Teh stupid ... it burns, and could have killed

[firefly124]

So, first of all, I was pondering in amazement earlier just how many friends I have with serious conditions of some kind. I have two friends with MS, one of whom will soon be the main topic of this post, one with Huntington's, several including myself with fibromyalgia, a nephew in remission from childhood leukemia, and the list goes on.

Comments

[elfwreck]

Do you read ozarque's journal? She regularly talks about the problems with communicating with medical personnel, and "MDeity-speak."

A lot of her Verbal Self-Defence work is focused on that, because it's one of the areas where communication saves or costs lives. (In both directions--it's not always the thick-headed doctor who's not listening to the patient; sometimes it's the patient who can't stop talking about his bitch of an ex-wife long enough to explain where it hurts so the doctor can stop the internal bleeding.)

For an experienced patient, dealing with regular meds: she can always say, "I'M NOT TAKING THIS DOSE. I'm not required to take any medicines; I can always REFUSE medical treatment, and as I believe this treatment will send me to the ER and possibly put me in a coma for the rest of my life. In case that went too fast for you, NO, YOU MAY NOT INJECT THOSE DRUGS INTO ME. Keep trying, and you'd better put your lawyer on speed-dial."

Which is much harsher than is usually effective, and should only be used when she's absolutely

[firefly124]

+++Do you read ozarque's journal? She regularly talks about the problems with communicating with medical personnel, and "MDeity-speak." +++

I haven't in awhile, but have always found her interesting when I do read her.

+++sometimes it's the patient who can't stop talking about his bitch of an ex-wife long enough to explain where it hurts so the doctor can stop the internal bleeding.+++

No argument there. I've had those patients.

+++NO, YOU MAY NOT INJECT THOSE DRUGS INTO ME. Keep trying, and you'd better put your lawyer on speed-dial.+++

That was, I think, the gist of the argument that finally got the nurse to go check it out.

[meddevi]

we experience this all the time with Keith and his asthma...there's just no way that the average nurse or doctor has as much experience with asthma and the related meds as a life-long serious asthmatic. The only deviation from this is the medic who has asthma themselves, and you can instantly tell the difference in treatment.

[firefly124]

+++there's just no way that the average nurse or doctor has as much experience with asthma and the related meds as a life-long serious asthmatic.+++

Exactly. And as a future nurse I'm just appalled by medical personnel who don't *get* that!

[jenett]

This is why we were so insistent K have someone handy at the hospital for her. The first night after surgery, she had a bad reaction to the morphine, and kept not breathing much (4 breaths a minute or something) and they almost gave her the shot that pulls all the painkillers out of your system very rapidly.

The problem being that you then can't have any more until *that* is reliably out of your system, and she knew she couldn't take it.

C stayed all night keeping her awake instead. We didn't blame the hospital on that one - they couldn't have done it (though the nurse in question was really worried and cute about it, and obviously still very torn about not having been able to do more when I talked ot him the next night) because they just didn't have the staffing. But it could have been a very different experience if someone hadn't been there.

I did some smaller stuff like that for her, and even that was pretty useful.

[firefly124]

+++This is why we were so insistent K have someone handy at the hospital for her.+++

Always a good idea.

+++We didn't blame the hospital on that one - they couldn't have done it (though the nurse in question was really worried and cute about it, and obviously still very torn about not having been able to do more when I talked ot him the next night) because they just didn't have the staffing. But it could have been a very different experience if someone hadn't been there.+++

No doubt.

[kwangjse]

My mom once fell down and couldn't get up. She was so overweight and heavy that with back problems I was having at the time I couldn't help her up, so we called the fire department who came and helped...much to my mother's delight :-)

silly doctors and nurses are the worst!

[firefly124]

They really are. If I ever start acting/talking like one of them, smack me, k?

[kwangjse]

k :-)