Hospital Stories/Rude People Stories

lol yes you do!!!! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/heart.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/rose.gif" border="0"><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif" border="0">
 

NoDayButToday

New member
Standing up for yourself is so important, and there is a way to do it while still being polite.

One time, they drew bloods off my PICC for a non-essential test. As you may or may not know, each time you draw blood of a PICC there is a risk of infection in the line, or clotting etc., but my veins are so awful I usually choose to just use the PICC, since I've never *knock wood* have had problems. So they take the blood, we think its done with. A little while later, someone comes in and says we need to do the blood again. When we ask why they say, "The lab won't accept the blood from before since the label wasn't adhered to the tube". The label was in the sealed bio-hazard bag that the blood was sent to the lab in, it just wasn't STUCK onto the tube. Well, I refused to let them draw blood again because of the fact this second draw would be COMPLETELY unnecessary- they had a perfectly good sample downstairs. Also, why should I open my line up again for a stupid reason like that. That was an annoying dicussion to have. My mom and I held our ground though, and it all worked out fine (mostly because the resident really did agree with us on the matter, I think he was just doing as he was told)
 

anonymous

New member
I don't like the waking up in the middle of the night thing either. What annoys me the most about it is that I am left alone for most of the day, but at night I am bothered every 3-4 hours for treatments, X-rays, labs, and vitals. Very annoying. My doctor has to put orders in my chart to leave me alone after 10pm until it's for medication. I've also had my share of hospital horror stories. 1) When I was a kid I had beeped my nursed because my arm was hurting. She was busy with an actual emergency and no other nurse thought it was important enough to bother her. By the time my mother had shown up my arm was pretty swollen (like Pop-eye's lower arm). My mom went and got a nurse, who finally got my nurse. My nurse was so apologetic. She immediately removed my IV and put compresses on my arm. She then went and had a chat with the nurse who hadn't relayed my original message in the first place. 2) The hospital I go to is a teaching hospital, and one time when I went in the student Dr. who admitted me took one look at me (I look very healthy, even when I'm sick) and said that if I was his patient he would not have put me in the hospital over a simple cold (I had a major staph infection). My mother was so angry with him, she requested that he not see me again. 3) When I was 16 a nurse had tried to put an IV in, she missed and hit the bone in my wrist. I don't do well with pain. When I had requested something to take the pain away the intern refused. I had to call my doctor and he had to order pain medicine. By then my hand was swelling up. 4) What I hated the most was when the nurse would forget to bring my enzymes. It was a never ending battle trying to explain that I needed them as soon as my food arrived. My doctor now orders that I have a bottle bedside so that I can eat whatever I want. 5) Speaking of meals, what annoys me most these days is that when I tell the dietarian on staff that I cannot have caffiene, soy, or eggs, I always end up recieving those items (My hospital doesn't have a menu that you can choose from, say it costs too much money). 6) I had an argument with an intern over how often I take a medication. My doctor orders that I take a certain med once a week. The intern tried telling me that I had to have it every day. He was set straight. 7) My last hospital stay was a bit scary. I had been moved to the adult ward. My first night there, I was trying to get some sleep when I heard something. I can't see very well without my glasses on but I could see a figure in my room. I reached for my glasses thinking it was a nurse. It was some guy standing there butt naked. I beeped for my nurse I wanted to scream so badly but I was so sick I could barely speak, so I grabbed things to throw. He left, but it took my nurse thirty minutes to show up. When I finally explained what had happened, she said that one of the patients was confused and had been wondering around the hospital floor in the nude. I had my boyfriend notified and he stayed with me the rest of the time.

That's it for now. My mother has more so I'd have to ask her.
 

NoDayButToday

New member
Ahh that random naked man is so scary! How traumatizing. For the record, when I'm in the hospital I am BYOE- bring your own enzymes. I always bring my own, since sometimes the pharmacy doesn't carry my brand, and also because I nosh all day, and take more than they usually write a prescription for anyway.
 

anonymous

New member
"BYOE"- I like that<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
I always ask to see someone's empolyee badge when they come in my room to do something to me if I don't recognize them and I'm alone. Any freak off the street can get his/her hands on a pair of scrubs these days and stroll on in.

I usually have someone, mom, dad, a friend staying with me...but I always wonder what would happen if I was alone and there was an emergency because it takes damn near half an hour for someone to respond when I hit the call button!

I've gotten to the point with alot of the interns and residents where I tell them, "I know more about how this works than you do, so you need to listen to me." Especially since most of them are about my age now (woah, scary!).
Debbie
23 w/ CF
 

jamey

New member
one thing i hate is when the damn house doctors change things or order tests without first talking to my cf doc. a couple tune ups ago they took me off my water for the whole weekend because they didnt think i needed it. so come monday morning when my doc came in my ankles and feet were so swollen i couldnt get socks or shoes on.he immediately put me back on the water pills ive been on for the past 9 years.duh!
 

