put up IV fluids but it wasn't until over 4 hours later that it was re-checked. If I was my patient I would have checked alot earlier than that.
I did have to keep telling the confused lady opposite me to sit down, because she was almost falling all the time, and i got the lady next to me a sick bowl.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
I have been a patient a few times once was with acute exacerbation of Asthma and made my mum drive me to hospital as I didn't want to bother the ambulance service (knew them all) Arrived in Cas nearly collapsing and sent straight through to one of the sisters saying Hi Anna popped into say hello upstairs and took a closer look and said oops guess not. Was admitted to my own ward as was medical admissions so everyone knew I was coming. Saying that the care was excellent
I'm now 4 weeks post-op, had my surgery done at the hospital I work at. I tried to be a good girl the whole time.
It was kind of nice b/c I knew all the nurses and techs who cared for me, although I wasn't on my own floor. They told me it was nice b/c they didn't have to argue with me about teds/sequentials, incentive spirometer, etc. I had abdominal surgery and it took two days to get things moving again, so I was up walking the halls every couple of hours once they finally got my vitals stable; again, they said it was nice to not have to argue with a patient about that necessity! I found out later that they were considering transferring me to my own floor (tele) when they were having a hard time getting my vitals stabilized, I probably would not have been as well behaved for them just for the fun of it!
I did get to give one of our docs trouble. He has a very booming voice, and woke me up from a dead sleep. I came out to the nurses station and asked him how he expected anyone to get any sleep with him out there being so damn noisy? It was funny b/c he's one of those docs that many people find intimidating but I have a good rapport with, so half of the staff looked totally scandalized that I'd be talking to him like that. He got a good laugh out of it and promised to be quieter while I was there.
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RGN1
1,700 Posts
I'm okay as long as they produce the Ametop cream first!! :-D