just when you thought that it was safe to close your eyes in O.R.

Oh my word. I don't even know what to say about that scenario.

Pain is always subjective, but I never had a nurse tell me to shut up or minimize my pain level. I have a high level of pain tolerance and the nurses were always checking my morphine line to see if it was working, because I hardly ever pushed the button. But when I screamed due to a blockage (from a pineapple), they came running in a hurry.

How loudly must this have been screaming? He had a scalpel in his gut and those things are sharp!
He would have been in so much pain...he was not just screaming...he was waking up the whole floor...must have been horrific....but to defend the nurses...they really could not have imagined a scalpel in their patient!
Sharon

Holy cow!!! :-0

Holy Cow!

I thought it was bad when the nurses didn't believe me when I was dehydrated, they wouldn't hang a bag and my entire body was in a giant Charlie horse. They gave me a xanex. An hour or so later I finally did the exorcist spew. The next shift nurse hung a bag or bolus or whatever they are called. I told her how the other nurses wouldn't believe me. She said she was going to put a BIG NOTE in my file for them to see when they came on duty the next night. I was in the hospital for 16 days after my 1st surgery because I kept getting dehydrated, dah! That's what was so infuriating, I'd already been dehydrated several times, so I knew what it felt like. I had all 4 ward nurses in my room - I must have been making a scene too I can't imagine what I'd done with a scalpel inside of me

That poor man, they need to be negotiating how many zero's are going on the check he is going to get right this minute! I'd like to be a fly on the wall at that next hospital's board meeting when they discuss "risk management".

I hope he and your nephew are doing well and staying away from hospitals!

We are doing are best.
He is out but still shaken up from the incident...we would like to make 2014 the year of joy and no hospitals!
Yes, I am pretty sure that the man screamed lawyer after he say the scalpel in his x-ray. I would.
Hope all is well with you in this New Year
Sharon

Healthy New Year to you too Sharon!

I use to audit hospital's back in the 80's when I worked for a Big 8 accounting firm. The firm's have all merged and some closed since then but the one I worked for is still alive - merged with another one and is called PriceWaterhouseCoopers these days. One of our tasks was to always read the Board of Director's and all other meetings minutes and to discuss potential lawsuits with their attorneys. Even though the doctor left the scalpel in the young man his attorney's will sue everyone they can find, especially the hospital as they have the deepest pockets plus all the lovely nurses that were so incompetent to realize something was very wrong. I hope everything was fixable. It just wasn't his time to die!

Happy New year (now, nearly old year!) 2014...all well, working hard (maybe too hard but what can you do?) and trying to be a normal person (not so easy).
My pouch has its days, some incredibly nice and friendly and others totally mean...there is a strong link with things like carbs...
I do very well with soups, animal protien and fruits with a bit of pureed veggies but as soon as I eat carb (pasta, bread, cake potatoes etc) my pouch takes revenge on me. Refuses to function normally and gives me grief.
So I am trying for the carb-free life but it isn't easy with the job I do and all the traveling...I am trying to keep protien bars in my purse and eat one along with a banana or 2 while out at work but I put in 13hr days now. Not easy.
Life is hard but good.
Hope that you are well and that this year brings us all more joy than pain
Sharon

You sound good Sharon. I hope your thyroid has checked out ok. I keep battling the same ole recurring cuffitis, IPS and am having a hard time with fibromyalgia and the neuropathy in my feet. I think things were better last year this time when we were in Florida versus the dreadful cold weather of Iowa. It wears on me mentally at times. We did have a great Christmas week with both our kids, their spouses and our grandchildren all here together. Lots of bath towels and noise but it was great!