Nidawi

faster, [color=#483d8b] thank you for sharing about ttm. i think it's wonderful that you're feeling better about having this, and using your experience to help educate others. being teased and tormented as a child is devastating. children are very cruel. i also think it's wonderful that governer patrick has done as you requested, so that more people may learn about this disorder!

have you ever heard of care credit? i had to have some work done at the dentist (crowns) and i ended up getting a care credit card to use. with their card, you can use it for any dental or medical procedure, or even at a vets office on a pet. then, they give you a specific period of time you can make payments in with no interest added on. after that time period, they do begin to add interest. anyway, i was so glad my dentist office recommended that to me! [color=#483d8b]you can check it out here: www.carecredit.com [color=#483d8b]i do hope you can figure out something to do. you certainly don't want to put it off and have it get worse or get infected and make you sick!

i know that was very long. i didn't mean to write a novel!!! [color=#483d8b]i simply wanted all of you to know that even when you're having the worst day ever at work, there is certainly someone who's life you change, and they do appreciate you! [color=#483d8b]btw, i did follow up with his doctor the very next morning. she said he had an acute case of croupe, and that is why his tonsils were swollen as badly as they were (making it look like his throat was swelling shut) and he could not breathe. he also had a sinus infection that was secondary to the croupe. she was angry with that doctor. she gave him an antibiotic and prednisone.

you know, it's interesting how i just happened upon this thread a short time ago. i think you guys have every right to be angry by the way some people behave while in the ed. now, i know this is a "rant thread" about how unappreciated you guys are, and i don't want to go and ruin that by being all nice and telling you guys about an amazing experience i just had quite recently or anything. but i'm gonna! [color=#483d8b] the night this happened, it was getting late, i'd say around 11 pm. i was putting some towels away and my 8 year old son woke up suddenly coughing a very strange cough, and crying. he got up and i told him to go down stairs, i'd be right there. i got down stairs not a minute after him and he was crying and coughing and he actually vomited in the middle of all this. after he vomited, he was crying some more and he said he couldn't breathe! (this all happened within a matter of minutes, maybe). i was trying to calm him down, of course, and for some reason i grabbed a flashlight and told him to open his mouth so i could see his throat. (maybe i did that because of him saying he couldn't breathe? i don't know, i just went with my gut!) he opened up and when he took a breath in, it looked like his throat was closing up almost all the way. so i immediately put him in the car and went to the ed. [color=#483d8b]when we got to the ed, we went through the front doors and straight ahead so i could sign him in (about 10 feet away, perhaps?). i didn't even make it to the clipboard, before an rn who was passing by stopped and quickly asked me how long he'd been breathing like that. (he was still coughing that strange cough, too.) i told him maybe 15 minutes. he said "okay!" and he told the triage nurse something and told us to come with him now. (i never did sign him in, either. there was no time for that!) he whisked us straight through the automatic doors and he told someone at the desk "get respritory down here now. i have an asthma attack." he took us straight into a room and immediately began getting a breathing treatment ready. he asked me if my son had a history of asthma. i told him no. at some point i was asked if he had ever had croupe. i told him no, this has never happened before. the rn was very calm, and very efficient. he saw the panic in my face and told me it was okay. i just sat quietly and watched him work. before i knew it, the respritory person was in the room and putting together a different treatment. she chose a different medicine than the rn had prepared, but they worked so well as a team! they gave my son a breathing treatment, watching him closely. when it was finished, the resp. person listened to his lungs, and gave him another treatment. when it was finished, they let him sit for a few and watch tv. they were keeping watch over him, though, from the desk right outside the door. [color=#483d8b]a short time later another resp. person came in and listened very carefully to his lungs again, and gave him another treatment. when it was finished, he listened to him again and nodded and left. a little while later a woman came in and asked questions, and said she was going to get a chest x-ray even though his lungs sounded okay. (i had no clue she was the doctor at first. she never told me who she was. i didn't care to ask right then, either.) so they got the x-ray and we went back to his room to wait. about 20 minutes later, a different doctor came in. he said the x-ray looked good. he listened to my sons lungs. then he told me, " well, everything looks good. his x-ray was good, his lungs are good. go home and give him some robitussin, and maybe some motrin and follow up with his doctor in 2-3 days. it's an upper respritory infection, an he should be fine in a few days." so i asked him, what about his breathing? and that doctor told me, "well, to be truthful, ne never really had any trouble breathing. sometimes when kids get a stuffy nose, they will panic and think they can't breathe. but his x-ray was clear and his lungs are crystal clear and he's fine." [color=#483d8b]i nearly fell out of my chair! this man who had not even laid his eyes upon my son until it was all said and done and he was okay and could breathe, was telling me that he never had trouble breathing? well, then i suppose the rn who immediately recognized there was a serious problem when we walked through those doors, who had heard this childs distressed breathing and strange coughing (it was a barking sort of cough), immediately took him back and began treatment on him, got the respritory therapists in to help him, had no clue what he was doing? and i suppose both respritory therapists who gave him three breathing treatments, and listened to his little lungs through the whole thing, had no clue what they were doing, either? i suppose they acted so quickly and gave him those breathing treatments and watched him so closely because they had nothing better to do? the rn who came in with his discharge papers hadn't been part of his treatment. but i had seen her at the desk. she told me about the diagnosis of an upper respritory infection, and looked me in the eyes with a knowing look that said everything i was thinking at that point. then she told me i needed to follow up with his doctor first thing the next morning. i thanked her and told her i most definately would! and we left. [color=#483d8b]now, i just have to say thank you!!!!!!!!! thank you to the nurse who immediately questioned his breathing when we walked in, for being observant like you were, and taking him back to begin immediate treatment! thank you so much for being so good at your job, and quickly and efficiently helping my little boy! thank you for helping me stay calm by being so calm yourself! thank you for calling for the respritory therapists to help you get my little boy breathing good again! thank you to all the nurses and the respritory therapists for being there, even if you were just the ones watching from the nurses station! [color=#483d8b] thank you!!!!!!

