No, really!

[estherchaya]

Every nurse who has come on-shift since I was admitted on Wednesday has been shocked that I'm not eating. I mean, I get that it's not normal, but there's bound to be a notation in my chart somewhere that says "hyperemesis gravidarum" right? They give each other report at the start/end of each shift. And yet? Every nurse that's come on shift has

Comments

[osewalrus]

You've lived with a pharmacist how long, and you still expect Drs and nurses to read charts?

[estherchaya]

point taken.

But it IS getting old to have to tell every single nurse and MD that walks into my room that no, I'm really not kidding - eating=throwing up and it's just not worth it for hospital food.

[marag]

::snort:: What is this "reading charts" thing of which you speak? I swear, I don't think a single doctor or nurse read my chart in any of the times I was there for either kid. I nearly threw pillows at a few of them.

I have especially not fond memories of the need to unplug everything to go pee. I think you have ::peers:: at least, what, two more cords than I did?

No, wait, they had me on a continuous blood pressure monitor for almost the entire time (because I had a tendency to, uh, set off alarms), so maybe you just have one more than I did. ::counts again:: No, I think you're still two ahead of me. Way to go!

How many grams of mag did you have? I had 3, but I just didn't want the catheter (although later I kind of wished I'd let them put it in).

[estherchaya]

I forgot about the blood pressure cuff - that too. I don't always have it on, it seems to depend on which nurse. My BP keeps crashing, so they do keep a pretty close eye on it.

I had a 4gram bolus followed by 2 grams per hour for about 30 hours. They didn't give me a choice about the catheter, which was somewhat annoying.

Do you know Dr. Skinner? She's been on all weekend and she's very nice, but the PICC thing really annoyed me. Also she made a comment that after adding the second antibiotic, my white blood cell count came down - but I hadn't known it was elevated in the first place. Would it have killed anyone to tell me when there are irregularities in my blood work? She wants my PICC line cultured before it gets replaced tomorrow - so I hope this can be done in a relatively timely fashion... and, you know, still informing me of the results.

[estherchaya]

I rarely eat. I only eat if I think it's "worth" it. Mostly, the thought of food makes me ill enough to deter me.

I do realize that there are degrees of HG, and I do realize that some people will eat anyway. But I've been telling my doctor's office for weeks that I'm not kidding about the not eating thing.

[estherchaya]

You would think that, wouldn't you? And yet? It still seems to come as a shock to everyone around me.

[magid]

Can you put lots of hand cream on your skin? I've found that the stuff billed for feet is super hydrating for skin. No clue how that works without much fluid intake, but it might help a bit (and hey, if there's still nothing to read, it could use up a good 3 or 4 minutes right there :-).

[estherchaya]

I can - though, I don't have any hand cream here at the hospital. I'm also told that it won't really help given the fluid intake. Hopefully I'll get to go home tomorrow. We'll see.

[magid]

Dang; I'd've hoped that a hospital might be able to give you hand cream. Say, instead of the meals you're not eating...

I hope you make it home today, and can get good rest.

[estherchaya]

Seth gave me some hand cream yesterday - it helped for a couple hours and then... not so much. Sigh.

[estherchaya]

you probably wouldn't knock heads together over it - patients are rarely strong advocates for themselves. It's too vulnerable a position to be in. Thanks for your thoughts - we're doing fine, just not sure how to handle the logistics of the next couple months given that I've been pulled out of commission.