support for Roo

[Sheanie]

Roo, on the pain issue in your back? Examine your posture. Because as we lose weight, we don't have that "frontal" fat to lean forward on. So we hunch over unconsciously, and it only gets worse with more weight loss. The "sitting up straight" muscles have atrophied, and what I had to do was constantly remind myself to sit up erect (YES, I said "erect", LOL). Also, I had to change the chair in which I sat constantly to a better one. One that was smaller, to reflect my smaller size. If you can't change chairs, prop with more pillows and see if that helps.

I'd be asking those snotty-ass nurses to make themselves useful and GIVE ME A BACK MASSAGE or shut up. Have they ever heard of having a good bedside manner?

 

[Terri]

You didn't just go in have WLS, go home and start your recovery. You almost died in the hospital. You are recovering from more than WLS. You also still have your hand troubles. If those nurses give you anymore crap ask if they want you to get your GP on the phone so can they tell her how to "doctor" you properly. Your GP knows all that has and still is going on with. Another thing you can do is next time the nurses are there go poo and ask them to help you clean your backside that your hand is bothering you!

 

[Sheanie]

Yeah, be like "be a dear and wipe my hiney". I LOVE that. What's she gonna do, refuse?

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

You didn't just go in have WLS, go home and start your recovery. You almost died in the hospital. You are recovering from more than WLS. You also still have your hand troubles. If those nurses give you anymore crap ask if they want you to get your GP on the phone so can they tell her how to "doctor" you properly. Your GP knows all that has and still is going on with. Another thing you can do is next time the nurses are there go poo and ask them to help you clean your backside that your hand is bothering you!

ohhhhh if only my pride would let me!!!!! lol. I wouldn't even let the nurses in hospital help with my showers, I waited til mike came to help me. I will get through this one way or another, even if I have to pack and dress my own wound. I've watched them do it enough times that I could. I'm sooo fed up and just want to get on with it.

But I've got company and Im being rude lol. So I shall see you beauties tomorrow

 

[ProteinSnob]

Roo, I don't know if this will help you or not, but I self-referred to a wound care center at a major teaching hospital nearby when I got home. It was one of the smartest moves I made. The wound care nurses at the hospital had no problem calling up the home health nurses to bawl them out. They even sent a manufacturer rep out at one point to teach the nurse how to get something right.

Cleaning out the wound yourself is not a good idea. You really need someone experienced to keep an eye on you, because infections in the abdomen are common and can get ugly fast.

They need to be wearing gloves, wearing masks, and WASHING THEIR HANDS before touch you.

My husband kept an "entry" basket right beside the kitchen sink. After we let them in, we walked straight to it and started washing our own hands. At one point, I think my husband had a note on the door if he wasn't there, telling people what he expected (he wasn't an ass about it, but we had a few slackers who pissed him off). There was a box of gloves and face masks right next to the basket. We had the visiting nurses put them on and put a face mask on myself. The last thing you need right now is someone breathing germs on you or your wound. A cough or even trying to blow your nose is going to be hard on you. Why put yourself through any more misery if you can avoid it?

There was a trash can and a paper towel roll right next to it, with a sign reminding people to wash their hands. Let the sign do a little of the talking/reminding for you. Have your husband put together a checklist on a clipboard (and blame the overkill on himself or the doctor). Let the list play the part of the bad guy for you.

My husband also set up baskets right beside my reclining chair. One was filled with medical supplies: gauze, tape, pads, alcohol wipes, etc. There was another basket with Lysol wipes and spray. He also had a giant binder/folder, where all paperwork "lived". Every medication I was on, all doctors' order, all contact information for the entire team- everything was in there. If we had an ER visit, we could just grab it and go.

My food log, weight loss chart, and exercise planner were all there also. It shut people up to see my progress.

I am more grateful than I can express to the nurses who got me through the last couple of months, but it helped to build in some accountability for them. It's a sad fact that people just behave better when they know that someone is watching. And, like I said, let the lists and such be the "bad guy". It's very hard to advocate for yourself when you are seriously hurt. Yes, we still need to do it, but there is nothing wrong with making it a little easier on yourself by bringing in others.

Lastly, we resorted to bribery on occasion. We brought treats to the nurses at the hospital and we kept treats at the house. We gave little Starbucks gift cards out and things like that. They can't accept huge gifts, but no one ever turned down a chance to grab a cup of coffee on us on their way to the the next patient.

Does this help at all? If not, please just ignore me. You have my best wishes for recovery. If you need me, I'm here to listen.

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

PS, your advice was knowledgeable, but it is so different here I can't even begin to explain lol. It did make me miss home in the US a bit though where medical care has a bit more of a personal touch...probably because you are paying for that personal touch, but hey ho.

So, the issues is this. (I finally have a minute to sit down and explain it all.) I am disabled....we all know this, we all know every once in a while a break down in poor poor pitiful me mode, but what we also know is usually, I grind my teeth, bare it and try not to mention how much every bloody day hurts. Well, the nurses have mistook my positive outlook and happy disposition to mean I'm not as bad as I nor my GP think. That's right, my GP spoke to the nurses and explained to them how badly damaged my joints are and how it effects me. This seems to make them even MORE keen that I drag myself out of the house every day and into the clinic for wound care. This is made worse by the fact that I admitted I went to my mother in laws 60th, in a cottage, where I had a handicapped room, on the ground floor where I spent most of my time. To the nurses that equals "out and about". It doesn't matter that it took me a week to recover from that one outting. I'm beyond livid. The nurses booked me into the clinic yesterday, today, tomorrow and monday......exactly ONE DAY after my GP explained my situation. I tried my best. I went yesterday, Mike pushing me in a my wheelchair, but just the act of going from house to car, from car to wheelchair, from wheelchair to examining table/couch and back again meant I woke up moaning in agony. I am unable to do the most basic things now and have had to cancel my appointment this morning and tomorrow morning. I really hate them from the bottom of my heart.

My wound is almost ready to be dressed every other day, so going from yesterday to tomorrow isn't a huge deal, I don't think. And if it starts to hurt or gets gooey, there are after hours nurses I can ring.

I really do think I could do it...the dressing that is. Everything here is done a bit different...all the things I need are individually packaged. So it goes like this: you wash your hands with anti b soap, dry them with paper towels, open a nurse kit which provides a sterile place to put everything that you open (without touching anything but the packaging of course!). In that nurse kit, there is a bin bag and an apron and gloves. White gloves are for taking down the dressing and cleaning with saline. Then you remove white gloves, rub hands with purell, put on green gloves and start the packing of the wounds, then pad them and cover them with the film.

See, I got this. I don't want to do it of course as if anything goes wrong I don't want to be to blame, but I COULD...if there was a zombie apocalypse of something lol.

I'm so frustrated!!!!! But, I have to remember this is temporary. And once I am not dependent on the nurses for vital care, I can write a professionally worded bitch slap of a complaint to the head nurse and copy everyone in...cos Im good like that. Bide, my time...then make heads roll.