tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post6503754327576797811..comments2023-06-14T03:36:55.988-07:00Comments on Head Nurse: So, finally, my patient died.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520599099436383317noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-46369948018380134682015-06-17T21:01:39.652-07:002015-06-17T21:01:39.652-07:00One of the big things I like about vet nursing is ...One of the big things I like about vet nursing is that we can all openly comfortably talk about quality of life and when it is "time". Doesn't mean the pet owners can always handle it, and some unethical horrible vets or nurses rail against it, but at least it is a topic we don't have to dance around. I know it is quite different in areas like consent and the fact that human medicine is more advanced than veterinary, but the essential thought is the same. I hope I retain my clear mind about suffering if any animal or human I love is in a horrible situation like this one day. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18041073328408183345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-1748021333213285782014-11-23T15:26:33.735-08:002014-11-23T15:26:33.735-08:00It gets so ugly when the family isn't able to ...It gets so ugly when the family isn't able to let go at the right time. Im sorry you had to have that experience :(Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13387008134753314215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-83671389394610122712014-11-20T21:51:08.068-08:002014-11-20T21:51:08.068-08:00We Nurses....are Chronic recepients of PTSD..........We Nurses....are Chronic recepients of PTSD........Thank God for fermented beverages........and Bless us (whatever that means) for all the selfless work that we do.Fibril_latehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106536823314391309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-77495992510058473532014-11-19T10:16:51.697-08:002014-11-19T10:16:51.697-08:00Anxiety attack just reading your narrative. I gues...Anxiety attack just reading your narrative. I guess I can't go back to work just yet..... Cartoon Charactershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07871661908222892370noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-27312346865377921212014-11-11T09:31:17.249-08:002014-11-11T09:31:17.249-08:00I have been amazed as to how often people are kept...I have been amazed as to how often people are kept "plugged in" when I am certain they would not have wanted to be subjected to procedures,indignities,and unnecessary pain. I do try to understand the family not wanting to let the patient go, but at best it is very selfish.<br />I hope I have learned form this,as I'm not sure if a similar situation happened to me I might be initially just as selfish.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-54807128578129338732014-11-08T15:13:39.238-08:002014-11-08T15:13:39.238-08:00Two days ago one of my dear friends called in tear...Two days ago one of my dear friends called in tears to say her mother has a glio, but her on-site siblings are being uninformative and vague. Your description makes me very sad to think what they're going to have to deal with.<br /><br />It's often terribly difficult for people to stop denying what's happening and face the reality of a loved one's progressive deterioration. Yesterday I managed to enroll my father in hospice, with the support and encouragement of his doctor. However, my siblings are still insisting that all Dad needs is more "mental stimulation."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-42060591605124414252014-11-08T02:45:08.171-08:002014-11-08T02:45:08.171-08:00Several years ago I had a patient, an older woman ...Several years ago I had a patient, an older woman with some terminal illness who was vented and basically rotting in bed. The attending, fell and even some of the senior residents approached the adult children (by phone as they never came to the hospital) about comfort care or terminal wean. The family refused every time. The eldest daughter phoned me one shift angry that she kept getting calls about this topic and screamed at me to convey that she not be approached about the topic again.<br /><br />A week later the two sisters of the patient came for a visit and I had the opportunity to lay it out there for them. I explained the futility of care the body rotting in the bed and the children who never visited and did not want to be bothered. The sisters were in tears and thanked me for my honesty.<br /><br />Thirty minutes after they left the elder daughter of the patient phoned and gave the ok for us to remove the vent and let her mother pass.<br /><br />I learned from this experience that blunt honesty can be far more therapeutic than all the communication garbage they tell you in school and that being a patient advocate means forcing the issue here and there.<br /><br />Chennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-8782153039090901482014-11-06T10:40:15.032-08:002014-11-06T10:40:15.032-08:00Hugs to you. I have been there, done that, and de...Hugs to you. I have been there, done that, and decided after 12 years that it wasn't for me anymore. I'm so much more content in hospice.<br /><br />It is horrifying what we put people through.ginahttp://www.codeblog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-73049966350903276032014-11-05T21:35:04.842-08:002014-11-05T21:35:04.842-08:00My Mom had a glio. My Dad would not accept that s...My Mom had a glio. My Dad would not accept that she would die. It was just awful, two years of awful. Due to his demands that we be upbeat and optimistic I was never able to tell her what she'd meant to me, or good bye or anything. I'm sorry you've had to witness this.Allisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02475433199308666648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-61887621216077504882014-11-05T12:40:26.073-08:002014-11-05T12:40:26.073-08:00You are all of the very best things we hope to be ...You are all of the very best things we hope to be as a nurse....and the nurse we want taking care of us. Bless you...<br /><br />I had a patient in home care, who was also kept alive by tubes and wires and had decubes everywhere despite an expensive specialty bed....for the same reason. When he died, the hefty pension stopped. Sad.....so sad. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14562034224873651179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-85673441254044327902014-11-04T15:56:36.649-08:002014-11-04T15:56:36.649-08:00In retirement, I'm still haunted, Jo, by that ...In retirement, I'm still haunted, Jo, by that look --(i.e., "that look" of your poor patient here, too)-- of a scared, cornered rabbit ............ except it was my elderly, dying patient, as he was taken on a stretcher out to the waiting Ambulance, because his family absolutely *insisted*, at the very last minute, on an Ambulance Transport from the Skilled Nursing Facility over to our local Hospital ............ where my patient died 24 hours later anyway. <br /><br />I had offered to sit by my patient while he died and hold his hand ............ i.e., even to clock-out and simply run back to his room, and give him the dignified, peaceful, and comforting death that he so deserved ............ as a good human being ............ yet my Head Nurse said the Family absolutely insisted on his being transported over to the local Hospital. <br /><br />'All the types of torture that the Geneva Convention expressly prohibits----(and is, as we all know, flagrantly ignored by many countries)----yet we nurses genuinely do the best we can............ i.e., in caring for victims of a different type of "legalized, often unremitting torture," right under our noses @ work. ('Call it what it is, right??)<br /><br />You did everything you could, Jo, filling your patient's last days ............ and your patient's soul ............ with more love and care than most people can even imagine. And I ache, deeply, with you. I'm so sorry. (((*H.u.g.s.*))), RosannaRosannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17290435002631069643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-4464732955144168902014-11-04T08:26:52.213-08:002014-11-04T08:26:52.213-08:00Thanks for sharing this, hard as it was to live an...Thanks for sharing this, hard as it was to live and to imagine. I have a patient who haunts me, too, but he was lucky enough to be broke and unloved, and so his family let him go, much to my relief. In those moments when there is nothing to be done, everyone else gives the commands and it's us nurses who actually are in there hour after hour as witness to the pain. If they had to live with it the way we do, they would make different decision.Reneenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-20415998315654364192014-11-03T22:44:14.591-08:002014-11-03T22:44:14.591-08:00Sorry.
