Psychologically, to the untrained EEG eye, it comes down to this: big squiggles seem bad, small squiggles seem better, no squiggles seem good. But that’s definitely not the way it is. With proper training one can “see” muscular movements, sleeping patterns, seizures & more through all the squiggles. Now that we’re on our 6th EEG I’m finally comfortable seeing the squiggles, watching them change, and not freaking out that the big ones are seizures. It’s all a learning process.
And speaking of learning, I had to teach 3 nursing students tonight how to BBG* Jordan. They didn’t even have a BBG in this hospital, but I scored some recently for our “new” portable suction machine at home, & whipped one out. Then we got a “pink fish” (saline), and went to suckin’. Boogers were flying out her nose, and the students were impressed. And I’m always relieved when Jordan isn’t “snoring” with every breath.
Then there is the ever present battle of the blood pressure. Green cuff, left leg, Phillips machine, Salmon Creek Hospital nurses – that’s how Jordan gives it up. But, try as I might, I can never convince anyone else that it’s going to be a battle and at least to start off trying the green cuff on the left leg. After 2 Dinamap machines, 3 nurses, ~15 tries, and a very annoyed little Jordan, they got some astronomical reading off her left leg with the green cuff. I try to help them out, but they’re all so convinced that I’m just the mom and they are the professionals. Even the attending and the resident were cracking up at the b.p. fiasco. The nurses were so befuddled with the blood pressure chaos that they took an underarm temp of 34.5’C (should be 37’C) and didn’t even blink. I had to stop them and make them re-check it (it was really 36.9’C). Thank God she didn’t have to have an IV or blood drawn. . . .
We checked in this afternoon at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan (rated #6 in the US in 2001), spent 2 hours getting the electrodes hooked up, then things started going haywire with that, too. The EEG techs insisted on wrapping her electrode-shelaqued head with gauze, which immediately started falling off. Finally, when it was completely off her head & fully tangled in the electrode wires I convinced one of the nursing students to cut it off. And in doing so she cut through a purple wire. It was 2.5 hours from the time the EEG tech was called until his manager drove in from home & fixed us up, so he was not in a good mood, especially about the cut wire (and the on-call tech who never answered his page). I told him it was my idea to cut it off, & I wouldn’t tell him which nurse it was, because she was just trying to help. Hopefully she didn’t get in trouble. Now Jordan’s re-wrapped and looking like a 1940s football star (complete with chin strap that is giving me the creeps, but that’s a whole different story).
The room (587-2) is nice, big, and semi-private. There’s a wall that separates Jordan & our new friends Sophie, Elaine, & Brandon. We’ve been plugging through all this together for the last couple of days, and their friendship means the world to me!
I think before we go to UCLA I should tape record Jordan’s “story,” start to finish. I am sooooooo tired of telling it: to technicians, nurses, attendings, residents, interns, student nurses, etc. It just goes on and on – I wish I could just hit the repeat button. And trust me, it’s a long story that always starts with “So, tell me about your pregnancy. . . .” [And frequently, but not always, ends with “Do you have working smoke detectors in your home?” “Do you use car seats for transportation?” “How do you learn new things best? Reading? Hearing? Watching? Doing?” ]
Now, I just hope I can remember not to change my clothes or make snide comments out loud, since we are on sound-recorded video for 24 hours!
And through it all she smiles – at the darndest times (so of course I never have the camera handy). Oh well, I just have to enjoy all the smiles myself.
*BBG = "boogers be gone," or so I'm told
And speaking of learning, I had to teach 3 nursing students tonight how to BBG* Jordan. They didn’t even have a BBG in this hospital, but I scored some recently for our “new” portable suction machine at home, & whipped one out. Then we got a “pink fish” (saline), and went to suckin’. Boogers were flying out her nose, and the students were impressed. And I’m always relieved when Jordan isn’t “snoring” with every breath.
Then there is the ever present battle of the blood pressure. Green cuff, left leg, Phillips machine, Salmon Creek Hospital nurses – that’s how Jordan gives it up. But, try as I might, I can never convince anyone else that it’s going to be a battle and at least to start off trying the green cuff on the left leg. After 2 Dinamap machines, 3 nurses, ~15 tries, and a very annoyed little Jordan, they got some astronomical reading off her left leg with the green cuff. I try to help them out, but they’re all so convinced that I’m just the mom and they are the professionals. Even the attending and the resident were cracking up at the b.p. fiasco. The nurses were so befuddled with the blood pressure chaos that they took an underarm temp of 34.5’C (should be 37’C) and didn’t even blink. I had to stop them and make them re-check it (it was really 36.9’C). Thank God she didn’t have to have an IV or blood drawn. . . .
We checked in this afternoon at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan (rated #6 in the US in 2001), spent 2 hours getting the electrodes hooked up, then things started going haywire with that, too. The EEG techs insisted on wrapping her electrode-shelaqued head with gauze, which immediately started falling off. Finally, when it was completely off her head & fully tangled in the electrode wires I convinced one of the nursing students to cut it off. And in doing so she cut through a purple wire. It was 2.5 hours from the time the EEG tech was called until his manager drove in from home & fixed us up, so he was not in a good mood, especially about the cut wire (and the on-call tech who never answered his page). I told him it was my idea to cut it off, & I wouldn’t tell him which nurse it was, because she was just trying to help. Hopefully she didn’t get in trouble. Now Jordan’s re-wrapped and looking like a 1940s football star (complete with chin strap that is giving me the creeps, but that’s a whole different story).
The room (587-2) is nice, big, and semi-private. There’s a wall that separates Jordan & our new friends Sophie, Elaine, & Brandon. We’ve been plugging through all this together for the last couple of days, and their friendship means the world to me!
I think before we go to UCLA I should tape record Jordan’s “story,” start to finish. I am sooooooo tired of telling it: to technicians, nurses, attendings, residents, interns, student nurses, etc. It just goes on and on – I wish I could just hit the repeat button. And trust me, it’s a long story that always starts with “So, tell me about your pregnancy. . . .” [And frequently, but not always, ends with “Do you have working smoke detectors in your home?” “Do you use car seats for transportation?” “How do you learn new things best? Reading? Hearing? Watching? Doing?” ]
Now, I just hope I can remember not to change my clothes or make snide comments out loud, since we are on sound-recorded video for 24 hours!
And through it all she smiles – at the darndest times (so of course I never have the camera handy). Oh well, I just have to enjoy all the smiles myself.
*BBG = "boogers be gone," or so I'm told
No comments:
Post a Comment