Tag Archives: pain

Patient Safety, Rosemaling, Spinal Disk – Yes, Related Here

Tsaristic stuff happens, “we don’t live in a perfect world” a young nurse recently told me when I questioned the hospital discharge papers. Used to transparency and kind consideration – I had expected better – much better.

The following was copied verbatim with permission of Thor Dahl. The place is Florida – not here – but we need to be aware that Mr. Dahl and his wife are credible established people and business folks running the largest international online rosemaling “club’ offered….and where I read the following shocking post. It was a reminder – patient, friends and family – be aware – stuff happens.

28 March 2013 – The Global Rosemaling Club:

“Yesterday we went to my surgeon for the third visit since my surgery last December 20th. I also had my first “commercial” haircut in over a year. But Joan has been nice trimming it several times. She used to do a great job! I also drove the car for the first time. Joan drove home. But I was happy to feel that I could handle the car after more than a year as a passenger.

The doctor didn’t give us the kind of news that I had hoped for. Each time I go there, they take a few x-rays to see how I’m healing. He said that due to the first hospital I went to let me out without knowing that I had 2 breaks in my back, the 6 extra months it took to find this out before the final surgery in a much better hospital, was too long to straighten out my old spine. So I’ll be living with an ugly hump and pain for the rest of my life. As well as not being able to lift more than 25 pounds while being very carefully without bending too much. If I was too ruff with my back, it just could brake again. He was very liberal on giving me prescriptions for pain medicine and indicated that I should not be afraid of taking them. From next Monday, I’ll start going to their “in house” physical treatment department. It will be from 2 to 3 times a week depending on what they think will be best for me. The doctor assured me that I could get anything I asked him for. I guess he felt sorry for the way this turned out for me.

He clearly admitted it was due to the poor treatment from my first hospital and added that this was not the first time they had failed with their surgery or diagnoses at that hospital. So he will hopefully be a good witness, because being ruined for the few years I have left, somebody should pay for not giving me the proper treatment. This will include the arthritis dr. that gave me the wrong medicine, which gave me internal bleeding and fainting.

Even with all the above negative “news”, I feel a lot better despite it’s going to be hard to get used to having an ugly hump on my back!

However, I feel so badly for Joan who will be stuck with my part of many of my home duties which are way too heavy for her as well, because of all the arthritis problems she has of her own. At times she can hardly move. She often doesn’t sleep many hours in her bed and have to move between the sofa and her bed. Her hands are also swollen when she gets up in the morning.

Well, it’s “nice” to get old!”

(Thor Dahl)

http://www.rosemal.com/

the-global-rosemaling-club@yahoogroups.com

Joan & Thor

Dahl House Art & Rosemaling Center

16623 West River Rd., Caribee Shores

Inglis, Florida 34449 Ph:352-447-4178

Based in Seattle, Consumer’s Union, “Washington Advocates for Patient Safety” (WAPS) is a Washington group advocating for patient safety. http://www.washingtonadvocatesforpatientsafety.org/patient-safety/

The fact is almost sixty years ago the epidermal needle intended to help me give birth was jammed into a spine disk. No physician treated me – they could not find anything wrong.

Eventually, desperately, my parents took me to a recommended chiropractor and I was given a pamphlet showing exercises. He circled the ones he wanted me to do.

He gave me hope and followed his instructions exactly. He did not examine me, nor accept payment from my parents.

He gave me a life back – I worked through the pain.

Through the years – every decade or so – I have followed the disintegration of the disk accidentally through x-rays given for other reasons. A recent – on purpose x-ray showed the disk is gone.

I lived through it without treatment and lived the physically active lifestyle I knew and loved. COPD threw a different kind of curve in 1997.

Mistakes happen.

Mistakes are sometimes turned around with the proper care and attention.

Exercise gave me a life, and taught me to work through the pain.

See your doctor. Take a friend to be sure you both heard the same thing and be proactive in your own care.

God Bless. Happy Easter!

Thanks for listening… Sharon O’Hara

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COPD – the beginning. Pain – the end

Sharon O'Hara

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is not painful. We simply cannot breathe easily. Some of us are on supplement oxygen – others chug along noisily, some less noisy.

“Question: Is having pain in the lung typical of COPD?

