Cancer
Most people know at least one person who has cancer. I just found out yesterday that one of the nurses at work have breast cancer and is on chemo and radiation. She's only in her early thirties and has a young child. It's so sad to hear one of my co workers is sick. The suffering she has to bear during the treatment and the emotional toll she has to bear thinking about her survival and her family's welfare.
My family have it's share of cancer victims and survivors. It's just one of the diseases that takes on casualties in the thousands and costs gazillion dollars to "fight". Not to mention the emotional costs that it brings to the victim and their families.
I was taking care of a middle age person yesterday who was an ex-law enforcement personnel. He (a gender I will use to make writing easier and the person's identity anonymous) is experiencing some major abdominal pain and CT scan shows major clusters of tumors in his liver and possibly pancrease. A liver biopsy was done yesterday and it will confirm if the tumors are cancerous. It will take 2 business days to get the results, so it being a Friday, he has to wait 4-5 days for the results. Arrgh, the waiting game. From the report that I recieved from the previous nurse, he and his family doesn't know what he has but they might have a clue as he came from a strong familial history of gastrointestinal cancer.
This poor person also has to deal with his 80+ year old room mate. This person is in the hospital for low blood pressure. He (again a gender I will use for anonymity) is cachectic and has very poor hygiene and appetite. After a couple of days on medication that increases blood pressure, he started to wake up and being his old self again. A cantancerous pain in the ass. Nothing I say he remembers and repeats the same stupid question, "Can I go to the bathroom?" The answer is of course "NO" in various forms and other comments that I kept to myself. He cusses like a sailor and also asks me why I treat him the way I do. I told him someone needs to save him from hurting himself.
The patient never got what he wants from me. He wants the bedrails down. A safety issue that has lawsuit written all over it. If I lower the bedrail might as well just push him off the 7th floor patio but our building is only 2 stories high. No such luck. He also wants to bend over to rub his feet. Ah, those feet are yucky looking and all edematous, I don't think that is a good request. I also learned he smokes at home while on oxygen. I can only imagine the explosion cigarette will do to a tank of oxygen. Like those hollywood movie explosions. Hehehe.
Having celebrated my 10th year as a nurse this year; no, there is no real celebration i.e. a party but a personal reflection on the hundreds of soiled asses I have to clean and the few appretiation and lots of complains on why they can't go to the bathroom the first place; I know for a fact that a patient that has heart problems and wants to go to the bathrom all ends up dead attempting or on the way to the bathroom. For some reason the anus is connected to the heart, really. The valsalva maneuver must have killed more people than rusted nail. Don't quote me on this, for heavens sake, this is a blog and not a scientific journal.
I also learned that the more you complained about not getting a bowel movement the more chances you will get a goddamn enema. One of the nastiest goddamn medical orders that I hated next to getting stool samples from commodes. I specially hate those soupy diarrhea ones that glows in the dark, yuuuuck. It gives me dry heaves when I collect them.
The poor cancer pt wanted to get transfered. He has missed numerous hours of sleep due to his room mate's heart monitor alarm going off. To his luck a number of patients were transfered out of the unit. I found him a bed next to a window overlooking a sidewalk lined with grass and shrub. He and his family were happy. This will be my good deed of the day.
Most people know at least one person who has cancer. I just found out yesterday that one of the nurses at work have breast cancer and is on chemo and radiation. She's only in her early thirties and has a young child. It's so sad to hear one of my co workers is sick. The suffering she has to bear during the treatment and the emotional toll she has to bear thinking about her survival and her family's welfare.
My family have it's share of cancer victims and survivors. It's just one of the diseases that takes on casualties in the thousands and costs gazillion dollars to "fight". Not to mention the emotional costs that it brings to the victim and their families.
I was taking care of a middle age person yesterday who was an ex-law enforcement personnel. He (a gender I will use to make writing easier and the person's identity anonymous) is experiencing some major abdominal pain and CT scan shows major clusters of tumors in his liver and possibly pancrease. A liver biopsy was done yesterday and it will confirm if the tumors are cancerous. It will take 2 business days to get the results, so it being a Friday, he has to wait 4-5 days for the results. Arrgh, the waiting game. From the report that I recieved from the previous nurse, he and his family doesn't know what he has but they might have a clue as he came from a strong familial history of gastrointestinal cancer.
This poor person also has to deal with his 80+ year old room mate. This person is in the hospital for low blood pressure. He (again a gender I will use for anonymity) is cachectic and has very poor hygiene and appetite. After a couple of days on medication that increases blood pressure, he started to wake up and being his old self again. A cantancerous pain in the ass. Nothing I say he remembers and repeats the same stupid question, "Can I go to the bathroom?" The answer is of course "NO" in various forms and other comments that I kept to myself. He cusses like a sailor and also asks me why I treat him the way I do. I told him someone needs to save him from hurting himself.
The patient never got what he wants from me. He wants the bedrails down. A safety issue that has lawsuit written all over it. If I lower the bedrail might as well just push him off the 7th floor patio but our building is only 2 stories high. No such luck. He also wants to bend over to rub his feet. Ah, those feet are yucky looking and all edematous, I don't think that is a good request. I also learned he smokes at home while on oxygen. I can only imagine the explosion cigarette will do to a tank of oxygen. Like those hollywood movie explosions. Hehehe.
Having celebrated my 10th year as a nurse this year; no, there is no real celebration i.e. a party but a personal reflection on the hundreds of soiled asses I have to clean and the few appretiation and lots of complains on why they can't go to the bathroom the first place; I know for a fact that a patient that has heart problems and wants to go to the bathrom all ends up dead attempting or on the way to the bathroom. For some reason the anus is connected to the heart, really. The valsalva maneuver must have killed more people than rusted nail. Don't quote me on this, for heavens sake, this is a blog and not a scientific journal.
I also learned that the more you complained about not getting a bowel movement the more chances you will get a goddamn enema. One of the nastiest goddamn medical orders that I hated next to getting stool samples from commodes. I specially hate those soupy diarrhea ones that glows in the dark, yuuuuck. It gives me dry heaves when I collect them.
The poor cancer pt wanted to get transfered. He has missed numerous hours of sleep due to his room mate's heart monitor alarm going off. To his luck a number of patients were transfered out of the unit. I found him a bed next to a window overlooking a sidewalk lined with grass and shrub. He and his family were happy. This will be my good deed of the day.
