Saturday, December 03, 2011

The Right Answers

In my seemingly never ending search for the cause of a lingering abdominal pain, I had a colonoscopy done this week. I've had one before so I knew what to expect, but I will mention to anyone reading this that it's not a terrible operation and if you are scheduled for one - don't worry. However, I wouldn't plan any intimate dates for the previous day - the "prep" is not entirely pleasant.

ANYWAY.........

Prior to my procedure the very busy nursing staff buzzed around doing what they do best. It was like an assembly line in there with at least 10 patients queued up and when one went out another replaced them. It was really amazing to see the process. One nurse took to the computer and began asking me a long string of questions:

(Lots of questions prior to this then)
When was the last time I had solid food? Tuesday
What time? 11:30pm
Did you void before you came in today? Yes
Do you have any infectious diseases (and listed a few)? No
Do you have a living will? Yes
Are you an organ donor? Yes

At this point she turned to me and smiled and said - you have all the right answers! The questions continued.

That kind of made my day. :)

I wanted to take this opportunity to give my props out to the nursing staff at this hospital and to nurses everywhere. These are the true unsung heroes in our society. They deal with an insane amount of pressure, work long hard hours, all the while treating patients like people. And they do all this while making an average working person's salary. Doctors make all the money and have an ego to match, but it's the nurses who are the real champions in health care.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm happy to hear that you had good nurses when you had your colonscopy. I didn't have the same experience in July when I had mine done. It was my first so I didn't know what to expect. I was sent a survey a week later and I complained loudly about the nurse that served me afterward. She scolded me for not doing the proper passing of gas quickly enough. I left there in terrible pain because she rushed me out of the building. Some people are not able to respond upon request to do what needs to be done. I was miserable and I blame the nurse that scolded me for the condition I suffered. What difference would it have made if I stayed another 30 minutes.

I've only spent two nights in the hospital in my life and there were some fine nurses for that visit. I'm glad that I have been healthy enough not to spend much time getting treated in the past. Most of my health care has been handled in the doctor's office.

denbec said...

Wow - sorry to hear you had an unpleasant experience. Not that it matters or would even be the cause but were you at a faith based hospital? Mine was not - as far as I know anyway.

Anonymous said...

No, I was at an off-site clinic sort of office that specializes in those kinds of scopes. It was like an assembly line of patients and I felt like cattle.
Oh well. Better luck (for me) next time (5 yrs).

Cheers.

denbec said...

The Doctor who did my procedure also invests in a similar facility and I was hoping I wouldn't be sent there just for the reasons you mention. Thankfully I got sent to the Hospital instead. But it was still like an assembly line.