Preparing for Winter V

wondercollie

3secondmemory said:

wondercollie said:

3secondmemory said:

Failure to thrive – lovely new  phrase in the Media! The lonely the old and the sick are being labelled in this way as if it’s our fault we can’t get our regular tests and treatment.

On a more positive note, my cheerful overweight clinical nurse – the one who told me to drink more water when I actually had a urine infection - noted that my weight remains ‘stable’ at 46 kg. From my point of view, my weight remains dangerously low and I don’t have any more to lose. 

Whilst I understand how much pressure the hospitals are going to be under over the winter just with normal coughs and flu, Those of us with ongoing conditions can’t get hold of the doctor for love nor money. Not all of us can access the econsults. 

 It’s taken all day to get through to any of the phlebotomy numbers so I can have a blood test prior to my appointment next week. 

Moan over


I can thoroughly recommend the small dreamland intelliheat  pad - you can unplug it and shove it inside your coat if you’re really cold. Not quite a heated gilet but it works for me 😃

Let's not weight shame nurses.  I gained 60lbs working night shifts.  It's hard to shift as we get older.  I've managed 15lbs in the last year but still have a ways to go.  I know the drill, eat less, move more, but I'm still an overweight nurse.

I think this is more and more of a problem though. They are so focused on advising patients to keep their weight down, exercise  more and avoid refined foods,  they don’t understand the issues at hand. Maybe she’s not connecting me with the times that she seen me in person because she congratulated me on losing 10 kg.  That’s not very effective nursing for me, but she is able to tick her boxes  that she’s talked to me about my diet, despite it not being applicable to me and of no use to me whatsoever. 

 

Going to have to agree to disagree on this.   You have no idea of the pressure nurses are under.  Our workloads are horrific, many of us are working injured, patients present with more acute problems than they did ten years ago, and their senses of entitlement is huge.

I've been working for the last six months with an injury that is not visible ( a patient caused injury) but has affected my entire life but I go to work every shift only to be told by patients I should smile more, answer their bell faster, etc.  It’s all about them.  I’ve looked after patients with the same injury that I have and they’ve been off work since it happened, I’ve had a total of ten days off in six months.

Laura_Elsewhere

@wondercollie - between My Intended's adult son being run over 18 months back, 5 weeks on life support, almost every possible injury injured... and My Intended having major surgery this year for a life-threatening condition only picked up by a routine test in a pop-up clinic, trust me - YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!!!!

We love the NHS, we love nurses - I'm doing my bit for you by dragging M.I. out for increasingly-long walks, so he's getting fitter and I am too and I'm losing weight, trying to reach 'overweight' from current 'obese', so we are the least possible bother to you, reduce your workload by doing what we can do ourselves, just walking and walking... 

...we are also periodically contacting the Minister, currently Hancock, and hassling him re your pay and conditions...  

Really - WE LOVE YOU xxx

-taff

@wondercollie why are you working with this injury?

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

I hate having to go to the drs or hospital unless i really feel its necessary. On thursday i picked my son up while he was holding his tablet, he dropped it onto my little toe which i suspect might be broken. It is currently black and blue and very swollen but i dont really want to go to the walk in centre as what can they actually do for it? 

Floss

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

I hate having to go to the drs or hospital unless i really feel its necessary. On thursday i picked my son up while he was holding his tablet, he dropped it onto my little toe which i suspect might be broken. It is currently black and blue and very swollen but i dont really want to go to the walk in centre as what can they actually do for it? 

Ring 111, and ask for a call-back for advice.

wondercollie

-taff said:

@wondercollie why are you working with this injury?

It’s not life threatening, occupational health said I’m fit to work with restrictions, no lifting over ten kilo, no pushing or pulling.  It’s couldn’t drive for six weeks, it hurt to hold the steering wheel, husband had drive me.  Injured nurses work, we get moved into office or clinic jobs.

A coworker jokes that we need to find new doctors, because we never get signed off work the way some patients do.   I have coworker who is diabetic and has a pacemaker.  We are both over 60 and at work during the pandemic.  No stay at home order for us.  We were told if we stayed home, it would come out of sick leave and vacation banks

Si_Clist

@wondercollie, there's two more of us here who really do appreciate everything you guys do.  If it helps you to know, when I come to power you're getting improved pay and conditions for a start.  Everybody who turns up at A&E will be triaged by the biggest, butchest, meanest nurse on duty and if she doesn't think they need A&E, they'll be sent on their way PDQ with a flea in their ear.  And so on. 

We've seen what complete ar*****es people can be in hospital, believe me.   

greenbee

Same here @wondercollie... I went through several years of regular treatment and while getting to know the nursing staff meant I was spending more time in the hospital than I would have liked, I would have had a much tougher time without them. I'm lucky in my consultants as well, but I've seen how well the nursing staff cope when nervous patients and erm... irascible consultants threaten the smooth running of surgical lists (I'm always last on the list, so I get to observe a lot as well as get plenty of reading done!). I don't envy you your job for one minute. There is no way on earth I could do it. But it's people like you who keep me alive, and for that I'm very grateful. 

MrsCD

And another @wondercollie. I've spent many an hour in hospitals over the last few years with both my late Mam and my Dad. The nurses have been amazing and especially in the ward where my Mam passed away. They even brought a tray load of toast, butter and jam for breakfast for the family and endless tea and coffee!
More recently, my Dad has needed treatment but with Covid he can't take me with him, so the staff have gone the extra mile to help him. Our family are extremely grateful for all the work that the nursing staff and others in our hospitals do, often under very difficult conditions.

Wednesday2000

It's definitely a bit nippy here now. I have the heating on downstairs and I might wear my trench coat when I go out today.