I had a few, OK, a lot of other patients w...Sorry.<br /><br />I had a few, OK, a lot of other patients whose loved ones maybe acting this way too. Carinhttp://www.36hourworkweek.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-5274671730911241172014-11-03T20:04:18.425-08:002014-11-03T20:04:18.425-08:00jo:
You did the right thing.
This is where we pr...jo:<br /><br />You did the right thing.<br /><br />This is where we pray that Dad (or whomever is calling them from the other side) gets over fast.<br /><br />Sometimes, it's ugly the people who have to live for money.<br /><br />I have to restrain myself...RehabRNhttp://rehabrn.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-83882092329248973772014-11-03T15:55:04.058-08:002014-11-03T15:55:04.058-08:00My worst fears. I am a cancer survivor, although ...My worst fears. I am a cancer survivor, although it is expected that the cancer will return (miracle, blah, blah etc.) My worst fear is that I will turn into someone that I wasn't, a bitter, angry, mean person due to brain mets, pain and fear. I have filled out the directive (for all the good it will do in my state) and have begged all family members - spouse, parents, and now that my children are nearing adulthood them too - not to torture me. I am thinking of moving to Oregon when I reoccur. You have just described my version of hell and NO ONE including the care takers should have to live it. I am so sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-29259945980076178732014-11-03T13:46:31.341-08:002014-11-03T13:46:31.341-08:00Thank you for all you do. I wish people like you ...Thank you for all you do. I wish people like you who will be there for us no matter what were more often treated with the respect and appreciation you so deserve.<br /><br />It is ironic that your post is dated the very day that the young woman with the glioblastoma diagnosis who had moved to Oregon was able to choose to say her goodbyes with dignity and with her family present and supporting her.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-4008074738468653842014-11-02T15:12:05.444-08:002014-11-02T15:12:05.444-08:00I feel your pain. Unfortunately these cases are no...I feel your pain. Unfortunately these cases are not rare. I've had similar cases. I don't know where people's compassion for THEIR OWN LOVED ONE is. Choosing money over people.....sad.gelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08398851264062550007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-1264082140630144272014-11-02T10:12:46.102-08:002014-11-02T10:12:46.102-08:00May we all take away from your experience, the wil...May we all take away from your experience, the will to do the right thing for our family when the time comes. I'm crying with the rest of your readers; feel the hugs.Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08938791116446859160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-58184098848468732112014-11-02T10:03:00.752-08:002014-11-02T10:03:00.752-08:00Wow. What a story. I'm sorry that anyone had t...Wow. What a story. I'm sorry that anyone had to go through all of that. It's so sad that anyone would be so selfish to keep a person alive for their money. Ugh. Fie upon this quiet life!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12047096700049201873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-75009035125181964272014-11-02T09:50:34.640-08:002014-11-02T09:50:34.640-08:00That is absolutely terrible. It did remind me that...That is absolutely terrible. It did remind me that I really should execute an advance directive. Comradde PhysioProffenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-1478789014282305962014-11-02T08:46:38.146-08:002014-11-02T08:46:38.146-08:00And hugs from me. And thank you for doing your be...And hugs from me. And thank you for doing your best.<br /><br />AnneAnnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11916187234293845661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-10406245331363379142014-11-02T07:05:06.615-08:002014-11-02T07:05:06.615-08:00A moving story with a powerful message: execute an...A moving story with a powerful message: execute an Advance Directive valid in your state of residence. It will make your wishes clear to your healthcare providers and save your loved ones heartache and anguish. Thank you for sharing a case that obviously caused you pain.Mike Maiselhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06017079799717158432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-74763845709819317412014-11-02T05:10:29.849-08:002014-11-02T05:10:29.849-08:00We had a DNR glio on our unit too. Truly heartbrea...We had a DNR glio on our unit too. Truly heartbreaking. Wishing you soul balm.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-23674730379182360912014-11-01T21:32:43.973-07:002014-11-01T21:32:43.973-07:00And I will cry with you.
Please consider yourself...And I will cry with you.<br /><br />Please consider yourself very hugged ~bobbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14353836074794786357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-41710607371308337352014-11-01T19:59:54.470-07:002014-11-01T19:59:54.470-07:00Dear Lord. Dear Lord.
I am praying for this patie...Dear Lord. Dear Lord.<br /><br />I am praying for this patient to be at peace. These things should not be allowed to happen. <br /><br />Take comfort in the fact that it's over. Sadly, I can't think of anything else to say.Dr. Alicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04776830530694403715noreply@blogger.com