ham22

Jackson Browne..Runnin On Empty?? That's perfect, love that song.

it doesn't seem to have been that long ago. i was only 20 years old at the time but i remember the sadness like it was yesterday. my heart still breaks for the victims and their families. god bless everyone that this horrible tragedy touched!

for my sister...(a fellow student said this to her during lpn school) no she did not just tell me " metastases " means cancer of the metabolism!!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I had the same problem too. Tried first when I was 14.(I am 30 Now) It just hurt! I was also scared to try again. But, eventually I did try again and had no other problems. Turns out on my first try I did several things wrong. 1.-I put it in when I was not even on my period. Just thought I'd test it out to see what it was like. 2.- I did not have it inserted all the way. 3.- I used a cheap cardboard applicator and it hurt pretty bad. I ended up using Kotex brand with a plastic applicator and have used them ever since! I also think it's easier to sit straight up on the toilet and insert with your arm behind your back . Maybe put a little water on the tip to make insertion easier also. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. The things us girls have to go through!

Wow! I can't believe my Doc never told me any of this. Scary stuff! At least I will know about it this time and I will be sure to ask lots of questions.

I was able to do assessments on falls at my old facility. But then again, Lpn's were the only ones that actually worked the floor. Management made the Lpn's do everything they could. Anyway, as far as being treated like we are not "real nurses" that is a very sore subject with me. I think the thing that bothers me the most is when someone asks what I do and I tell them that I'm an Lpn and they are like "Uh, well, when are you getting your RN? " or "Oh, I really think you should get your RN." and most of them are people that are not even in the medical field and know nothing about nursing. I even had one person say to me "Oh, you're just a Little Pretend Nurse." Talk about offensive! :angryfire But, these are things we sometimes have to deal with. I know how hard I worked for my license and i am very proud to be an Lpn. I know that i am a very caring and honest person and I am good at what I do. I just think of that when someone tries to belittle me as a professional. it helps get me through.

I don't have any experience with OB nursing but I can tell you from personal experience. I had Gestational Diabetes with my first baby and was never told anything about that. Their main concern was that I follow my diet and keep my sugars regulated so the baby was not too big and so that his sugars would be ok when he was born. Other than that I don't know. Maybe do an internet search? That always seems to help me.

i totally agree with you. when i was a cna at my old nursing home i loved it. when i switched facilities and went to work as a nurse it was the most stressful environment i have ever been in! one nurse to 75 residents. yeah, most days i didn't even get a lunchbreak.:imbar to op- i would say you'll just have to get out there and experience different places for yourself. you never know, maybe slow-paced will be too boring and you'll end up liking the more hectic side of nursing. good luck in whatever you decide! :)

:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire Holy s**t! That is just horrifying! It literally made my stomach turn just reading about that poor woman. Can you imagine the absolute misery she must be in? No wonder she's combative. Places like that are the reason that nursing homes get such a bad rap. One bad apple has to ruin it for the whole bunch. I agree with the others, they need to be reported!

meds! i had an instructor who would quizz us on all of our patients meds right in front of everyone. i have never felt so dumb. i mean we were expected to know every little detail about it right down to the actual breakdown in the body. it sucked! sometimes a patient could have 20 meds or more! the most i ever had was 22. mr poor friend got 42 once! ridiculous! oh yeah, we couldn't buy the ready made med cards to study from either, we had to make our own! good luck to you!

Just put my vote in. She is absolutely beautiful! Good Luck....

Well it's kind of long but, my husband and I have been together 5 years. Baby #1 came along 3 months after we started dating. (2 weeks after I moved in!) Basically, we never had time to really enjoy each other and just be "in love". I was in nursing school while PG and went right to work when I was done. Anyway, on top of being a high-risk pregnancy last year, we ran into some other major marital difficulties and almost got divorced. We worked things out and found that love that was always there again and things have been going so great until now. We were just going to work on us and take a road trip(my husband just bought a new mustang last month) to see some relatives and let our boys stay with their grandparents. Maybe be a little selfish for once. We are both the type of people that always put everyone else first. But, we also do not have room for a third child. Our house is tiny and my boys share a room and their beds practically touch. I am not back to work either so money's an issue as well- was planning on going back after our great summer. Mentally I am not ready for a third child either. I knew that -that's why we took the precautions we did. We put all our trust in this guy and he turned out to be a quack! But I hope things work out for the best. -Amy

That sounds exactly like us! Tiny house, already overcowded. Which makes for a very stressful life and baby #3 will probably give both my husband and I a mental breakdown! I know what she's feeling and I will be thinking of her! Thanks. -Amy

