Greetings!: I Need A Nurse

Saturday, March 7, 2020

I Need A Nurse

So what do you do when you need a regular nurse for very brief duty for several days? It's very hard to find such a person, but I did.

Now the person I "hired" had no formal nursing training but she has had loads of experiences with doctors and hospitals.

Her resume includes an aortic heart valve replacement and a pacemaker implant. She has had her gall bladder removed and two hernia surgeries. She has had 17 colonoscopies because of a serious problem that she lives with. She has suffered with sepsis, kidney stones and shingles. Over the years she has had numerous biopsies, several mri's, various x-rays, CT scans, echocardiograms, ultrasounds, mammograms and a variety of other tests. She has survived all of these.

But if that doesn't qualify her then I shouldn't forget that she gave birth to three boys - big boys. And then she cared for them through a variety of accidents and illnesses for many years.

Now does she have any problem areas? Yes, she dislikes shots and really hates iv's.

Now why would I be looking for a part-time nurse?

Well recently my neurologist ordered a set of blood tests which are not routinely ordered by most doctors. One of those showed that I have a seriously low level of Vitamin B12. That can be dangerous and can cause numerous serious problems.

One of my family doctors said the usual treatment is not B12 vitamins but a series of shots. He ordered a shot a day for seven consecutive days, followed by one a day for seven weeks and then one a month.

He asked if I wanted to self-administer these shots or come to the office to have these given. Now daily I do give myself insulin by injection so I assumed that I could do it. But what I didn't realize at that time was how different giving B12 shots was than giving insulin shots.

I went to my pharmacist to pick up the material needed for the shots and for some instruction. I was shocked when I found that the needles were not the half inch ones used for insulin but instead they were an inch and a half long. I was told that they were that long because the shots had to reach into the muscle. I also then realized that because of the angle that the shot must enter the arm, that with my shoulder problems I wouldn't be able to do it properly myself. But the pharmacist give me my first shot.

So that is why I needed a nurse. And that is why I drafted my wife who very reluctantly agreed to do it.

The second day we tried to do it and we had problems. First we had trouble properly loading the syringe. Then we had trouble finding the correct location. And finally, after much effort, the shot was given - but not without some pain.

So for the third shot we decided to go to our family providers to see if they could just answer a few questions for us. They then told us that we would need a full appointment with a doctor and that nurses in their lab weren't trained to teach us. I was upset and asked if a nurse in their lab could just administer a shot and we would just observe and hopefully get our concerns answered. Reluctantly they agreed and the nurse who came to help us was not the least bit happy doing this. First she told us that our needles were too long, despite they were the size our doctor ordered as well as the size shown on all the internet sites. She quickly filled the syringe differently than we were told and then gave the shot in a different location in my arm. And that was the end of her help. But at least the third shot was completed.

We decided to just go ahead with my wife administering the shots. She did very well and didn't even feint while doing it. By the end of the first week it was going smoothly. Now we just need to wait for another blood test to see if it is working.

The Lord did give me a good nurse, even although she isn't trained and dislikes shots and iv's. But she is compassionate and caring - traits many nurses don't have.

(1) Be not dismayed whate'er betide,

God will take care of you;

beneath His wings of love abide,