i'm in ohio, too. and we sure did have awful wind and storms last sunday. around where i live there were a lot of power outages, and there are some residents who either just had power restored, or still don't have any. on monday a lot of schools in my area were closed. i would think that they would make a nursing home a priority in getting the electric and stuff repaired, though! especially because of all of the residents who live there that may have a lot of health problems. did they say why it will take so long to repair the electricity and stuff? perhaps evacuating everyone would be best. i do hope things get restored soon, and that everything works out well for you guys!

oh, bethin!!! what a horrible tragedy!!! i just got up and read this first thing, and i am so sorry to hear about this!!! are you okay? i can't imagine how difficult it would be to not only know them, but to have this happen in your own back yard. that brought tears to my eyes and i didn't even know them. i have already said prayers for them, their families, you and all those who knew them. please take good care of you!!! :redpinkhe

when i read your post, my first thought was that perhaps the surgeon really maybe doesn't like that tech, and was thinking by saying that, then perhaps they would go work in a different area after they finish nursing school! [color=#483d8b]now, i could be very wrong, of course. although i've been in an operating room as a patient, i've never worked in one before. i will say, that i sure did appreciate my nurses! i didn't even see the surgeon before or even after the surgery. seriously! i had a tubal ligation, and i was in and out of the hospital all in one day, but still. it was the nurses that checked on me, and helped me when i was in pain. it was the nurses who came and asked me if i was okay. and of course, it was again the nurses who explained how to take care of my incision (sp?), when to call the doctor if i needed to, and told me they hoped i heal quickly and i feel better soon. [color=#483d8b]i've heard many times that surgeons can be very mean. just remember when they say and do nasty things, that you really are appreciated!!! :wink2:

does your drug screen check for buprenorphine? i wonder if perhaps that could be something that's not showing up. subutex and suboxone don't come up on just a regular drug test. i guess it has to be specifically looked for. my doctor sent me to get blood work and wanted them to check my buprenorphine level, and somehow it never showed up, and they were looking for it. (maybe they did something wrong when doing the test? made no sense to me!)

