kcb007

I was seen at the ER a few weeks ago with an elevated D-Dimer (1.06). A little over a week later I asked my MD to redraw. It was drawn in her office then shipped to the hospital to be tested and the level read (10.2). I freaked out and went to the ER that same day and they redrawn the D-Dimer and it was 1.32, which is still increasing. I have had CT Scans of the Chest and VQ Scans and the VQ Scans came back normal. The CT Scans were performed improperly. Thats why they ended up doing the VQ Scans. I have had it done twice in a three week period and they can't find anything. I have had a venous doppler performed on both legs. That was normal. I was told that infection, injury, or surgery within the past 3 months could cause it to be elevated. I have had my left wrist lanced and it tested positive for MRSA. Can this be the cause? Can someone please help me find the next step in order to ease my mind of this situation?

I can definitely understand what you are going thru. I am currently out of work for 2 weeks. My psychiatrist took me out! I have currently went back to school for my BSN and my professor has taken me out of that for 2 weeks as well. I just had a breakdown. I was having anxiety attacks all the time and then I go to the ER only for them to tell me my D-Dimer is elevated yet they can't find anything and no one can give me an honest answer! I had an appt with a vascular surgeon today in hopes that he could calm my nerves and I arrive at the MD office only to be told that he is in an ermergency surgery. Talk about out done. I have been going crazy!! Stressed over work, school, and now this abnormal D-Dimer. All my CT Scans of the chest have come back normal but still I would like more of an answer!! So I feel your pain. The more I worry the more my body aches and not to mention my psychiatrist put me on a med that was horrible!!!! I had to switch back to good ole' Zoloft!! So don't feel like you are alone. Nursing is a hard job but somebody has to do it, so why not it be US!!

I have them all of the time. I can just think of something or say to myself what if such and such happened, what would I do. And you guessed it, not to long afterwards, I'm talking hours or in some cases a day or two that exact same thing happens. It freaks me out totally. What's really freaky is that one of my older aunts has a picture of herself probably in her 20's and I look just like her and everything that she does I do, just like the premonitions, she has then as well! Crazy! Looking at her is like looking at myself except she's way older!!

I have had the exact same thing happen to me. It feels like you have a elephant sitting on your chest!

Does anyone know a successful diet? I have exercised and tried to eat right but when I get stressed I eat! And if I don't see results fast I give up! I have really been doing good walking and going to the gym for the past 3 - 4 months. Still I haven't lost nothing!! I'm very frustrated!!

Too late. Already on meds. Maybe I just need to have the doseage turned up or something!!!

This last attack I had they classified it this time as a panic attack. A lot of the s/sx were the same except I felt warm in my pelvic area and felt like I had to urinate but could not!! Very weird!! I thought that maybe I had a hemhorrage. From what, crap if I know!! You know how we nurses can be. We work with it every day and its in our lives so we just associate any symptoms we have with a serious medical condition. My jaw kept tingling and going cold again as well as my extremities. I went to the hospital convinced that it was something serious only to be told that it was a panic attack and the nurse that took care of me was saying that she has the same thing and she started telling me all of her s/sx and I thought to myself, "What a relief. Finally someone who understands what I'm going thru and that it isn't all in my head"!!

The s/sx i had with my first attack was pain in both my legs below the knees and it was more in my calf than anywhere else. Then by the afternoon it was only in the left calf. When i got home i elevated the left leg and i could not get comfortable so i decided to go to bed and elevate my leg on some pillows. All of a sudden my leg felt better but i could not breath. My jaw, chest, legs, and arms went cold and tingling. I just knew that i was having a pulmonary embolism because i couldn't breath as well. By the time i got to the hospital i had calmed down some and i was informed that i had had an anxiety attack. Very scary!!!

About a year or so ago I had an Anxiety Attack. I know its because of my career choice. Does anyone else ever experience Anxiety Attacks?