ClashPunk82

New member
One time when I was in It was about 1 AM and I was getting a med. Well I woke up probably around 2 to the sound of my pump beeping and the syringe had come off the pump so I was bleeding out the tube. It was all over my bed and the floor. I called the nurse and she said oh how did this happen. I ws like how did this happen??? You never came in to check me, and now I have probbaly lost half of that med not to mention I bled everywhere and what if my IV is plugged? I was sooo mad I reported her and requested that I don't have her again. I told the nurse manager how upset I was and asked do I have to stay awake now to make sure what needs to get done, gets done. I said I can't believe I can't even feel safe going to sleep. Half the time now I don't sleep because I am so nervous something will happen to me.

Nicole 22 CF
 
I always sleep with one eye open when I'm in the hospital...I've called the nurses out on so many things that I'm sort of afraid of what could happen. I'm just glad that I have such a good understanding of what goes on that I know what to look out for. I can remember one time a home health company delivered saline for me to dilute an inhaled med....(I think it was when they used to use straight tobramycin that you had to dilute yourself, before they made TOBI)...I was really glad I was paying attention on day because a bottle of heparin was in the mix of bottles. It can't be too good for you to inhale a whole bottle of that!
 
That's literally cruel that they won't let you take them without getting the nurse first. I wonder why some people have a bias against people with cf. Oh and by the way, I told my cousin over the phone about the nurse who yelled for whoever it was to stop crying because the shot didn't hurt, and he said she should be put in a rehab center. That's probably extreme, but that is pretty weird/cruel/bad.
Hope your next visits are better, and may the glory of the Lord be your rearguard!
In Christ,
 
Some of these nurses should be fired! I mean, if they don't have ANY compassion, that's pretty bad. Thankfully, I only had one or two bad nurses in my only hospitalazation. By the way, has anyone here had a nurse or docter give you a shot just to obnoxious, or to get information? If they have, then you should report them. I also think that if someone tries to give you a shot to get info or to bother you, then that falls under the same thing as torture, and you should try to defend yourself. That could include hurting them. Just don't do it if you're not sure. You should probably ask why they are giving the shot, and then ask to see their name badge.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">
In Christ,
 

supermanfan

New member
I've had my share of hospital stays, and starting at such a young age I picked up on many things. There were times I would tell a nurse she wasn't doing something right, and she would get mad at me. It got to a point I'd tell her to leave and send my doctor in. It would always turn out that I was right (my mom was always proud of that).

As I got older some of the nurses would ask if I would show some of the trainees on how to do something.

One thing is for sure. People with these types of diseases tend to know more than the nurses and even some doctors. Let's face it... We live with this disease, our nurses, and yes doctors only know the text book version. I know what my body is doing and when something is not right.

Don' t ever be afraid to tell a nurse or a doctor NO. It just might save your life.
 

kybert

New member
mental patients are quite often transferred to medical wards when the less than satisfactory mental ward was full at the childrens hospital, because of underfunding. one time when i was in there, a boy who had tried to kill his parents was placed in the adolescent ward. unfortunately this psycho would follow me around everywhere and once tried to get into the toilet when i was in there. at the time there were no locks on the shared toilets [underfunding, theres that word again] so i had to hold the door shut until someone told him to get lost. i had to get people to stand outside after that to make sure hed go no where near me.
 

jaime

New member
Nicole,
I go to the same hospital as you and I agree with you about the cleaning lady on weekends---REDICULOUS!!! She is out of control.
There is no need for my trash and linen to be emptied at 7am!!!! It makes me crazy!
Who is the nurse that treated you so badly? just give me initials--Im sure I will figure it out. I definately have my favorites and also the ones that I wont let touch me, just wondering who you like/dislike?
 

Shayla

New member
Several people here have posted about their problems with picc lines and having to have them done in radiology. I would just like to say, you still need to be careful even if radiology is the ones putting in your line. My problem wasn't that my veins would roll but that I was allergic to the deadening that they use and my veins would conlapse. So, several years ago I started going to radiology for my lines. The last time I went they hit a nerve. They tried to tell me that it wasn't possible. When I got back to my room I was in so much pain that I started passing out everytime I would move my arm. Even when I was sitting still I was so nauseous I almost couldn't stand it, and eventually my entire hand went numb. I tried telling the nurse that something was wrong and I thought my line was rubbing a nerve and I was told that lines always hurt. Now, I realize that they always hurt but after 19 years of having lines I had never had one hurt like this. I talked to my mom and she got on the phone calling anyone she could think of. Between the two of us it still took over 24 hours before someone finally decided they should take the line out. By the time they finally removed the line the damage had been done. I ended up on a medication called neurontin (I'm not sure how to spell it) it is an extremely powerful pain medication, it is the type that you have to slowly up your dose until you reach a good level, and then you have to ease yourself off of it or you can have major problems. After two years of being on medication it got to the point that I could take myself off the meds and use my hand and arm without it hurting all the time. It took another two years before I had full feeling in my hand. I can still remember the day that I notice that I could feel things again. I still have pain every once in a while. A short time after this happened my brother had to go to radiolgy to get a line put in. He asked them the risk of nerve damage with this type of procedure and they told him none. At this point I opted to have my port placed.

-Ann 25 w/cf
 
Ok, here's a quiz. Whoever answers this correctly be mentioned as being a good poster in my next ten posts, which go all over these boards. Ok, here it is.

Who is the Rider on the white horse?
 
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