Dear Nurse,

Sat, 16 Dec 2007 04:58:57 GMT

posted by KlingonWarrior
thank you for saving my life. I don’t know who you are, but the compassionate care you showed a very sick man was amazing. This makes me think of the Good Samaritan.

This goes out to all the nurses (and doctors and techs) who helped me through my ordeal at MD Anderson. I was recently talking to Mom about the week post op that I spent in the ‘spital.

I was heavily sedated for most of that time. On the 2nd or 3rd day, I became aware that my back really itched. I wanted to scratch it all off. Mom took a look at why I was absent-mindedly scratching so much and saw a big rash on my back.

So a dermatology resident came in and said he thought I had some kind of disease. I know what the disease is, and explained it to my family at the time. But whatever he thought it was has been analgesic’ed out of my mind. Anyway, he called in another dermatologist and he decided it wasn’t what the first one thought it was.

They prescribed some kind of cream that the nurses and Mom applied to my back. Aunt Deb, R.N., who flew in from Massachusetts for my first week back home to relieve Mom of her non-stop care giving for a little bit, said that dermatology must be an easy specialty, because there are only three main cream medicines that their patients get. And I was on one of them.

Why did I have a rash on my back? They say when I was in a recovery room after my nearly 24 hours of general anesthesia, I vomited up green stuff. I was on my back, and left to myself this would have killed me in the same manner the average rock star drinks whiskey and shoots enough smack in his arm to tranquilize an elephant and dies of asphyxiation. However the nurse saw it and turned me. Some of the emesis got on the pad I was lying on and I stayed on it for a long time. That caused the skin breakdown.

If the nurse had seen the mess, he would have cleaned it up. But he also didn’t want to move me much, because of my brand new surgical wounds, which the surgeons had warned everybody were VERY fragile. And I had more tubes coming out of me than a Borg! I am thankful he didn’t move me too much, because I can’t imagine how bad it would have been to have to go through a second surgery of that magnitude!

So that nurse saved my life without me even knowing it. And he did a good job, too, because I don’t think I aspirated any of that puke! Even with the massive surgery and everything, I didn’t get pneumonia!

The rest of that week I had great nurses, even though most of the time I cannot remember. My first memories were of my girlfriend holding my hand and looking at me. Then I remember being wheeled into a hospital room and for probably an hour thinking I was on my gurney waiting for an elevator. And I was also having fun spatial hallucinations, where the walls were moving. I was really getting upset that the elevator was taking so long to get there and my parents were talking to the nurses, and I couldn’t speak. Until I finally had an understanding that I was in my ‘spital room and everything was okay.

Then, I spent about three days being HORRIFIED about the trach I had. It seemed to me that I wasn’t getting any air, and the infernal thing kept clogging with mucus. I kept calling the nurses in thinking I couldn’t breathe, but my pulse ox was always 100. This astounded me—I coulda swore it was at 70. Then they would suction the tube and have me “cough,” and crap would spew forth from the tube sticking out of my neck.

Then capping the thing to teach me to breathe through my mouth again was horrifying. It felt like I was trying to breathe through a straw. You cannot imagine how good it felt to pull off my bandages and see that the hole in my neck had sealed up and healed with barely a scar to show for it!

This was also the week of the “Jeff Goldblum Incident!” Oh, I had a really timid nurse who was afraid to shove a suppository in my butt. Then I had another nurse who did the yucky deed astonishingly fast.

Ah, medicine! I so understand the horrors, and I am going to give so much to my patients! May they remember me fondly when they are back on their feet.

Sincerely,
A Patient You Helped

NOTE: Gruesome pictures are not chronological.

Welcome to our wikizine called "The Ventilator"

Sun, 10 Sep 2007 21:11:45 GMT

posted by vent2006
Wikizines are interactive magazines that anyone can create or edit - and this one is called "The Ventilator". Here you can find fresh voices and respond in real time. Some members write articles about recent news and trends related to the wikizine's topic, others recount relevant personal stories or share their favorite pictures and video clips. Got an interesting idea or story to share with other members of this wikizine? Well, then put on your journalist's cap and add your own article!

Sweet Little Words

Thu, 9 May 2008 02:29:00 GMT

posted by okwildlady

This week happens to be National Teachers Week and National Nurses Week. Being the school nurse of three elementary schools gives me a lot to celebrate. All week long my schools have hosted events in honor of the occasion. There have been breakfasts, brunches, cakes and cookies. I received goodie bags with candies and other neat things like this little sign I found in one:

The most fun part of the week for me was yesterday. Our secretary announced over the intercom, "Today is National Nurses Day. Don't forget to tell our nurse that you appreciate what she does for us."

All day long the kids were stopping me in the hall or dropping by the clinic to say "We Peacie-ate you, Nurse Stephanie!"

It is so wonderful to be Peacie-ated! :)

The Ventilator - Articles - Zimbio

Dear Nurse,

Welcome to our wikizine called "The Ventilator"

Sweet Little Words