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| Found at: Beatrice the Biologist |
Showing posts with label physical health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physical health. Show all posts
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Friday, July 20, 2012
Newsflash: Stubborn Man Defies Death
What do you get when you forget your insulin daily, and subsist on a diet of cookies and Ensure? A blood glucose level of 55! Along with a panicked call from your doctor telling you to go to the hospital RIGHT. NOW.
But do you go to the hospital? No, of course not. Because nobody is going to tell YOU what to do.
*headdesk*
But do you go to the hospital? No, of course not. Because nobody is going to tell YOU what to do.
*headdesk*
Friday, July 8, 2011
Alternative Medicine...Sweet, Sweet Medicine...
Any changes to your medication recently?
-Well, my doctor says my cholesterol is high. He prescribed me something for it, but I don't think I'm going to take it because of the side effects.
My friend had high cholesterol and his doctor told him to start eating walnuts. He ate a whole bunch and his cholesterol came right down in a week! So I already went to the grocery store and picked up a big box of walnut brownies.
-Well, my doctor says my cholesterol is high. He prescribed me something for it, but I don't think I'm going to take it because of the side effects.
My friend had high cholesterol and his doctor told him to start eating walnuts. He ate a whole bunch and his cholesterol came right down in a week! So I already went to the grocery store and picked up a big box of walnut brownies.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Standard of Care
I’ve been absent.
Thanksgiving weekend was spent mostly in bed, feeling sick. I took the Friday before and the Tuesday after off work, all for a stupid little cold.
I think work burn out had something to do with my reduced immune system.
One of my clients has recently been diagnosed with cancer, and I’ve been putting a lot of energy into supporting him. Practical stuff has been taking up most of our time – getting to appointments, arranging new supports, making sure he has food in the house. I saw or spoke to him 2-3 times every day for about three weeks.
One bright spot in this experience has been visiting the oncology unit. That sounds so wrong, but wow! What a difference from the mental health units! Prior to this, they were the only parts of this particular hospital I had been in.
I walked in to a sunny, bright reception area. The nurses’ desk was open, and there was somebody to greet me, who actually looked me in the eye, and didn’t just pretend that they couldn’t see me through the glass while they type away on their computer. In fact, there was no glass! The nurses were happy to admit me in, without having met me before.
They came over to check on my client while I was there speaking to him. The nurse introduced herself, and talked about how we could support him together. My client had lots of space and privacy (well, as much privacy as a curtain can offer, but still…) while he received his chemo treatment. When leaving, the nurses told me to call if I needed any information.
I did call later in the week, and someone got back to me the same day with helpful information. The following day when I went in with my client, the nurses remembered who I was, and helped us right away with what we’d come for.
Everything about this experience is the polar opposite of how things go in mental health.
It really makes me wonder about how the treatment of these different (although some times the same) patients is valued, and what are the expected outcomes.
Thanksgiving weekend was spent mostly in bed, feeling sick. I took the Friday before and the Tuesday after off work, all for a stupid little cold.
I think work burn out had something to do with my reduced immune system.
One of my clients has recently been diagnosed with cancer, and I’ve been putting a lot of energy into supporting him. Practical stuff has been taking up most of our time – getting to appointments, arranging new supports, making sure he has food in the house. I saw or spoke to him 2-3 times every day for about three weeks.
One bright spot in this experience has been visiting the oncology unit. That sounds so wrong, but wow! What a difference from the mental health units! Prior to this, they were the only parts of this particular hospital I had been in.
I walked in to a sunny, bright reception area. The nurses’ desk was open, and there was somebody to greet me, who actually looked me in the eye, and didn’t just pretend that they couldn’t see me through the glass while they type away on their computer. In fact, there was no glass! The nurses were happy to admit me in, without having met me before.
They came over to check on my client while I was there speaking to him. The nurse introduced herself, and talked about how we could support him together. My client had lots of space and privacy (well, as much privacy as a curtain can offer, but still…) while he received his chemo treatment. When leaving, the nurses told me to call if I needed any information.
I did call later in the week, and someone got back to me the same day with helpful information. The following day when I went in with my client, the nurses remembered who I was, and helped us right away with what we’d come for.
Everything about this experience is the polar opposite of how things go in mental health.
It really makes me wonder about how the treatment of these different (although some times the same) patients is valued, and what are the expected outcomes.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Some lighter fare for a friday
Since I'm getting all heavy handed and political here, I'd like to share this bit of medical insight from a client yesterday:
"My doctor says I have high cholesterol, but I eat a lot of yogurt, so I don't know what he's talking about!"
(yes, the same person who gave me this gem)
P.S. thanks SocialWrk24/7, btrflygal, Reinasecorpion, cbear71 for the add!
P.P.S. yes, I realize there is some evidence that yogurt can help lower your cholesterol, but the doctor is going by her blood work numbers.