Well, my husband and I went and saw my Dr. this morning. I am pregnant. I have an ultrasound tomorrow to see how far I am. After reading all your posts I really feel like a fool! I just can't belive that Urologist told me my pills weren't neccessary and we were "good to go" after only a week! He also told us that residual sperm was a wives tale.Even the nurse this morning told us she used to work for a surgeon and when he did them he would do the semen samples at 6 weeks and then if needed he would do them until they were no longer needed. I just wish he wouldn't have told me it was ok to go off my pills. We are both kicking ourselves for not doing more research. We had No idea this could even happen. My sister and her boyfriend of 11 years are both very fertile people and he had it done with no troubles. They waited 2 weeks to have sex and that was it. No more babies for them. That was about 2-3 years ago. Have you ever just felt like a huge idiot? That is how I feel right now. I am 30 years old and my husband is 24. I am getting too old to have another baby!(no offense to anyone-that is just directed at myself) Plus - I really thought something was wrong when I delivered my last baby because my hands and my face were numb and it was horrible pain. I thought I was going to die. Nothing like my first. Plus the fact that I was high-risk. It's all just too much too take. Thanks for all your kind words though. -Amy

Yes, he gave a semen sample around a week later and the urologist called a few days after that and even though I am a nurse, I didn't quite understand what he was telling me but all I understood was "So,You're good to go!" Exact words. To me, that was all I needed to hear.No "well, maybe you should stay on the pill, or use extra precaution, or there may be some active sperm". Nothing! We didn't have sex for about 2 weeks after the procedure and even after that we used condoms and excuse my slang but pulled out as well and I was still covered by my pills. We weren't taking any chances! All that and look where it got us! It just makes me mad to think that he had such little disregard for our lives. I thought you needed more than one follow up sperm count as well? Anyone know if that's true?

Wow! You must have worked at my old facility! That always made me sick how they could get away with that crap. :angryfire Sometimes there were only 2 CNA's to 75 residents at my old job! Isn't that awful! I tried to help when I could but as I was usually the only nurse there I was very busy as well. So glad I'm away from there. To OP- it is sad to say but I think there's a little of this everywhere you go. I see your point of view because I started at the bottom in Houskeeping and laundry , worked my way up to CNA and am now an LPN. But LPN's and RN's get treated badly in some places as well. What's the old saying? S**t always rolls downhill! It sounds like this nurse may just be a little lazy if she wouldn't even help you stand someone and she was right there. Hang in there and know that you will have the same education that she has someday and then see how her attitude changes. Good Luck!

Hi everybody. I will try to keep this as short as possible. My husband and I have 2 boys- 4 years and 8 months old. With our 8 month old I had some major problems PTL, shortening cervix etc. and then had a terrible labor and delivery. Way harder than my first boy. Anyway, that was it for us, my husband and I decided no more children EVER AGAIN! :redlight: So, I went on the pill right after our last baby was born back in August and my husband decided to get a vasectomy. So, the vas was done Dec. 17th. I told the urologist I was going to stay on the pill and he told me that was not necessary. I also told him that I heard that there could be viable sperm for up to another 4 months afterward. He told me that was an old wives tale and not to worry. So, I igored that inner voice that told me to stay on my pill and just let them run out. I took my last active pill Jan. 1st. So, here we are now in April and I have yet to have a period. (Well,I should mention that I did take an HPT on Jan. 11th just out of being paranoid and it was negative. Then, about a week later I had some spotting.) So, this past Fri. I took an HPT and it was positive. We were in total shock so I took another one yesterday and got the same result, positive. I am calling my Dr. first thing in the morning. Does it sound like the urologist messed up by not telling us more? If I had any idea that this could happen I would've stayed on the pill. This is going to basically ruin our lives. I hate to phrase it that way but that's how we feel.We did everything he told us to and were responsible and this still happened to us. We had really big dreams planned. I am so depressed and shocked right now I don't know what to do. I just cannot go through this again. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Is it common? Thanks for listening. Sorry so long. -Amy

I have learned how to get through it but I don't think I'll ever get used to it. There is one thing in particular that sticks with me though. I was working my first night alone as Charge nurse and had only had my license maybe 2 months when I lost my first resident. The thing that gets to me is I feel guilty for not calling the family sooner. His wife was on her way there when he passed and she was so emotionally distraught over not being able to say goodbye to him one last time that I just can't get it out of my head. She had been with him almost every hour of every day too. She had went home to get some rest. I ended up bawling my eyes out right along with the family. I have learned to control that now but sometimes if a resident is in pain, be it physical or emotional I do tear up and cry with them. You get close to your people in LTC so I think that kind of makes it hard too. I also agree with 3rdShiftGuy- It does take a special kind of person to care for children. I definately could not. God Bless

as a ltc nurse i just have to say- don'y worry about it. we get new admits all the time that have no paper work and it has never been a big issue to me. all i have to do is call the hospital and ask them to fax me the orders. they are usually very apologetic about it and get the orders right to me. it's the ones that come from home that are the frustating ones. you know 20 bottles of unmarked pills and no dr.s orders for them -but that's a whole different topic! seems to me this was a minor mistake in your career. too bad the family had to make a stink instead of making sure everything was in place beforehand. after all they are just as much a part of this patients care team as the nurses are! good luck and keep your head up!!

too sad. the poor little thing really didn't have a chance. thank god that she is negative for aids & hiv though. i completely agree with your post!