oh, that part about the dog groomer offering your dogs toe nails as a sacrifice was great!!! :chuckle [color=#483d8b]i used to have people ask me, "oh....you're a maid? really?" complete with disgusted looks upon their faces! i had many responses for them, such as, " yeah! it's actually a great job! and if the people really tick you off, you just use their toothbrush to clean the toilet!!!" [color=#483d8b]i'm sure you guys could come up with so many creative responses for people who ask you about being a nurse in that way and then tell you about their evil nurse experiences! [color=#483d8b]i think there are good and bad people in all professions, and stereotyping "all nurses" as evil, or "all maids" as low lifes, would be just as bad as stereotyping "all people with the name jane" as being theives or something. [color=#483d8b]don't you wish everyone knew how to think before they speak?

how wonderful for you to save your brothers life! that had to have been a very scary situation to find yourself in. you will be a great nurse! [color=#483d8b]i think if he doesn't appreciate you saving his life now, he will appreciate it eventually. perhaps knowing you care enough about him to save his life will help him. [color=#483d8b]i hope he can receive the help he needs for whatever is hurting him so deeply. i will keep you, your brother and family in my thoughts and prayers. [color=#483d8b]please take good care of you!

i have a question. what exactly are the things that cma's are doing now, that they are not going to allow them to do anymore? what exactly would basic cna type duties include? [color=#483d8b]i understand that cma's are needed sometimes. i guess my experiences with them haven't been very good, though. perhaps i'm wrong in this, but i actually have been looking for a new pediatrician for my children., because she got rid of her nurse and only has ma's now. i know some are skilled, however, these ones are not. i'm talking calling in prescriptions for children and giving them a wrong last name for the child (was actually my nephew's prescription that happened to!), putting patients into dirty exam rooms( i was taken into a room with one of my children before and there was a nasty, dirty diaper laying on the counter, juice spilled all over the chairs in there, the paper on the table not changed, cheerios all over the floor, etc. and they behaved as if this was not a problem and i had to insist on a different room that was clean. they were going to leave us in there with it like that!) it smelled so bad! throwing used needles in the regular trash cans when there are sharps boxes on the walls. no kidding! i couldn't make this stuff up!!!(we all know how curious children can be, and how not every parent will watch their child(ren) cautiously when in a medical office.) i refused to allow them to give my daughter her vaccines for school, and i took her to the county health department so the nurses there could do it. i don't trust them. the doctor will not give them herself, either. (i don't know, i would just think a pediatrician would want a nurse in their office? perhaps the doctor needs to raise her expectations of her staff, at least, or something! ) [color=#483d8b]then my sister went to her gynecologist to get the results of her biopsy, and they told her that day she had breast cancer. the ma there knew my sister (she went to their church for a while or something) and ended up going and telling all kinds of people about her having it. in less than 24 hours, someone called me to ask me if she had breast cancer, because they heard she did. so i called my sister and asked her directly. she was furious! she wanted to tell me herself. she sure did find out it was the ma, and called the doctors office! i don't know what else happened regarding that. now, i realize that was more of a "personal" type choice the ma made, and not all of them go around violating hippa laws., and that anyone in the medical profession could be like that. i guess i'm just relating some of my own experiences with them is all. [color=#483d8b]so if anyone can help me understand better about the subject of cma's and what is not in their scope of practice (is it a state by state thing? or are all states similar regarding it?), i would appreciate it! thanks!! :)

i have to agree about that being pretty gross!!! makes you wonder what these people are thinking. [color=#483d8b]i do have to say, though, that when i saw the title of this thread, that i thought, "oh, a mom had both of her babies on the same day! i wonder how they'll like sharing a birthday when they grow up?" :chuckle i guess i was a bit wrong on that!!! [color=#483d8b]oh, i sometimes underestimate the ability you guys have to suprise me sometimes!

