flowerchild

Sounds like a wonderful idea. Unfortunatly, the laws pertaining to our practice are governed by each individual state and this will not change. What they could do is give us reciprocity. The problem with that lies within the fact that if a nurse has a licensed revoked in one state, could go to another state, start working before anyone knew that they really didn't have a license anymore.

I am having a difficult time understanding how I would ever know the info posted on this BB re phenergan. Every drug book I have looked at on this subject lists IV as a route for the med. I have always relied on those drug books to give the best care possible to my patients when it comes to giving meds. I am not involved with nor a member of the INS, so I would consider myself giving prudent care had I been the OP and chalked it up to a complication. So many meds are hard on the veins, as mentioned here on this thread. Do we just refuse to use ALL of them just b/c there is a chance of a problem? Tell the doc to give all the meds that could cause a possible complication themselves? How is this any different that following P&P, checking the drug book, giving any drug, take lasix PO for example, to find the patient dehydrated or hypokalemic, or any other s/e or complication. We KNOW of the possible complications and watch out for them, but problems do arise. With standards being set by who ever decides to set a standard and then not allow anyone but members be privy to the information is not right and leaves us all open to being held negligent. Of course I would always advocate for my patient to the best of my ability and knowlege, but how can you do that when you have P/P and drug reference books that agree with your own practice standards. Remember, anyone can sue anyone, for any reason. The hospital will every time try to pin it on the nurse when something goes wrong to decrease thier own liablity, but if you stick to the hospitals P/P, how could you as a nurse be held soley liable? As far as the sentinal event, that should be used to increase the standards of care to avoid something like this from happening again. The investigation should focus on that issue. They are required to ask the questions they asked of the OP to get to the bottom of the problem and hopefully avoid it happening again. I don't think the OP caused the complication, esp if the OP followed the P/P and since the books use IV as a route, what else could one do?

Robinette, I'm so sorry to hear of what happened to your family. Our son was only 7 when my husband had his. I am very greatful he is still with us and I'm sure anyone who has made it through this feels greatful too. I can only imagine the loss you feel as the thoughts of losiing mine were very real and not many days go by that I wonder when and if it will happen again and he will be gone from our lives forever. I fear that what happened to you will someday happen to me. I can only hope and pray that my fears are unwarrented. I thank God every day that he is with us. My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to you and your child.

NICU-Nurse, I would recommend that you talk with All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg. I worked there at one time and it is a great place to work. The NICU is the best in the area. I would also recommend St. Pete over Tampa any day. Best beaches, better all around. The hospital is near the interstate so it is easy to access from many areas of the county including the beaches. Good Luck in where ever you go.

Thank you for sharing. I don't think my husband will ever know the devestation I felt when he had his heart attack at age 35. He almost died and would have if left up to the ER staff as they refused to listen to me and dismissed his symptoms, misdiagnosed him, and threatened me. I will show him your poem. Maybe, after all these years, he will understand that he wasn't alone through this. He has never been the same man as he was before but the heart attack did not win. He is still with us. And now, almost 9 years later we have adorable 6 y/o girl twins who would not be here today if we did not perservere. It took incredable strength on my part to have more children with this man. I was so scared he would not be around and I would be left alone with our children to raise. Finally, I figured that if we did not follow through with our plans to have another child that the heart attack would win, I was so right and thank God everyday for him and our children. Again, thank you so very much for sharing. I could never put what I felt into words as eloquently as you did.

Here's a trick that worked for me. I was placed on the waiting list. I waited and waited and did not get called. So, on the last day for enrollment, I called the nursing admissions and asked if there was any openings. One of the accepted persons decided not to start, leaving one space open. They gave me 15 minutes to get down to them and enroll in the nursing classes before the closing of enrollment. I drove as fast as I could and got there with 2 minutes to spare. She plugged me into the computer and I was IN! Worked for me! They perferred to take me rather than let the spot go empty but it was only my perserverance that got me there and got me in with no time to spare. Lucky me!

It is OK to have a personality conflict with another person. It happens. You have to find a way to live with it. Try keeping contact with this person strictly professional. In my work I have never tried to "make freinds" at work. I am there to do a job, not socialize. Not everyone is going to like you and you will not like everyone, but you still have to work with these people, so you find a way to make it as best as possible. Don't dwell on it. Don't let it affect you. Just accept it for what it is and find a working relationship that you can both live with.