I have been nursing for right at 4 years. I have done clinical, hospital, hospice, ADON for a pcs agency, and now I am currently doing Skilled Nursing. I made very good money with hospice but you have to be on call and leave your home in the middle of the night. Not idle for someone with a family though. Clinical and ADON was not cutting it as far as pay. Skilled Nursing, very good pay. Depending on how hard you work, the agency, and your experience, that will determine your pay. I work with an new grad and she is already bringing home well over $2000 biweekly. Also, where you live will determine what you bring home. What seems like a lot for living in North Carolina may not seem like that much for someone living in New York! Most importantly, you need to be happy! I loved the money with hospice but I hated the job because it kept me away from my family. I was at a dying pt's bedside on Christmas morning while her family was in Ireland! So just think what matters to you the most. Maybe you'll get lucky like me and have your cake and eat it too!!

You know there is one thing that puzzles me. The pt had a box of self caths lying on the bedside table and the mother stated to me that he hasn't been self cath since he was 13 yrs old and he is now in his late 20's. The box looked new! Something tells me that maybe she had been performing in and out caths on the pt and maybe done something traumatic and here I am going in behind her and they're playing it off like they've done nothing!!

OMG!!!

I definitely can say that this has been a learning experience for me!! Slowly sounds real good!!

Yes but MD would not give order to do so. MD stated it was close to 5pm on a Friday and she wasn't writing any orders. You know how MDs can be!

No, they're not on coumadin. It's just that I've always taken pride in taking good care of my patients. Now I feel like I've failed!!

Well this pt does not do self caths. The doctor sent an order for an indwelling foley to be placed. I'm not this patients primary nurse. I was only trying to help out another nurse because she was busy at the time and needed someone else to place the foley for her. Well, after all this is said and done, I call the primary nurse and let her know what happened, she comes over, we contact the MD, and the primary nurse removes the foley. Blood comes pouring out. It starts to slow down and then stops. The primary nurse placed the foley again and gets more blood and urine back. So she then thought it was best just to remove foley and have pt transported to ER but the family didn't want to take the pt to the ER, even though we both, the primary nurse and I, suggested them to do so. But the pts father use to be an MD and felt that going to the ER was not necessary. But what bothers me is the fact that this happened to the pt about 3-4 weeks ago in the hospital, per the family, and they failed to tell us about it until after the fact.

Thank you so much!! You don't know what that means to me!!

If I were you, I would look at the picture as a whole. Where would you benefit the most? If you don't have kids and you can live with your mom, I would get a job at a hospital working the graveyard shift and continue along the path towards your RN. It's tough at first but you can do it. I worked in the evening (part-time), took classes and clinical in the AM, and I was a single mom. If I can do it, so can you!! Good luck!!

I have worked to hard for my license to lose them! Plus, the fact that I'm a worry wart doesn't help either!!

Has this ever happened to you or are you speaking of an experience that you've heard of. This has never happened to me. I am freaking out!! The doctor was notified and she stated that she wasn't giving any orders because it was close to 5pm on a Friday afternoon and instructed family to take pt to the hospital if need be but the family didn't feel it was necessary. I, on the other hand, did!!

I inserted a foley catheter on a spina bifida pt and I set up the procedure table and my sterile field. I did everything as I was instructed. I advanced the foley and stopped when I met resistance. I asked the pt to relax because I felt him tense up. When he relaxed I was able to advance the 16Fr 5cc foley further. I felt when I passed the sphincter and noted urine in the tubing. After noting urine in my tubing I advanced the foley 2 more inches. And as I was inflating the balloon with 10cc (thats what the order called for) the pt started tensing up and once I removed my syringe from the port I slightly tugged at the foley to make sure that it was at the neck of the bladder. I looked down at the pts member and blood was leaking from around the entrance of the foley and then blood started flowing thru the tubing. I don't understand. I done the procedure the way I was taught and the same way that I have inserted any other foley. Can someone please give me some input. Has anyone ever experienced this before?