"My doctor says I have high cholesterol, but I eat a lot of yogurt, so I don't know what he's talking about!"
(yes, the same person who gave me this gem)
P.S. thanks SocialWrk24/7, btrflygal, Reinasecorpion, cbear71 for the add!
P.P.S. yes, I realize there is some evidence that yogurt can help lower your cholesterol, but the doctor is going by her blood work numbers.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Case Study #1
A bit of a backgrounder on barf-bag guy.*
Dude was a hard rocker in his younger days. Played sports, partied hard. Drank a lot, used marijuana and coke. As an adult got a decent job driving a forklift, and enjoyed watched football with his drinking buddies. He’s a big guy who loves beer and greasy food. His parents both died fairly young of cancer, leaving him extremely broken, a feeling he drowned in about a weeks worth of tequila after the second funeral.
Eventually, he got married to a woman with a young daughter whom he loved like his own. A couple years in, his wife comes out as a lesbian and says that she and the daughter will be leaving.
This is just too much for him, and so he slits his wrists, getting himself an all-expenses-paid five day trip to the hospital. He comes home to find that his family has indeed left with most of the couples belongings, including several pets. They kindly left a pile of debt in their wake. So, here comes the second suicide attempt, the wrists again. Hospital stay, take 2.
Long story short, the guy lived, but did a number on his wrists, leaving him with limited feeling and movement in his hands. Years of sports and hard living have taken their toll too, resulting in bad knees, back, shoulder, and carrying around an extra 200 pounds or so. He wasn’t able to work after the separation and the suicide attempts due to his rapid decline of physical and mental health. So he winds up on welfare, then gets disability support, still hardly paying enough to look after himself in a healthy way.
He’s doing reasonably well now since he got a government subsidized apartment. He meets with his counselor, has a few friends, and is good with is money.
But this man is only 45, and looks at least 20 years older. He can now barely walk, is in all kinds of pain, has a myriad of GI problems (ick) and still deals with depression.
He’s a smart and nice guy with a good sense of humour, but I often feel at a loss of how to support him. How do I work with him to accept that he is basically like a senior citizen? That he may need some in-home care, a pass for the wheel chair bus, and some serious medical interventions?
Really, he knows all this. But he also does not want to give in, and has sort of resigned himself to suffering. I totally believe in a client’s right to self-determination, but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch. I’m trained to cope with and offer support to people in all kinds of mental and emotional distress, with whatever social factors working against them. But physical deterioration? Out of my scope. We’re meeting with his GP this week, and I’m anxious to see how it goes.
*and no, he didn’t end up puking in my car. We had to pull over for him to get some air, but fortunately it didn’t get any grosser.
Dude was a hard rocker in his younger days. Played sports, partied hard. Drank a lot, used marijuana and coke. As an adult got a decent job driving a forklift, and enjoyed watched football with his drinking buddies. He’s a big guy who loves beer and greasy food. His parents both died fairly young of cancer, leaving him extremely broken, a feeling he drowned in about a weeks worth of tequila after the second funeral.
Eventually, he got married to a woman with a young daughter whom he loved like his own. A couple years in, his wife comes out as a lesbian and says that she and the daughter will be leaving.
This is just too much for him, and so he slits his wrists, getting himself an all-expenses-paid five day trip to the hospital. He comes home to find that his family has indeed left with most of the couples belongings, including several pets. They kindly left a pile of debt in their wake. So, here comes the second suicide attempt, the wrists again. Hospital stay, take 2.
Long story short, the guy lived, but did a number on his wrists, leaving him with limited feeling and movement in his hands. Years of sports and hard living have taken their toll too, resulting in bad knees, back, shoulder, and carrying around an extra 200 pounds or so. He wasn’t able to work after the separation and the suicide attempts due to his rapid decline of physical and mental health. So he winds up on welfare, then gets disability support, still hardly paying enough to look after himself in a healthy way.
He’s doing reasonably well now since he got a government subsidized apartment. He meets with his counselor, has a few friends, and is good with is money.
But this man is only 45, and looks at least 20 years older. He can now barely walk, is in all kinds of pain, has a myriad of GI problems (ick) and still deals with depression.
He’s a smart and nice guy with a good sense of humour, but I often feel at a loss of how to support him. How do I work with him to accept that he is basically like a senior citizen? That he may need some in-home care, a pass for the wheel chair bus, and some serious medical interventions?
Really, he knows all this. But he also does not want to give in, and has sort of resigned himself to suffering. I totally believe in a client’s right to self-determination, but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch. I’m trained to cope with and offer support to people in all kinds of mental and emotional distress, with whatever social factors working against them. But physical deterioration? Out of my scope. We’re meeting with his GP this week, and I’m anxious to see how it goes.
*and no, he didn’t end up puking in my car. We had to pull over for him to get some air, but fortunately it didn’t get any grosser.
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