you know, i had a situation sort of opposite! i wanted to breast feed my first baby so bad, and my mother was not encouraging of that at all. (for her own selfish reasons. her theory was that if i breast fed, then she wouldn't be able to feed my baby, or keep him over night, and she tried to make it all about her as she always does regarding everything!) [color=#483d8b]anyway, i did in fact try to breast feed him. the nurses at the hospital were very supportive, as well as my midwife, and i had other support. it simply didn't go well. i couldn't stop crying, my baby wouldn't stop crying. and it hurt! within one week i went to my doctor and he said my baby was dehyrated. that was why he wouldn't stop crying! my milk never came in. i don't know why. i had to immediately put him on formula. and i was devastated. [color=#483d8b]but...he is very, very smart! he is actually in the gifted program at his school, and is a lot of times too smart for his own good! i went on to have two more children and my milk never came in with them, either. (never found out why, either.) all of my babies ended up being formula fed. and all of them are very smart! one cannot tell the difference that they were not breast fed. (i won't lie, it did make me feel awful and somehow defective that my milk didn't come in, but my babies were healthy and happy and still are, and i think that's all that matters! my mothering skills are just fine!) [color=#483d8b]anyway, you just do what you need to do. you did get to give your baby breast milk, and she will be fine without it. formula is not poison! (although it does smell awful and one might wonder!) do well in school and enjoy your baby! they do grow so fast...:heartbeat

your welcome! she's doing well now, thank you for asking. her hair is growing back now. she wants to be an oncology nurse. she said she thinks she would do well as one, since she's been through it herself. for now she's working at a ltc facility. she's being over worked, of course, but i think it bothers me more than it does her..... i try to help her out, you know. i take snacks and cold beverages to her and the other nurses, so at least i know she's had some kind of break during her shifts! (an idea i got after coming here and reading about what your days are like) :wink2:

i first came here because my sister was in nursing school, and i wanted to gain a better understanding of how to be supportive of her. i will always be supportive of her, of course, no matter what she does. but i really wanted to gain a clear understanding of the challenges she might face during her education as well as afterwards. [color=#483d8b]after i became a member here, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. she was 35 when she was diagnosed. five days after they told her, she had a mastectomy. everything happened so quickly! there are no words for how i felt during that time. i can say that i certainly know what anxiety feels like now. i also have never felt so helpless. coming here was one of the things that helped me get through that time. seeing things through your eyes helped me to understand so much more than i would have otherwise. [color=#483d8b]i have a great respect for nurses. they have played a big role in my own health care, and even more so in my sisters. she nearly died a couple times during her chemotherapy treatments, and it was her nurses that were there by her side more than anyone (well, other than her husband and i, and of course her friends, who were nursing students as well, and in her class :wink2:). i know they probably thought they were just "doing their job". but it was so much more than that. they were her guardian angels and saved her life. how do you thank someone for that? [color=#483d8b]my sister finished nursing school, regardless of having cancer. she had 12 weeks left and she was determined not to allow anything stop her from acheiving her dream. not even cancer. she graduated and took her boards and passed, all while going through chemo. she has taught me that i can do anything i want, and i should let nothing stand in the way of my dreams. [color=#483d8b]she has acquired her first job. and i would like to continue supporting her as best i can. i have learned so much here, and it's helped me understand the challenges she faces each day. she has done so much for me my entire life, and i just want to give something back to her. [color=#483d8b]i'm not sure what i want to do. i'm going to school now. i think i would like to become a social worker. i would also like to expand on that and become a therapist who helps those with maladaptive behaviors (addictions). my sister keeps trying to talk me into becoming a nurse, too. she says i'd be a great nurse. i'm just not sure i could do it! some of the stuff you guys do just would creep me out, i think. but who knows? perhaps one day i'll decide to give it a try. we'll see. [color=#483d8b]i currently work as a personal assistant to a couple. (she's a professor, he's an md and the medical director at a local prison. ) i enjoy coming here and i hope that perhaps one day i could help out someone here, in return for the help you've all given me without even knowing it. thank you for all you do each day! even on your worst day, remember you are appreciated and admired! :loveya: