Re: W.

[Guest guest]

W.

So good to see a post from you! I have really missed you! Know you have been in my thoughts and prayers and you still are! You jump in here anytime and tell us what we need to do. We can use all the help we can get.

Have Mike give you a hug for me! I can't be there myself so he will have to do!

Love you Bunches!

Glenda

[Guest guest]

Kris,

Believe me - it didn't offend me to hear that my story put a smile on your face!

Yes, it is often best to laugh about idiots in the ERs because crying doesn't

help and it also makes my contact lens get cloudy! I probably should write a

book one day about my experiences in the ERs and hospital! One time when I was

in my local hospital the nurses treated me like total crap! My family practice

doctor had written an order for me to be able to have oral meds for pain. He

told me he wrote the order just so I could go ahead and try the oral meds once I

felt I could tolerate them and that my pain was at a level that the oral meds

could control it. He made it clear that the IV pain meds were still available.

He had not been gone for very long when I asked for pain medicine. The nurse

came in with pills and told me I could not have the IV pain med because the

doctor had switched me to pills. I told her I knew that was not correct and

told her what the doctor told me. She tried to insist that he had written that

I could no longer have the IV pain med. I told her that she better go read the

chart again. I immediately picked up the phone and called his office. I was on

the phone with him when the nurse sheepishly came in and said she had made a

mistake. Later that same hospital visit, I called for pain/nausea med for over

two hours and a nurse finally came in my room with some pills. I had started

back throwing up because I had to go so long without medication and the pain was

really bad. The minute the nurse walked in and I saw the pills, I thought they

were trying to give me oral meds again. I said, " I do NOT want the oral

medication. I am throwing up, in pain, and I need the IV medication! " The

nurse then told me that it wasn't the pain med, it was one of my routine meds.

(She was an LPN and couldn't give me the IV medication.) I immediately

apologized and said, " I am so sorry I jumped on you. I have been waiting over

two hours for medicine for pain and nausea and I am really in pain! " She said,

" Well, if they don't start treating us better around here you'll be waiting a

lot longer than that because all the nurses will just quit! " I just said,

" Could you please tell the nurse that I need something for pain and nausea? " It

was probably another 30 minutes or so before the RN finally gave me the medicine

for pain and nausea. There were several other problems with that particular LPN

and other nurses on that admission. After I was discharged, I went to the

hospital and made them let me see my chart so I could get the names of the

nurses that had given me problems.

The one LPN had written in my chart

'patient states " I am in pain " but has no grimace of pain on her face'

She also wrote

'patient asked for IV nausea med but then asked for graham crackers right after

being given IV med'

I totally cracked up when I read those statements! I told everybody I was going

to practice my 'grimace' in front of the mirror so that the next time I had an

attack I could be sure to have a 'grimace of pain' on my face! Geez, if I had a

'grimace' on my face every time I was in pain, it would be permanently etched in

my face by now!

As for the graham crackers, I have learned from experience that once the attack

is getting better, sometimes the nausea is as much from an empty stomach as it

is from the panc attack. Even the doctors have agreed with me on this one.

There comes a point where you need a little something light in your belly to

help with the nausea. I have found that a little ginger ale or 7-up and some

saltine or graham crackers really help keep the nausea at bay once the worst of

the attack has passed.

I wrote complaint letters to the hospital administrator but that didn't seem to

do any good. Finally I called and talked to the nursing supervisor. I just

told her that if I could not have their assurance that I was going to be treated

better that I would just refuse to use their hospital. I told her I didn't

think I should have to do that because it really makes life easier for my family

if I am at the local hospital instead of an hour away. If all I need is IV

fluids, pain and nausea meds, and a few days of 'gut rest' to get my panc to

settle down, there's no reason that my small local hospital cannot take good

care of me. I told her that my GI and internal med doc told me that I just

shouldn't use the local hospital and should come to their hospital because, in

the words of my GI doc, 'I am his most unusual and complex patient and those

doctors and nurses in Athens just don't know how to take care of me.' I told

the nursing supervisor that I would like to be able to support our local

hospital and feel that when it was not a life threatening attack, I could be

cared for just fine at our small hospital. However, if she could not assure me

that I would be treated better, I would not be using the local hospital again.

I told her that was really a shame because the hospital would be losing quite a

lot of money by losing me as a patient! She was VERY nice and assured me that

she would talk to all the nurses and the ER supervising doctor. She said she

didn't really have any control over the doctors but that by letting the

supervising doctor know what had been going on, it might make things better.

Since that time, I've had no trouble with the nurses on the floor when I've been

admitted to the local hospital. I have still had problems with a couple of ER

nurses and also the two doctors I wrote about. Other than that, things have

been MUCH better at my local hospital!

