lisalau

I thunk thats hilarious I cared for my grandmother til she passed away at 94 years. Each time she soiled herself, it was the first time that had ever happened to her but she vividly remembered my soiling myself just earlier that morning or last night or whenever she last did and having to clean me up! This was consoling for her and ok by me.

when i hear stories like this...and we all know stranger things happen, I am always left with the feeling of wonder that so much goes 'right' patients are surprised and mortified when things go wrong, I am constantly amazed at how much goes smoothly...how many uncomplicated births there are, how many surgeries conclude in success, how much healing takes place both due to, and in spite of, medicine. I, once knew a very wise doctor who believed he was a servant of God and didnt accept congratulations for his, often amazing, work. Theres not enough of that humility. One day after a particularly difficult delivery, the father of the baby pat this doc on the back and thanked him. His reply, as always was to correct the greatful one and remind them to thank God for his blessing. The father, assuming this doctor had a huge ego looked uncomfortable but stood corrected and called the doctor God for the rest of the evening. This memory always makes me smile.

thanks ChayaN hugs

chopstix, you have touched on my pet peeve....the prescribing of antibiotics because the patient demands it whether the condition responds to them or not. Here in Australia, the culture of meeting patients demands has increased remarkably over the past 20 years with the introduction of turnstyle medicine and the demise of the family doctor. Just walk in, tell them what you want and you get it, swipe your medicare card on the way out please. Of my 4 sons, only 2 have ever required antibiotics. They get occassional colds and coughs which are treated with rest, fresh fruit juices and chicken soup. Their symptoms are relieved with inhalations, irrigation, panadol if cold compresses dont reduce a high fever (i dont treat low fevers, i believe unless there is risk of convulsion, the higher temp is needed to stimulate healing) honey and lemon drinks and lots of cuddles. They are usually ready to return to school in 2 or 3 days and they heal no more slowly than the children given useless antibiotic treatment. I have been accused of being negligent for not taking my children to doctors...i often think i am putting them at risk even entering into the rooms filled with sick people. My children are fed with large amounts of fresh organic foods and are made to sleep properly, they exercise every day and they are sick much less often than most we know and they recover much more quickly. I do not attribute this to anything i do, i know i am lucky but i do believe that when children are pumped full of medicine from babies, their bodies get lazy about healing them selves. For a body to resist virus and bacteria it must be in good condition. There is too little trust given to their inate abilities for healing and too much trust attributed to pharmaceuticals. sorry i will get off my soapbox now....this really touches a nerve. It still hurts that i am considered negligent by some because i think differently from them but i understand their judging me As ashamed as i am to admit it, i judge them also and find their thinking ignorant. I would never deny my children medical care if they asked for or neded it. I guess the difference lies in when i consider it needed.

I, too, commend you for the kindness and skill you so lovingly gave Orian. I am sorry for your feelings of loss now. I didnt know that (the carrying of souls from darkness to light) but it is so fitting and your love honoured this bird, be proud. Tears are healing, spill them. My mother in law always ends her time with m wishing "belle cose" it means she wishes me nice things and i wish you tante (lots of) belle cose lisa

For baby's sticky eye (conjunctivitis) squirt breast milk into it. Sounds funny but when you think about it, a sterile proteinaceous fluid is about as good as it gets for cleaning it! ofcourse babys whole face gets covered when you squirt straight from the breast but i guess you could think of it as a moisturiser then.