Answer: Chronic lung pain is not commonly associated with COPD. However, pain can come from the wall of the chest and not directly from the lungs – this in fact can be seen in COPD. Pain in the chest can come from coughing very hard and straining the muscles of the chest. Pain in the chest can be due to a rib fracture from coughing hard. Pain in the back of the chest can come from osteoporosis, or thinning of the bones. Check with your healthcare provider to find out the cause of your pain. If you have new chest pain, or have pain that frightens you, call 911 to go to the emergency room at the nearest hospital.”

http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/copd-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease/faq/

The problem for some of us is that COPD leads to other stuff – some of it painful – none of it desirable. That is where I am – I have gathered a bunch of other stuff since my 1997 stay in Harrison Medical Center.

Do to inattention at putting on my stockings when I needed to – timing is crucial – the Cellulitis/Lymphedema is back and trying to heal. It should have healed by now. A brief stay in Harrison gave a great jump-start of healing my left leg but the healing has been set back and that means the pain is unrelenting.

A problem seems to be that the long homemade brush had an end tied cord that caught in the bristles of the soft baby brush and ripped the half healed sores open when I was in the shower to gently cleanse the wounds before my husband wrapped them again.

I did not know why it was so painful until I lifted the brush to rinse it and saw the cord end stuck in the soft bristles. I have recut the length of the cord so it cannot happen again.

Pain overtakes a life – it has taken over mine…and no blame except to me. It has been over a year since my legs got bad and lymph fluid wept and the ‘blame’ is my own doorstep. I let other stuff get in the way of getting my stockings on. I dropped the ball – as it’s turned out – on my own left foot.

I have never liked taking pain pills for any reason but for a lung patient – it is harmful. Trouble is, right now – I do not care. What good is saving your lungs when pain keeps you awake and in agony? Crying in pain chokes off my airway and I still my mind to focus on deep breathing. I take a pain pill to sleep and I take a pain pill to endure being awake waiting for my leg to heal.

Should I be afraid of becoming a drug addict? At this point, I’m more afraid of not wanting to wake up to another day of the same pain.

Funny how drug abuse by drug addicts shut down pain relief for people who medically need it. Doctors become afraid to prescribe pain pills for fear their patients will become addicted….and patients become afraid to take it.

Read the latest policy by the state – to track:

““Having a patient’s prescription history gives prescribers a more complete view of patient care when they prescribe or dispense controlled substances,” Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said in a press release. “This new service is another tool for patient care and safety.””

Read more: http://pugetsoundblogs.com/kitsap-crime/2011/10/14/state-to-begin-monitoring-prescriptions-for-pain-medication-in-2012/#ixzz1cT5a9dJ1

Josh Farley’s “State to begin monitoring prescriptions for pain medication in 2012” article is timely.

The only people tracked here are medical patients and their doctors. The druggies and drug dealers remain in a dark, untracked place of anonymity.

If doctors are leery of writing scripts for pain medications for their patients – what will happen to those patients forced to endure unrelenting pain?

Yes, Josh – I think this is an invasion of people’s privacy.

Thanks for reading…. Sharon O’Hara

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Cellulitis brings a new depth of being and the best shoes in Kitsap County

Sharon O'Hara

COPD – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease for many people is only the beginning of a series of medical conditions. For me the latest is Cellulitis/Lymphedema – nasty painful stuff…you do not want. Apparently, COPD trips the immune system for some of us leaving us open to whatever comes down the pike. Lessons to be learned – do not let COPD develop.

Find a doctor willing to give a four-minute Spirometry test with annual physicals for early detection COPD and other issues, including asthma. COPD leads down a path you might well avoid with early detection.

Cellulitis and Lymphedema can arrive by ignoring edema, as I did for years after my COPD diagnosis. If you have edema, follow your doctor’s instructions to get rid of it. Cut out the salt –whatever it takes – do it to avoid what is now for me, a chronic medical issue. Did I mention painful? Do whatever it takes to avoid it…beginning with COPD early detection Spirometry.

The photos show the progression of this session of ER diagnosed Cellulitis and the good results from the quick action of the Harrison ER team, Dr. Jeffrey Morse, Tessie and Florida Girl. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001858/#adam_000855.disease.causes

Cellulitis pain is a great leveler…after days and weeks of it, I can’t find my notes from the ER. Tessie and Florida Girl are RN’s working the shift and the care they give er patients is extraordinary.

The plus side – it has been over a year since the last open weeping and leg pain thanks to getting patient education and lessons on wrapping legs from Mellissa Mercogliano, PT, OCS at the Center for Orthopedic & Lymphatic Physical Therapy in Port Orchard.

No water workout until this stuff heals.