I did not catch this show today. Thank godness! I would not have been able to take it. The men that do these things are not men- they are Monsters. I don't care if they believed that doing these horrible things would cure them. A grown man knows better. Just sickening. I can't even begin to imagine what those poor little babies had to go through. I also would like to know where the parents were. I know as a parent when I look into my little boys eyes so full of innocence it just overwelms my heart with so much joy and love that all I ever want to do is protect him. I cannot even say what I would do if someone did this to my child. I am glad that the little girl is doing well now. I will say a prayer for her that she never remembers what happened to her as a baby.

well i saw my specialist last fri. he told me my cervix is still shortening. it was down to 1 cm that day. still no dilating though. he went ahead and released me back into sole care of my regular doc who will now be seeing me every week. i saw her today and she told me i have to keep the baby baking at least one more week or i can't have him at her hosp. b/c they are not equipped to handle babies this early. (it's a very small hosp.) so if anything happens between now and next mon, i will have to make the hour trip up to the big city hosp. where my specialist is located. i hope i can last that long but just don't know. my cramps are getting stronger and starting to radiate to my sides and back now and i can barely walk upright b/c there is sooooo much pressure. it feels like he is just going to fall out every time i'm up. it also hurts every time he moves and feels like he is completely blocking off my bowels which is also very painful!!! (tmi?) thanks again to all of you for the encouraging words. -amy

my sister sent this to me and i just wondered if anyone else had heard about this and what they thought of it. she has a 12year old son with diabetes and she has fought with the school system over and over trying to get someone to help him if he has some type of reaction. they won't give him any type of help if he needs it- basically will let him (god forbid) die or go into a coma because they are not willing to learn how to give a shot. :angryfire my sister has told them she will sign a paper saying it is ok for them to do whatever is necessary to help him if something happens but they still won't budge. she had to teach her 11 year old son and 5 year old daughter how to care for him and give him a shot if he ever has a reaction at school and can't help himself. -sad isn't it? the american federation of teachers will convene on july 13 for their annual meeting, at which they will vote on a resolution that opposes allowing school personnel who are not nurses to provide any diabetes care at school. the ada has a major action alert going on about this today, and i wanted all of you to be aware and take action. please read the following, and take a moment to click on the link and send letter of protest to the american federation of teachers. please also forward this action alert to others. we need to raise awareness and fast.thank you! teachers' group votes against diabetes ========================================= as a person caring for children with diabetes, you have a very personal understanding of why we must manage diabetes so carefully. please take a moment, read this, and take action to help protect children with diabetes. kids with diabetes must be kept safe and must be able to manage their diabetes while they are in school or at school-related activities. to help them do this, it is vital that an adult be present to assist younger or less experienced students with routine diabetes care tasks or to come to the aid of any student experiencing a diabetes emergency. in a perfect world, a school nurse would be available for every student, anywhere, any time. in fact, the american diabetes association supports having a full-time nurse in every school. sadly, we live in a world where most schools do not have a full-time school nurse. and even when a school does a have full-time nurse, he or she is not usually present on field trips or during extracurricular activities. even if they are, they can't be expected to be everywhere a student with diabetes might be all the time. but as we know, diabetes is a full-time disease the country's top pediatric endocrinologists and nurses have come up with a safe solution: train other school personnel to provide diabetes care when a school nurse is not present. experience has shown us that there is no shortage of school staff willing to volunteer to provide this care. and we know that they can be trained to effectively provide the assistance our children need. the only problem is that sometimes state laws and policies prevent them from doing so. unfortunately, at its convention starting on july 13th, the million-member american federation of teachers (aft) is going to vote on a resolution that opposes allowing school personnel who are not nurses to provide any diabetes care at school. the resolution states in part that: * the aft will lobby against school nurses training non-medical school personnel to assist children with their diabetes care; and * the aft will lobby against the use of non-medical school personnel trained to administer routine and emergency care to students with diabetes. this plan is a disaster for our students with diabetes. our children are going back to school next month and there won't be a nurse in most of their schools. they will go on field trips and will be in the band and will play on the football team and there won't be a nurse available our children need someone available who can provide the help they need. let the aft know that the safety of students with diabetes is at risk before their national convention convenes on july 13th. click here to take action: https://secure2.convio.net/adap/site/advocacy?id=412&page=useraction&jservse

first of all- god bless you! it sounds like you had 3 tough pregnancies! i can't even imagine going through this 3 times! i have never actually been on bed rest, just been told to take it "super easy". but like you,it seems every time i even get up to load the dishwasher or answer the phone everyone thinks i'm just going to drop the baby right on the floor! i know they are just concerned though. thanks for sharing with me it makes me realize there are other women out there who know exactly what i'm feeling and now i don't feel as alone. i know i can always count on people on here to make me feel better. thanks so much for your concern.

first of all- god bless you! it sounds like you had 3 tough pregnancies! i can't even imagine going through this 3 times! i have never actually been on bed rest, just been told to take it "super easy". but like you,it seems every time i even get up to load the dishwasher or answer the phone everyone thinks i'm just going to drop the baby right on the floor! i know they are just concerned though. thanks for sharing with me it makes me realize there are other women out there who know exactly what i'm feeling and now i don't feel as alone. i know i can always count on people on here to make me feel better. thanks so much for your concern.