Reputation

I am doing my very best to be a well behaved patient during this stay. It is tough. Hospital life is not so easy. To my great dismay I have been informed that my torture device (IV portal) will remain unnaturally lodged in my arm until the delivery...booo. Even better, the port has to be moved (reinstalled) into a new vein every 3-5 days. I met this mile marker last night and let me tell you I was not pleased. But I didn't say anything I let the nurse stab me and even thanked her for the convenient placement (in my left forearm) which allows me a little more mobility.

This morning I woke up around 6am and noticed I was contracting hard. I realized in my groggy stupor that no one had bothered to wake me from my beauty sleep at the regular 3am. Did I even get my medication? I couldn't remember. I paged my nurse and asked her if I'd had my 3am dose? She said no, that "something happened to it at the pharmacy" and that she hadn't worried about it because I never woke up or reported any contractions. Hmmmm...remember that animal tranquilizer you gave me last night, also known as ambien? I probably could have slept through a band concert. Not to mention, this is a scheduled medication. It is used to prevent my contractions, I get it every 6 hours regardless of how I am feeling.

She then said she would give me a dose now and just adjust my schedule. Arrrrrr....I really liked my schedule (3am, 9am,3pm, 9pm) because I only have to be disturbed once while I'm sleeping (3am). Changing the schedule to 6am, 12pm, 6pm, 12am means I will have to wake up at midnight then again super early in the morning. Even though I was thoroughly annoyed, I did not want to make a scene. I politely let her know if it was possible to work my way back to the old schedule over the next few days, I would appreciate it.

After shift change at 7am I met my new nurse, she seemed nice enough. At 9am (after knowing me for approximately 2 hours) she wanted to have a discussion with me. She wanted to discuss asking my doctors to insert a central line instead of keeping my IV. I will not go into the details of a central line. I will just say that instead of going into a blood vessel in your arm, they are inserted into a much larger vessel in the chest. They are often used to give long term medications, chemo therapy, or nutrition supplements (for weeks/months).

The nurse thought this would be a great idea because it could be left in place until I deliver, no more IVs to start. That sounds good right...less pokes for me...less IVs to start for her? Wrong...this is a VERY invasive procedure. I've mentioned before that my doctors can have varying opinions about my plan of care. Not one of my EIGHT doctors have suggested that we take this type of extreme action. I am here as a precaution, to be close to the operating room, to have some monitoring, that is all.

At this point I think I lost it. After making this "suggestion" the nurse told me to think about it and left the room for about an hour. That hour was just enough time for all the pent up hostility to come rising up and out of me. When she came back to the room all I could say was...No! No central line. I don't want one, I don't need one, I won't have one!! I know it probably came out sounding harsh, but I could not contain myself.

I've noticed that my being a nurse practitioner is common knowledge around here. I'm wondering if there is a large red flag on my chart that says "HEALTHCARE WORKER". I know there is a stereotype that healthcare workers make terrible patients and I have no desire to validate this stereotype or to earn a bad reputation at this hospital (especially with 3 weeks to go). But I have to admit it is becoming more and more difficult each day to keep my mouth shut! Every nurse I meet seems to want to take charge and change my plan or schedule. I'm really hoping to have a nice a routine here in the near future so we can all get on the same page! Sorry if this sounds like an angry rant, just a bit frustrated today!

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