nursepenny

I am so sorry for not updating before now. My granddaughter was born Dec. 7th, after a very long and hard labor for my daughter. They finally did a C-section. The baby was perfect in every way possible. She weighed 7lbs. 8 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. The attending Peditrician said she saw no signs of situs inversus. An x-ray was done and verified all the organs were in the correct location. An echo was also performed and the baby's heart was perfect. I don't know how such a renowned Perinatalogist could have made such an error. Honestly, I think God had a hand in everything turning out as well as it did. I had asked people all across America to pray for my little bundle of joy and I truly believe this is what happened. I am a true believer and I trust God completely. I harbor no ill feeling toward the Dr. who told us of this condition (even though he was wrong). Rainee is now a very healthy 3 & 1/2 month old baby and very normal in all ways. She is completely on track for her age. And she is the light of my life. She has me wrapped around her little finger and she knows it..........lol Thank you all for your concern, answers to my questions, and prayers. God bless. :yelclap: :nurse:penny

I had a ruptured diverticulum in Oct. 2006. After 2 bouts of peritonitis and weeks of hospitalization and numerous test, I had surgery in Dec. 2006. The surgery took 12 hours because of all the adhesions I had. I was on the vent and my lungs filled with fluid and I had to be shipped to another larger hospital that had a Pulmonologist to assume my care. I was on the vent for 14 days. After recovering from that ordeal, I was sent home. I soon became unable to eat anything. The smell of food was so sickening for me. Needless to say I became severly dehydrated and had to be re-hospitalized for a few days. My Internist told me I required 5 liters of fluid before I could make urine. I started having severe abdominal pain and went back to the hospital with an intestinal blockage. I was hospitalized for 13 days and was given a Groshong for TPN. A few weeks later I started running a high temp and was sent back to the hospital. I was diagnosed with gram-positive cocci at the Groshong site, bilateral pulmonary embolisms and a DVT. Needless to say this required hospitalization for approx 15 days spent in ICU. Approx 1 month later I had hemoptosis and was hospitalized yet again. All this time I was still having severe abd. pain. My Internist told me I have a functional blockage. I still to this day have a lot of pain, become easily nauseated, and have frequent, unexpected bowel movements. For most of my ordeal I had insurance. When it became impossible for me to pay my premiums, the benevolent committee at my hospital would pay them for me. During my last hospitalization, I forgot to call them and my insurance was dropped. I am on Coumadin 7.5, 7.5 and 5. I have not been able to have a PT and INR drawn in 3 months. I cannot work a full time job at this time and still have no insurance. My doctor did release me for part-time work at our clinic. Part tme at my hospital does not carry benefits. I have applied for temp. disability benefits from the Social Security Office and was told the was some kind of gainful employment I could do. I do receive a few food stamps, but when I reported working a few hours a week, they were decreased to $68.00 per month. I don't know what people like me are susposed to do. I have worked and paid taxes since I was 17 years old. I am now 52 (53 this month). i still have a long time to go before I reach retirement age. It sucks. I never thought I would be in this position. I am broke, have extreme pain every day of my life, become nauseates easily, and have no recourse at this time but to beg the government for money I have worked and paid in. I feel for your friend and hope things improve for her. I have been there............well actuall I am still there now. No One seems to understand why I still have so much pain, but I think i have developed more adhesions, but I don't have the money or insurance to go to the doctor.

Just a short note to update you all on my grandbaby. We went to thew perinatalogist this past Wednesday and receives some excellent news. He said everything in aligned correctly. There were no major abnormalities noted. "Rainee" (grand daughter's name), will need to have an Echo after she is born, but that should fine. Everything else checks out okay. She weighed in at 3lbs. 13oz. , and continues to grow daily. I told my daughter the baby will weigh around 8 lbs. She thinks 7 lbs. 10 oz. lol I am so thankful to all of you for the words of encouragement and prayers for Rainee. May God bless and keep you.......................Penny:roll

Thanks for your response. Ihad not even thought of morphology. Duh, Me... I had not given thought to a neonatalogist, either. I did look up a pediatric cardiologist though, and found 2 in our area, (well actually about 2 hours away, but they would be at the hospital where the baby would be born). As soon as we return from the next ultrasound appt., I will post the results. Again, Thanks for the input. Have a good day. Penny

situs inversus, kinda long sorry permalink -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This was posted under cardiac nursing, but as I haven't received a response as of yet I thought I would move it this forum Thanks for reading it. Hi, My name is Penny and I have been an LPN for 10 years. I am to be a first time grandmother in Dec. 2007. My daughter is 35 yrs. old and this is her first child. On Thursday, 9-20-07 we found out her little baby girl has situs inversus with levocardia. i am not sure if this is the correct forum to put this in, so please bear with me. Even though I have been in the medical profession for 10 years, I am not familiar with this condition. I have researched on-line, but most all of the info is aimed for doctors. I do know a little more about this since I've researched, but don't feel as if I can ask compentent questions when we return for another ultrasound. If anyone has any information, knows of a support system, or anything that may be of use to us please let me know. I am aware situs inversus with levocardia is a condition in which the visceral organs are in reverse order and the heart is located to the left. The perinatalogist said the baby was mirror image from the diaphragm down. This is a very rare condition and I need info. Please let me hear from you. Thanks, Penny