The ear thermometers are only accurate IF you hit the tympanic membrane correctly. If the person has otitis media, forget it, you get the temp of the hot spot, not the core temp of a person. The forehead thermometers are fairly accurate IF it is used correctly but will not give you an exact temp measurement. If a person has just been working out and is hot and sweaty, it is not accurate. The most accurate temps are rectal or oral, for an oral temp IF done correctly, placed under the tongue and HELD in the proper place by the person taking the temp. Rectal temps are the most accurate of all but not done b/c of the route in most cases.

I didn't think this thread would live. Too much good to get most peoples attention. Just as the media doesn't report "good news" b/c it just doesn't sell. Sigh. Oh well.

In 1995 I was making 58,000/yr doing HHC RN visits with benefits in Florida and loved my job. My income had risen to that point from the time I had graduated from college in '91. I remember starting at 12.50/hr as an RN newbie. At the time you could buy a house in Tampa Bay starting at $35,000 and my grocery bill was $60/wk. By the time I left my first hospital job in '93 I was doing pool w/o benes for $20/hr. Now, I make less than $30,000/yr. Govt pay ---- Thank you Florida for thinking so much of your public health nurses. Benefits have been whittled down, cost for benes is up. I do work FT. I have this job for other reasons besides the pay and I love my job. No I didn't HAVE TO settle for this pay, but I choose to accept it and move on. So, since I can no longer live on this measly pay it's back to the bedside for me. I negotiated my pay at my new job and did a decent job of it. I'll get $23/hr plus shift and w/e diffs as house super. I plan on doing some OT and figure I'll should make at least $50,000/yr. Still a far cry from the 50 I wanted w/o OT. But, I tried! I will be pushing to get into admin/mngt for the higher pay. (Comparison Now: same house is now over $100,000 and grocery bill is 120/wk.) The $$ is out there but not like it used to be. What happened? I'll tell you. A huge money hungry Corporation with bosses and CEO's that would even break the law for profits sake, bought every hospital, every HHC, and anything else they could get thier hands on. This Corporation bought the HHC co I worked for and treated us as they did the hospitals. They bought then closed every HHC, and Hospital (2 in my community), thus eliminating the competition. They moved nurses from other HHC co into my office as now we all worked for the same co. Then they thinned us out. Cut our pay. Cut our bene's. Left us w/o ANY benefits at first. They did this b/c they had ALL the control. Eventually, I was laid off too, after several years of service in the same HHC office. They said I could get a job as a NEW hire at another location but I would have to interview for it. I'm sure I could have taken that offer and had a job but I was so mad that they wanted to erase my years of service and start all over again that I told them forget it. Ever since then I have not been able to find a job that paid as well nor that I liked so much, as before they took CONTROL. The state LET them do this, then the state and feds came down on them, but it was too late. They still owned so much of the market. They just changed thier name. A few went to jail. And the nurses got the shaft. They did this all across the state. Luckily, there is more competition now. Many years later. But they still own a good majority of the hospitals and they set the pace on pay d/t the size. Wages are set by the hospitals. They call, ask, share, find out what the wages are at thier competition. I have done this job before when I was in admin. You use the info to set "competitive wages", ie: in line w/ what the other place is paying. This keeps wages down. To top that off, Florida is a right to work state. You can loose your job for any or no reason at the employers whim. Unions have been shut out of Florida for many years. They are just now gaining momentum in this state. No union, No power. But since it's a right to work state, employees are afraid of being fired, which does happen when they start talking union. A few years ago this was common practice. Then you wouldn't be able to get a job elsewhere b/c you were fired, and if they hear about the real reason why, you'd never get a job. I live here b/c I was born and raised here. I am not leaving just b/c I can be paid more $ in some other state. I hope that many will stop flaming those of us who live and work here. There are reasons that it is the way it is and it is a bigger fish than any one nurse can fix. It will take years to recover from what the corp world did here. More to get us all unionized. AFL/CIO here! And even more years for the state govt to protect employees if ever. The big corps have all the $$ to get the laws they want and the state wants to attract big business, so they will keep the laws on the side of the corps. I figure that the nursing shortage will in fact become so bad here that we will finally get decent pay to offset, what we Floridians consider a high cost of living.

I received that letter the other day. I don't believe the gov't has any right to say that I am obligated to join a private organization - ie: CE Broker, so I ignored the information the first time I'd heard about it via other nurses discusing the issue. Knowing it is not legal for the BON to require this. I figured there would be some kind of grace period in case I was wrong, or I'd just deal with it. I didn't even open the first letter from CE Broker, probably b/c it was not from the state so I just saw another advertisment in my mailbox to ignore. The state always sends more than one letter when ever there is a change in how our license is handled. When they changed the renewal dates a few years ago I remember receiving at least two letters plus it was brought to the attention of our employer who spoke about in a meeting. I was also in the publication that they send in the mail. I can definitly understand your feelings about this. When I got the letter from the BON, of course I opened it and read about the "misunderstanding" I did think about all those who joined up. I wonder whose at fault. Did CE Broker just print this up without final approval from the Bon on the contents of a letter that had the state logo on it? If they did, CE Broker should be charged with fraudulent advertising and shut down immediatly. If they did it with approval, then the BON should be responsible for any requested refunds to those who followed the letter from CE B. Don't we have a right to know how this happened and who is taking responsiblity for it?

Hi Everybody! I think we need a thread titled as above. A place where we can post all good things about nurses. A thread that shows just what nurses are really about. There is so much negativity out there and it would be nice to have a place to get a positive warm fuzzy. Not to mention the effect it may have on those deciding on becoming a nurse. I mentioned it to Brian and he suggested that I open a thread to see if there is any interest. Good news usually isn't that popular though, but we will see if it is something that is worth it to us. All of us have heard of a nurse hero. Perhaps you have your own story. We could post current or past stories, or awards to nurses. We could tell our own personal stories. We can even talk about ourselves and how a patient thought we were thier hero. What do you think? I'll start with a nurse from a local hospital where I once worked. Here is the link to the story. http://www.allkids.org/News/Media/Releases/2002_Diane.html