During this same time, my urethral spasms were driving me CRAZY with a catheter in place. I remember begging for it to be removed. I dont know how, but fully inflated, i pulled it out. This caused much snickering behind my door but it stopped when my nurse came by. Kindly, she brought me some ligncaine and did what she could to settle the spasms and the damage i had created. I know it seems very unlikely, but i have no memory of doing this, had i been rational, i would have deflated prior to extraction. Noone believed i didnt do it on purpose (I had complained enough) and i still blush when i think about it and still remember her kindness

I have a story... (you will get used to these..sorry) when i was first admitted in to High Dependancy with Isolation, i had the warmest, compitant nurse i have ever had the pleasure to be cared for by. Trying to be a model patient, When the sheets were dropped in, she would arrive to find the bed made. Then tubes in the way or not, i would shower myself. This exhausted me so much, i would sleep for 4 hrs but i did it because i needed to move, i had no idea how long i would be in there and it ended up being 8 weeks. She, in turn, would check on me and had learnt to judge by my positions when i was in pain...she never asked, just delivered the pain relief and i trusted her to keep me comfortable. I liked this more than PCA and though we used it when others were on shift, she would remove when it was hers. She brought me music and cried with me when they wouldnt let my children in (my enlarged parotids indicated possibly mumps though it didnt make any sense with blood works etc) She taught me that as morphine wears off, a small amount of a lighter narcotic like codeine can make the relief last longer and many skills i still employ in my managment today. One day while she was on evening shift, i was taken for an mri and my sheets were changed while i was away. When i returned my temp was 43 and i had the sensation that there was glass in my bed. Ridiculous as this seemed, i dd not have the strength to look for myself and so i called my dutynurse who coldly told me she was busy and didnt have time for my febrile hellucinations. I tried to stay as still as possible with rigours but by the time my nurse came on duty, i was crying and told her i was sorry but could she put my mind at ease and check if there is glass. My legs were shredded by a few large glass pieced (looked like from a broken drinking glass) when my nurse called the nurse who refused to look earlier, she picked up the glass pieces and said, arnt i the lucky one...diamonds in my bed! (afterwards i wondered if she perhaps had a relationship with my X...he wasnt the most faithfull of men and to see him at my bed during every break on the list may have irritated her, i dont know, just a thought) When i was to be transferred to another hospital by taxi, carrying all my bags, she got special permission to drive me herself and stayed and made me comfortable, informing the nurses on duty, i was special (bless her) I had been in that ward before and my X (very well known at ths teaching hospital) had visited me and we were overheard discussing my diagnosis. My lovely nurse was hurt i had not told her i was a nurse. I didnt mean, not to, it just never came up and i was pretty groggy most of the time. I guess every time, i need to guage the relationship i build with those caring for me. With this lovely woman, it was a friendship and just as i shared other things, i ought to have shared this. I am very sorry i hurt her by my ommission. I sent her flowers and home baked cakes and music she loved in gratitude a few months later when i was finally home but i never got to see her again. I honour the memory of her...one of our finest.

or maybe it was just my poor spelling...aghhh!!! (apologies....i sit in here in the middle of the night, too tired to correct typos, too lazy to notice spelling mistakes.....but if poor spelling is an irritant around here, i will try harder)

God's child....did the ??? mean you dont understand my post or you are questioning me? I'll assume the prior... what i meant is, I do not volenteer the information however, if i am asked, i would never lie and say i am an accountant (for eg) my usual response is i have been involved in a baby care centre...if further questions are asked, i respond truthfully to them also...stating my qualification but ensuring they understand that my knowledge is probably out of date for areas other than post mother and baby care and that i would appreciate their assumption that i know nothing, that way i am sure i do not miss any information that may be usefull to me because it was assumed i knew. I would rather here 1 000 things i know than miss one learning opportunity (though its more like 1 thing i know and 1 i learn) same when its about my kids...i may offer the info there if i can be an extra pair of hands, eyes, opinion...only if asked to help, i would never impose...but i ask them to explain it all to my children and myself that we both be responsible for the care of their broken arm/stitched knee/recent appendectomy. Medspeak is picked up also...in a home where there are nursing and medical personelle, the children speak fluent medspeak...or feel excluded at some conversations. Its often very funny. Until i lost my grandmother, a year ago, she lived with us (yes a huge family of 9...great grandma, grandma, 5 kidz and us) the children all became very educated in caring for the elderly...diabetic care, personal care, intermittant catheterisation, medication checking and counting (how many of you do this at home, as we do, get meds checked with another before administering?) then when i got sick, the older ones were taught to give both subcut and IM injections...so much for the nursing care, they were also taught alternative modalities to help all family members, massage, visualisation, meditation. They all attended St John and got a first aid course, ofcourse not all were certified, the course was age appropriate and even my then 7 year old learnt the rudimentaries of EAR and CPR as well as wound control and bandaging. They loved doing all this and it meant they truly shared in the caring aspect of our family. What are my childrens dream future occupations (for now) a merchant banker, an accountant, a lawyer, a painter and a sword and bow and arrow maker not a 'care' profession amongst them. but they will always know how to put a bandage on (or ring home)

Fergus said "They all knew when I went in a few weeks ago because it's on my file from the doc. I always just said "But, I only work with babies!" i am the same...running a baby clinic for 15 years put me very out of touch with most of the medical world...claiming i am a nurse would make them assume knowledge i dont have llg said "I will do whatever I have to do to get the best I can get." have to admit, i also have used my and my Xhusbands qualifications to get my childrens needs met..quickly! This is something i would not do for myself but all bets are off when it comes to my kidz...I too will play the game and get handed the best cards i can thanks for the feedback on this...it has been very interesting...

thats exactly what i meant...he was thanking her physically. I dont remember the culture but it was a shock...never seen this before and never saw it again...perhaps it was a personal rather than a cultural thing. She didnt seem to mind. They seemed very much in love and perhaps it was at her invitation, i dont know.

when you are a patient, do you tell the attending doctors/nurses that you are a nurse? i dont for a variety of reasons *my proffession is rarely brought up, i would never lie about it. *my training was 20+ years ago and i stopped working in the hospital system 17+ years ago, there is much i do not know and i would never want not to be explained something with the assumption i knew it, when perhaps i didnt. *i would not want anyone to think i mentioned it because i was seeking preferential treatment what are your thoughts and if you have been a patient, what did you do ?(this is ofcourse assuming you were not being attended to by people you have worked with/who know you) thanks in advance for any feedback lisa

thankyou for your post...its great to know someone enjoyed it...the story remains too funny and tragic at the same time for me...but i do enjoy telling it...opiphobia reigns in some people, i hope some day that will change. I would rather give 10 people their hit than refuse 1 patient their pain relief. Who am i to judge? Someone earlier said an interesting thing, isnt an addict, without their DOC, in pain? and personality plays a great part in how people behave? personally, unless the pain level is a 8+, i can still manage to smile, be polite I once met a nurse who was going to teach me intermittant catheterisation (this is a different thread, but do you all tell docs/nurses who are treating you, your qualifications? i will start a thread on this in general) When she met me, i smiled and thanked for her time (she had stayed back to teach me) she made the judgment from that exchange that i was not in pain and didnt need this...when inserting the cath, i started to shake and tears rolled down my eyes with the agony of my urethra being stimulated and she looked at me, full of compassion and said, darling why dont you tell us how much pain you are in? I guess I just dont think every exchange needs me to be crying or frowning or whining...if i chose to live like that, i would not be choosing to live. I spend a great deal of emotional energy using cognitive therapy and trying to diminish my pain as much as possible. That doesnt mean the pain is not there, simply that i dont choose to BE my pain. I think that is something we all need to recognise, as patients become more willing to take responsibility for their conditions and become more learned in the discipline of PAIN, we will see more and more people who are not willing to allow their pain rule their lives, that doesnt mean the alternative methods are enough to help them lead a full life, it just means they are willing to put the effort in to learn the available modalities to lessen their need for pain relief and sometimes that will mask the signs we are accustomed to seeing. enough, thanks for reading

It was protocol in our hospital to leave the new parents alone for a while to enjoy their new baby and eachother before the "cleaning up" Imagine our surprise when less than 20 min after a lady partsl delivery we found the new dad on the table "thanking" his wife for his son. First reaction was horror and then we decided that he would have to be well endowed to cause any injury...but we were more carefull in the future before walking in after a delivery of that nationality baby.