Oh, I did have one nurse tell me that my pain medicine was only ordered every 4

hours and the nausea med was only ordered every 6 hours one time when I had just

been admitted. I told her that was not correct that the pain med was ordered

every 2-4 hours and the nausea med was every 4-6 hours. She argued with me and

I told her I had read the orders! They laid the orders in my lap on the way

from the ER, so I read them on the way up to the floor! Plus, I knew what was

standard for my doctor to order for me! She told me that she would check the

chart. She then insisted that she was correct, but that she would go ahead and

give me my pain medicine early 'this time'! Amazingly, she didn't argue with me

the rest of my admission when I asked for pain medicine after about 2hours or

so, even though she swore that the order was for me to not get the pain med

sooner than 4 hours! I guess she just bent the rules for me! In fact, from

that night on, she would tell me when I could have my next dose of pain medicine

when she first came in my room after shift change! She never did admit that I

was right, though! I just thought that it was funny and I was so sweet to her

that honey was dripping out of my mouth!

I really do find some weird sense of satisfaction when I end up proving that I

am right! However, I never do say, " I told you so! " I am just oh, so sweet all

the while I am laughing on the inside! I know this may sound like I am some

mean, bitter person! I promise I am not! I really am a VERY easy patient. I

try my best not to bug the nurses. I really don't ask for much. However, when

I am in pain and nauseated, I want the medication the doctor has ordered for me!

I honestly don't think that's too much to ask! I am typically very patient and

don't complain about it taking a while for them to bring it to me until it has

taken over 30 minutes or more after I've asked for it. I know nurses work hard

and they are often very busy, so I try my best to cut them some slack. I worked

as a ward secretary at a hospital for a little over a year when I was in my

early 20's, so I saw how hard the nurses work. It's not an easy job and

sometimes there just are not enough nurses to go around. However, the good

nurses will always say a simple, " I'm sorry " if it took a little longer to get

to whatever you asked for. It's amazing how far just that tiny bit of kindness

goes!

Okay - I'll get off my soapbox. I hope I gave everyone a few more laughs with

my stories!

Have a good one!

W

alabama

[Guest guest]

W.,,

I remember a family doctor who would not give anything for pain...Then

he had a really bad attack from his gallbladder and had surgery....Well

he was a changed man from then on out.LOL,LOL.He found out about pain.

I do not like to go to doctors who do not understand pain.I go to a pain

clinic. Now I take Phenergan and Percocet 10/625...my blood pressure is

coming down as well.

I'm glad you went to another hospital... in Ga. from Ohio

[Guest guest]

Suzyq,

I had my dress made because the mother of the bride dresses were so horribly

expensive. All the ones I found were around $400-$600. It was made from a

Simplicity pattern. I paid $100 for labor and the fabric and supplies were

about $40. There are two places you might try ordering a dress from. One is

Chadwick's - www.chadwicks.com and the other is Bridal World -

www.bridalworld.com.

One of my problems is that I am pretty tall, 5'9 " , so I sometimes have trouble

getting things long enough. Also, my shoulders are broad and my arms are long,

so often times any suit jacket I get that fits in the shoulders is so large it

would wrap around me twice. Also, sometimes the sleeves are too short for my

long arms. So, for me, having the dress made was the best option. You can

usually get names of seamstresses that will sew for the public from any fabric

store. I would recommend asking for references or to see some of her work. The

seamstress we chose did a wonderful job on my dress - actually it was a floor

length straight skirt, sleeveless top, and jacket. It was made out of a pale

rose colored crepe fabric and all of it was lined. Anyone that sews knows that

making a lined jacket is a pain so I didn't think $100 for the labor was bad.

Anyway, I had the seamstress make my dress way in advance so we could decide if

we liked her work. Everything went wonderful with my dress. It fit me like a

glove. We figured all would be fine with the bridesmaids' dresses. She started

them in early February and assured us they would all 4 be completed by April.

To make a long story short, there was one fiasco after another. When she had

not completed a single dress by about May 10th, with the wedding coming up on

May 29th, my mother insisted I get the fabric, supplies, etc. back from the

seamstress and have my mother do the dresses. My mom had to totally re-make two

of the four dresses. She would have preferred to make them all from scratch but

there was not enough fabric for that. She worked non-stop getting the dresses

done. The last one wasn't totally completed until the day before the wedding!

They were absolutely gorgeous but I definitely learned my lesson! The

seamstress's fee was $80 each for the labor on the bridesmaids' dresses. She

accepted only cash. You had to pay half the fee up front and then the other

half on completion. So, she did get $160 for incredibly sloppy work that was so

far off from the measurements she had gotten of the girls that we assume she

must have been stoned or drunk when she attempted to make the bridesmaids'

dresses.

If you do decide to have your dress made, just be sure to get references and

then put everything in writing!

W