I live in So. central Georgia, a small community at that. So, most of the people I deal with are from this general area. I have a very strong southern twang. I have recently worked with a nurse from Ohio, whose husband was born and raised in this area and wanted to come back here to live. She never indicated she had any trouble understanding what I said. On the other hand, you have people, who automatically deduct 20 points from your IQ when ever they hear you speak. I just try to prove them wrong. Just be who you are and don't try to change your accent to please those around you. Won't do any no good anyhow. Some people just don't see how "you guys" is the same as "y'all" or a "soda" is the same a "coke". Anyone from the south knows all soda brands are "coke", unless they are fruit flavored, then, they are called orange drink, or whatever flavor you want. Anyway, you should do fine in your career, just be yourself.

I think the last few words said it all. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Truly words to live by. I really enjoyed this thread. Most of this I have heard before, but still nice to see.

never had a problem with narcan, at least yet. but I can see how this would happen. once gave a pt romazicon, and had he had a seizure. he had been taking ativan for an extended period and took an OD, was brought in by EMS, and ERP ordered romazicon. the results were awful. This was the only time I have had this happen. We had an 80+ year old lady come in the the ER via EMS, once. Family thought she had a CVA, unresponsive, contracture-like extremities, pupils fixed. ERP suggested Narcan and almost immediately the LOL woke up and stated "you should have let me die"..., "when you are old, no one cares about you. They call to see if you need any food but you never see them". LOL was admitted and somehow she hoarded her meds and OD'd while in the hospital. Just goes to show, you have to make sure pts swallow their pills. LOL was sent to Greenleaf. I assume she is ok, haven't heard any different.

I worked last night. So, this is what I learned: Nothing is a easy as it looks. Everything takes longer than you expect. If anything can go wrong, it will. Oh, wait a minute, that is Murphy's Law. LMAO Still applies though. Great thread. Have a good night.

This may have been addressed previously. If so, I apologise. When you confornted the nurses who made these "infractions", did you do so in front of the patient? Did the pateint who received the Lipids have a bleeding disorder? Or on Coumadin therapy? There are loads of reasons the patient could have needed the extra Vit K. As for the dressing change, have you ever worked with a wound vac before? Have you ever changed a dressing before? I have been a nurse for 10 years and I still learn something every day. I may question another nurse, in order to learn, but I never do so in front of others, or especially in front of patients. this is a big NO NO and tends to put others on the defensive Just my 2 cents....

I made the transition from SDU/ICU in Sept. 2005, and I do not regret it for one minute. I have learned so much, even though I have 5 yrs. Med/Surg and 4 1/2 yrs. SDU/ICU. The main thing for me was getting into the ER mode instead of SDU/ICU mode. Plus I had never worked with children before. Believe me they are not tiny adults. But now I like working with children. Good luck to you as you discover a whole different world in the ER. It is exciting and can be very rewarding..............

My LPN class started with 60 students. Only 15 graduated.

I have been an LPN for 10 years. I worked Med/Surg tele floor for 5 years. Then went to ICU/SDU for 4 years. I have been in ER since 9/2005, and I love every minute of it. I am ACLS and PALS certified also. If it were available to LPN's I would take TNCC.

You treat'em and street'em. (lol)

I am the 6th of 10 children. The youngest boy was stilborn. (6 girls, 4 boys). I am now 51 and when we were growing up, we lived on a farm. So all of our food was home grown. Mama made most of our clothes. I remember going to school barefooted, which was acceptable at that time. Even now, I hate wearing shoes. I had one daughter and 1 miscarriage myself.. I don't have any grands and probably never will, as my daughter is now 34. The most children my siblings have had are 4, with most having 2-3 each. There are 22 grands with most of these now starting their own families. 2 brothers died without having children of their own. I cannot imagine having to feed or clothe 10 children at today's prices. But then I cannot imagine not being from a big family. When my mother died, it was the hardest time of my life and my sisters and i helped each other through it. I hate my daughter will not have that companionship when I die..... Sorry got off the subject. Had an aunt who had 13 births. Only 11 lived to adulthood.