OH YEA! I remember going to school with my bathing suit under my cloths, still wet, wet hair, and of course sand tween my toes. Teachers never thought much of it, good thing. We didn't have air conditioning in the schools then and the breeze would blow through the big windows on a nice day. The school my kids go to now, has NO windows. It's closed up tight, no wonder my kids suffer from RAD. We used to take the boat out by ourselves as kids, we'd take a pack of saltines and some tobasco so we could eat our lunch off the oyster beds in the bay. Those oysters are LONG GONE, wouldn't eat an oyster out of Tampa Bay now. I remember riding our horses down to Boca Bay to let them swim, then if we were feeling really bad, we'd ride them through the rich folks golf course, then run like mad before we were caught. LOL, we were just havin some fun. I remeber taking our gigs and heading out for fish, big, huge schools of fish, it was so easy. I remember my Great Gma cooking up Coquina Soup, Yummy. She made it so good. I'd bring home the Coquinas and she'd cook all day. And, clams, so easy to find the key holes, they were everywhere. She'd make me clam chowder too. When I was growing up, we didn't have much $$. Dad would net mullet. We'd have mullet, stew, fried, broiled, steamed. Not so fond of mullet these days though. We made our own skateboards from skates and wood, and our own boards for the beach and behind the boat. We'd wax the one for the boat and my Dad would pull me behind the boat, I was 4, I'd yell, faster Daddy, FASTER!. Mom would be Yelling at Dad to slow down and we'd just laugh and he'd push the throttle forward. We flew. We used to hit the road, just for the fun of it, finding natural springs, hidden areas of nature, and anything else we could find. We'd drive for hours to have some REAL Catfish and hushpuppies. You could go anywhere, do anything, NOWDAYS, so many private, keep out, do not enter, do not breath on my land signs. Fences, etc. Just too many people I remember getting caught on an island d/t summer storms and we'd make a lean to, or get under the boat and just peer out at the storm till it stopped, then make our way home. We'd go to the woods and see plenty of fox, bobcat, etc. I saw a Florida Panther once in NORTH Florida, there are no more Panthers in the North these days. What a majestic animal to see in the wild. We'd eat swamp cabbage, rattlesnake, soft shells, poke weed, etc. It was all so abundant then. Well, I did go scalloping last summer, and plan to do it again, kinda sucks that the nuke plant is always in view there though. Same for the crabbing. Still do that too but I have to drive for 2 1/2 hours to get where the pickins are still decent. I remember going out Kingfishing, what fun! Dad would put me, this little kid at the helm and say don't go off course no matter what, just stick your head up through the center window so they can see you. You should have seen the faces of those other boaters when they saw a little kid in control, they'd get out of my way fast and we could keep our course! LOL. Ah yes, the nostalgia. Remember when we all laughed b/c Disney bought all that SWAMP land in central Florida, the middle of nowhere? If you ever wondered why Disney has so many lakes it's b/c the drained the swamp and had to put the water somewhere. Too much of that has led to NO WATER for our faucets. Can't wash the car, my kids wonder why they can't play in the hose, my well smells like death-yuck-and to think we used to drink from our well, can't water the yard. Oh well, all in the progress of man. They can have it, I'm outta here. Hoping to find a place where my children can run free, not worry about the child molester on the next street, where my children can ride horses for miles, where they can play in the water without worrying about high bacteria levels, where they can find wildlife, fish, mullusk, and just have some real kid fun. I think I found it, we just bought a home on 12 1/2 acres in the country, on one of the largest pristine rivers in the state. 500 ft. on the water. Natural protected forests everywhere. And if I want to keep my Christmas lights on my front porch all year long, there will be no stuffed notherner to call me names! Speaking of such, I've had it with being treated as second rate b/c I'm a real Floridian, for years, and it's gotten worse, people come build homes on pastures, then proceed to cut down, call names, to any "cracker" . I know, b/c I can act very refined and not show my accent, I'm a professional. They start talking, and I've heard what they say about me and my fellow natives. It's not nice, they have no respect for us. I let them run at the mouth and then tell them, then they say, oh not you. WELL, who else then? Give me a break. Superficial, they can have it. Oh, and to finish our 40 years of living here, (in the county, not city limits) we were just fined $350 d/t my 71 Chevy sitting under the carport, hiden by lattice from view of the road! THEN, the state sends my hubby a letter stating he is being indicted on criminal charges for an inoperable vehicle, he must appear in court or an arrest warrent will be issued! They can fine us $500 per day or go to jail! We have NEVER been in any trouble with the law. This is so appalling to us. Of course the car is now up on our new property, I DARE someone to come onto our property and tell us we can't park it there under our new carport! Our current "wonderful" neighbors, not real floridians called to complain about the car, and this is after we spent $1000 on our yard with landscaping, painted the house, it looks great, but they just couldn't leave us alone long enough for us to get out of here. I just hope we get out of here before they realize hubby pulled the motor out of our race car and it is sitting on the car trailer, inoperable. I jsut can't live with others telling me what I can do and can have on my own property. It's not like the place is a dump! It's a beautiful home, clean and neat and well manicured. Give me a break! These old folks who come here just don't have anything better to do than to drive around and find any violation they can to report it. To top that off, this is a new law, we moved to the county in the first place so we could have our cars, and pets. Now they say I can't even have chickens or ponies here anymore. Can you tell I resent all of this? Well, I do, and for good reason, imo. SEE YA!

"......I have heard that fort walton is still nice....maybe I'll get there before it changes too." Too Late! I was there last summer. Absolutely some of the prettiest beaches I've seen here but already built up and crowded and the areas near are slated for development plus new and wider roads. Big new stores, all the top stores, big $$$, golf courses, etc. Paper co and developers fighting state to use protected management areas to build the road through the forest. They'll get the OK as usual. The only places left are in the marshes if you want everything we had minus the white sand beaches but even places like Cedar Key are built up. And the flats go for miles before you can hit deeper waters. But it's what's left. Even in those areas a mobile home on the water is going for $200,000 and we're talkin many miles to the closest town. This beach baby is heading inland. Sigh. At least I'll have miles, and miles of wide open, peaceful river to play on that is vastly protected and owned by the state for preservation, thus limiting the expansion of urban sprawl. I can always drive an hour to the beach. Shoot, it takes me almost that long to get there now on a w/e and I'm only five miles away!

This is a good page for grad/pinning ceremony. http://www.stclairc.on.ca/programs/departments/nursing/Candlelightceremony.html Try lamp of learning on your search and you'll find more on passing the lamp to the underclass students.

Hey Viv! Don't give up that bus job yet! The school bus drivers on this side of the bay (Pinellas) are starting at 10 to 12 $ per hour. They have great benefits, and are members of SICU -- union. Get breaks, holidays off, etc. They are respected. Will you get that as a CNA? Make sure before you make the move, it might not be worth it. You are helping people in your current job, imo. Don't get me wrong, if your heart is in it, go for it. Just make sure you are making a GOOD decision. There are many home health care companies that will train you as a home health aid. It takes about six weeks of classes. Or check with the Tampa Red Cross, I know they used to give classes in St. Pete. You may want to try that first as no HS/GED is required and it will give you a small dose of care giving experience. Taking classes from a home care agency or LTC for CNA, will lock you into a contract where you will be required to work for them for a certain amount of time or owe them $$. Doing it and paying yourself leaves you open to work for anyone and you will hold the power to what you do and where. The later is worth it imo. Be very leary of private "tech" schools, they are notorious for taking you money and closing the school, leaving many empty handed students. Stick with the Hillsborough County Public Vocational schools if you go this route. Maybe you should see if you can follow a CNA at a nursing home to see what it is really all about or volunteer at a nursing home. It is hard work, manual labor, dealing with sometimes very difficult people. The nursing homes and hospitals are demanding jobs. IF you choose to work in a less demanding environment, say the schools, your pay will decrease as well, say $6 to $8 per hour, home health aids about the same. The only way you'll make what you do now is by becoming a CNA and working in a hospital or nursing home, or going for the LPN. I hope you understand, just trying to help, I've seen way too many start the programs after quiting a good job, just to find out it's not for them. Good Luck in what ever you do.

Hi! Just wondering if there are any other native Floridians here on this BB. I was born and raised in Florida. It is a rare occasion to meet other people, especially my age (over 35), who are born here. Lots of transplants and people claiming to be Floridians but when you talk to them you find out they were born elsewhere. I hear so many people putting Florida down for so many reasons, and then I think, the ones who complain, are NOT really from here but from up north somewhere. They are the ones who have made the laws, made the state the way it is, raised home prices beyond what most natives could ever afford, clogged the roads, etc. So why all the complaining? Geesh. I remember the REAL Florida, abundant wildlife and sea life, no traffic, inexpensive housing, NICE, FRIENDLY southern folks --- where did they all go? I was born in Pinellas county, raised on St. Pete. Beach, my Great Grand Parents owned the first motel on that beach, my Gma and Mom always lived on the waterfront, we could go fishing anytime and bring home dinner. Boy, are those days gone. The motel we owned is still there, it's sale value is over 2.5 million, our families waterfront homes in the half million range. WOW! But, the value of our homes is not worth what we have lost in quality of life. Our air quality is so bad that it's hard to breath all the exhaust, the noise levels of cars, sirens, etc is so bad that there is NEVER a moment of peace and quiet. The lights are so bright that you can't see the stars anymore. The beach so crowded, it's just not relaxing and enjoyable. The fish are depleated, no more fresh oysters, no more living from the sea. Going out in the boat is crazy! There are so many boats with crazy captains zooming in all directions that it's very dangerous to go out. So my only recourse is to move away from the area I grew up to love and know so well b/c what I loved and knew, is no more. Just venting. I don't expect much response from natives b/c we are so few but just thought I'd give it a try. Anyone else with similar experiences in Florida?

I'd like to learn more about the employee protection policies. I have been under the understanding that as a professional, educated, trained nurse, that if I do not act, I could be held liable. In an emergency, I don't think I have the right to choose who to give cpr to and who to withhold it from, no matter what thier diagnosis. I could be held negligent for driving by an accident and not stopping to help (if someone saw me and knew I was a nurse). It is up to me to protect myself with items that are available. (knowing where things are, or using my pocket cpr protector, and UP). I would be negligent if I did not do everything in my scope of practice and within my training to save the patients life, hopefully. Only the patient, family, doctor, and sometimes judges can say when to with hold life saving treatments. Is this something that is mandated by state laws?

In my clinic I keep the airways, and ambu bags right on top, in a bag, tied to the side. Easy to find. The portable suction machine is always handy too and easy to find. I also carry my pocket cpr protector with me. You never know when you'll need it. Any unit I have worked on, the FIRST thing I do when orienting is review the crash cart and find the airways. I want to KNOW where these items are BEFORE I take a patient load. I frequently volunteer to do the cart check too which keeps me up knowlegable of it's contents and thier locations. One of my first jobs taught me this after seeing a nurse do mouth to mouth on a trach. YUCK. All those secretions. She couldn't find the bag and connector, we soon got her one, but she was pretty grossed out. Lesson learned. Also saw a patient start breathing after a couple of blows by the nurse and the patient vomited into her mouth. Double YUCK. Lesson reinforced.

I think you should look at getting him tested (again?) for his allergies. What exactly is he allergic to? Find out, avoid the allergens, and ask the doc about allergy shots (probably too young though) or allergy meds. The pneumonia, tonsilitis, ear infections, bronchitis, could ALL be caused by the allergy. Wet ears, lungs, sinus', increase the risk of infection. My approach, as usual, find the causitive factor and remove it if possible, if not then treat the symptoms to avoid complications. BTW, my kids have allergies, RAD/asthma, sinus allergies, rashes too. I try hard to keep them "dry" via use of anti allergy meds, which I have noticed fewer infections in thier ears and airways. I understand your frustration. It's so hard to watch them suffer. So many children have these allergies. More than ever before. I've thought long and hard as well as researched for info. I can only sumise that it is environmental. Our air quality where I live is 83%, our food ? I don't even like to think of pesticides, ab, weird chemicals, etc that are used to produce our food supply. One problem I have found is that only male plants are patented. In turn, when you buy a plant or tree from a store, it's usually male. Cities, counties, and other municipalities, as well as many homeowners, avoid or cut down the female plants b/c they are messy. They flower, fruit, and leave a mess to clean up. So all these male plants putting off pollen and no females to take up the pollen, it stays in the air for us to breath. There are now a couple of cities in America that have outlawed the planting of male trees. One is in N.M. I'm checking out or IN as many would say, leaving the city behind, to grow my OWN vegetables, raise or hunt my own meat, milk from MY cow and goats, eggs from my chickens, and best of all, I'll have an unlimited water supply of the very best around. Same water that I now buy in the store in a bottle and pay too much for. There are plenty of natural forests all around. The air quality where I am moving is 98%. I have yet to see an asthma attack at our new place. They run through hay fields, play outside all day having fun, and I don't have to give Albuterol. I can't wait to get out of the city! I'm outa here!

In my area there are at least TEN FREE clinics. ANYONE, including illegals and natural born citizens can make an appointment to get care. There are another 15 or so clinics that take patients based on a sliding scale. Why is everyone crying that they can't get care? Even if you have insurance, you can still use the clinics. I know there are issues re care to non insured that may be different than someone with insurance esp in a hospital. But, even a hospital will give care needed, then set up payment plans, send the social worker, reduce the amount owed, etc. Perhaps other areas of the country do not have these clinics. I don't know why not. Most everywhere is a health dept. If you are one who needs care and can't get it by traditional methods then find a place you can go to. KNOW YOUR COMMUNITY RESOURCES, they are out there. If they are not there, do something about it. Where there is a will, there is a way.

4. How can I avoid or minimize it? Use the golden rule and ignore anyone who doesn't do the same. Don't worry about it. Just do your job and be yourself. Don't let anyone get away with bullying, always shut them down as quick as possible via management if needed.

On board you will be an employee. Employees are not allowed to frat w/ the guests. You will have a small "party/dining" room for the employees. Most of the employees are from other countries. As a professional, a nurse, you would fit in w/ the management for social time, but you won't be, your time off socially will be w/ foreign engine room, housekeepers, etc. And I've heard those guys are only interested in one thing from the female co-workers, if you get my drift. You do not get to cruise like a guest. Your meals are not what the guests get, you do not get to use the pool, or go on deck w/ guests. The pay is not good. The docs will hang you out on a limb in a second and since they are not always avail, it's all you. That's where the autonomy comes in but it is a risky autonomy. I've yet to meet any nurse who did a cruise as an employee return happy. They say, it was the most dreadful experience I've ever had, I'll never do it again. While there may be some ships that are different, there are none that I've heard are any better.

I live in an area where we have several cruise ships. From what I've heard, run the other way. You will be overworked, underpaid, less appreciated than ever, and not treated any better than a deck hand. Don't do it is the advice I have heard, it's not worth it.

Even if you had identified the problem for what it was. Would anyone had listened to you? Don't be so hard on yourself. The s/s, the doc statements, etc led you to believe it was just the COPD. Anyone would have done the same. Everytime I try to tell the docs what I think it is, I have been discounted to nothing, it's like they think they are the only ones who know, they don't listen and try to disprove me which only lengthens the time that my family gets help. I have been correct in my assumptions EVERY time but it has been only a hindrence to their care. So perhaps it was best you didn't ID it and push the issue. It's never worked for me. Again, don't be so hard on yourself. I hope your Mom recovers quickly.