It has come to my attention that Mary is currently recovering from surgery,I think it would be a nice gesture to all of her friends here to wish her a speedy recovery, Mary praying that you make a full recovery and get back here soon,your missed
Mary, Hoping your recovery is fast. Will be looking forward to your calm voice of reason back here on the board. Pamper yourself as much as possible.((Hugs)).
Yes Mary, I too am hoping that you are recovering well. You are very loved and respected on this site and we are looking forward to your safe return. (But I must admit that Dons' heading made me very afraid to read what he had written!)
Thank you, Don, and everyone. Back home today and feeling like my life has been handed back to me. My main observation is that anyone who takes care of a person in need (as we all surely did with our spouses) deserves every bit of gratitude the world can offer. I think we should all feel very special people for what we did. It was my youngest son, a welder, who was with me every step of the way - sometimes these hardworking men can be the gentlest of all. Right now, I'm enjoying a book that ol Don sent me and will surface later.
Mary hope for a speedy recovery. Yes the big strong sons can sometimes be very sweet. My son took me to the movie theater just him and I. He's married w 3 little kids so to visit w just him was a treat.
An email sent to a care agency and a copy mailed to the president of the company in Missassauga, Ontario: The LPN that your agency sent me on Monday, March 6/2017 at 5:00 a.m. was a disaster. He had no vehicle (I was not informed of this until the day before the surgery), and I had to agree to pay his cab fare in from Richmond, a $35.00 cab fee. Sonny started to give one fleet enema, but he gave it into the vagina. When I hollered, he expelled the rest of it into the bedding. I inserted the nozzle of the second fleet enema into my anus myself, told him to hold it there and squeeze the tube. He didn’t hold it; it slipped out and he expelled the contents into the bedding. There were no drugstores open at 5:00 am, so that I could buy two new fleet enemas in time to prepare for surgery at 9:00 a.m.. I told Sonny that I would not pay him. Told him I wouldn’t pay the cab fare. Told him to go home and never come back. That instead of helping me, he had actually harmed me. Told him to report the whole incident to the agency. My son took me to the hospital immediately, fearing that my surgery would be cancelled, and that I would have to wait another three months for it to be performed. The surgeon did the best he could, knowing the unfortunate circumstances, and I had the surgery. But I had to stay an extra day in the hospital because of the botched-up pre-op prep. In my opinion, I suffered more pain and complications due to Sonny's complete lack of knowledge and experience. When I asked Sonny, he admitted he had never given a fleet enema before, and, indeed, had only given three or four enemas before in his life, “Back when I was a student. That was three or four years ago.” This is the LPN you told me had worked for your agency for about five months and was an experienced LPN, capable of giving two pre-op fleet enemas to a 87-year old- woman.
Mary, sorry about your problems with the LPN. He should not be working alone until he has a LOT more experience, maybe never. Hope your recovery goes better.
No new grad nurse should accept a job in home care until they have had at least one year's experience on a med-surg floor in a hospital.
No matter what the form of transportation the home care personnel use to get to the patient's home, it is Never the patient's responsibility to pay for it. (Nor to pay for gas for their cars.)
And while we're all relentlessly gender-neutral and unisex these days, it probably would have been more comfortable for you, Mary, if they had sent a female nurse.
Thanks, March and Elizabeth. In retrospect it's kind of funny. The young man arrived with his stethoscope in the pant's pocket of his smart teal-coloured scrubs. Put on a new plastic apron. Donned surgical cap and mask. Then gloved. Alas, all preparations in vain. Yes, a female nurse at least would have known the anatomy. The unkind thought did flit though my mind that he might be gay. That was followed by the thought that, okay, he probably knows about rectums.
wow what a story,reminds me of one I heard when I was in the service,seems some high ranking officer was awaiting surgery and he was a pain in the ass to everyone on the floor,one day the head nurse told him roll over on your stomach I have to take your temp,she then stuck a long stemmed rose in his butt and walked away,don't know if she got demoted but I'm sure the laughs from everyone that saw it would have been worth it
Your story of the high ranking officer who was a pain in the ass reminded me of something that happened while I was in the Army. So of course I have to tell you about it.
Major Kistler was the commander of our Signal Corp battalion while we were stationed at Elmendorf Field, Alaska. He was not very well liked by the enlisted men or his fellow officers because he was so strict and grouchy and never had a kind word for anybody. Although he was quite obese and in terrible shape he loved to strut around in full uniform with a very pompous attitude. I can't imagine a worse example of a soldier.
He was the highest ranking officer who lived in the Officers Quarters on the base and all the other officers who lived there hated him because he was always throwing his weight around and bossing over them. No parties or fun whatsoever.
We were getting ready to move down into the Aleutian Chain and were all issued new fancy sleeping bags which we were playing around with and one of our favorite 2nd Lieutenant officers told us this story about what happened in the Officers Quarters as Major Kistler was trying out his bag.
It was in the early evening when a 2nd Louie in the hallway was passing by the Major's room and heard a voice calling for help. He put his ear to the door and heard "Help..... help.... I'm trapped inside of a sleeping bag and can't get out. Someone please come and help me get out of this thing." Well .... that voice was music to the 2nd Louie's ears and he went up and down the hallway telling everyone about it.
Soon, almost everyone in the building had quietly gathered in the hallway to listen to the wonderful sound of the Major pleading for help getting out of his sleeping bag. This went on for over an hour and everyone in the hallway was having a great time listening to the never ending pleas for help.
When they finally did rescue him, they found that he had crawled into the bag on the floor and zipped it up tight, and the little string that was attached to the zipper had become entangled and the bag was so tight around his fat body that he couldn't reach it.
Did he thank them for the rescue? .. Of course not.. He was very angry because it took them so long. As it turned out, it was great fun for the junior officers, and as an extra bonus, they found out that the Major had peed in his pants while tied up.
Good grief. I think that is mean...no matter how much the Major was disliked. To leave someone calling for help for hours? (I hope there was a little poetic license involved with the story, and the Major really wasn't left all that long.)
Thanks for asking and for your good wishes. I'm much, much better, thanks but have a ways to go. Another couple of weeks should do it. But I am back to walking half-an-hour every day (weather permitting: we're deluged with rain) and have taken the car out, too. What freedom!