Revela...Nurses are sometimes really stupid!!!

[kit78]

I had my thyroid and one para-thyroid removed last Tuesday and got home late Friday afternoon.  Every time they brought my Renvela I had explain to them what the correct name was and that I take them before I ate. Sounded like they were pronouncing some foreign thing.  This was EVERY nurse, and they tried to force me to take them when I wasn't eating!  I barely ate or drank all 4 days. Hell, I peed twice before I drove to Hospital for surgery and didn't pee again until I was home.  The ice was horrible so I think the Calcium I was taking did that. Other than that every one was great. I thank them for taking care of me and bless all the docs as well.  I just can't wait until the strip's come off because I feel like I am tethered from my neck to my shoes. Neck is swollen still. Not a fun surgery to go through and so glad it is over.
I just can't get over them not knowing how to pronounce it or when they were to give it too me. 
The nurse I had on Friday dam near held me hostage and didn't want me to drive myself home. Well I am all  I have to take care of me, so , so be it.

[Speedy1wrc]

Too many"generic" nurses fill in shifts due to sickness or vacation. I agree, many don't know what they are trying to shove down your throat. And more so when they try to give you something that appears incorreclty on your orders that is in complete contradiction with what you should be getting. My mother just before she passed away was being givn these horrendously large salt tablets to eat for no apparent reason and then a diuretic to remove all the water she was retaining. Insane!

[jbeany]

When I was in for my parathyroid removal, they brought me a banana and peanut butter for a snack.  When I said I couldn't have it, they offered cheese and wheat crackers...

And now that I've had my pancreas transplant - they still keep bringing me the diabetic diet food.   

[Speedy1wrc]

Dietary at my hospital is so out of whack it isn't funny. The only thing being on a diabetic diet does is eliminate the real sugar packet from your tray, nothing else. At leastt that's what it's supposed to do. For the first 3 days I got 2-3 sugar packets anyway. After much grilling, they did manage to admit that they do not enforce portion control and they also couldn't give me carb counts for any meal. When I complained that carb count was an absolute necesity for insulin dosing, all I got was deer in the headlight look.

Then when I tried to get the nurses to use a sliding scale (a complete misnomer) based on what actually was on my tray they had no clue whatsoeve what that meant. They all knew the terminology, but no idea how to impliment one.

And as you reocunted, when I did have my pancreas transplant I too remained on a diabetic diet. And every time I went to the Dr's office they would do a brief review of my history they would always say that I am still a diabetic. They said that since I previously was a diabetic that I still was one. Grrr. Then since I was a diabetic they would ask how much insulin I was on. Of course when I told them I no longer took insulin I then would get the lecture that I just can't stop taking my medicine if iwas at all concerned about my health. Oh boy!

[cattlekid]

I have yelled at many a nurse about Renvela and PhosLo.  I keep telling them that bringing it to me AFTER my meal tray does me no good.  I have finally convinced most of them to bring it with the remainder of my meds and I tell them that I will take them with my meal.  I think they are relieved not to have to remember to bring meds more than the prescribed times per day.  It is fully ridculous and I plan on sneaking in my own meds the next time I am hospitalized. 

[thegrammalady]

funny i've never had a problem with renagel. the nurses just said let me know when you've ordered and i'll bring it. we'll have to see if that changes now that i'm on renvela.  and i have a deal with my neph. any time i'm hospitalized he changes menu type from whatever the admitting doctor has me on to a regular diet no restrictions. works for me.

[Speedy1wrc]

I have thought many a time to bring my own meds and even insulin, but the one time I dared mention that, the whole floor just about went into lock down.

My nephrologist has written specific orders, however it seems that the orders change as do the shifts during the day. and no matter what the last shift Dr wrote, the next one in line knows better and changes it.

[amanda100wilson]

After my parathyroidectomy op. last year I i tended up in. rensive care as they thpught that that I may have had an MI as my cardia enzye,es were raised.  Turns out that I hadn't, however they did keep me in to treat me for a sudpected chest infection.  they insisted on providing me with a renal, diabetic, cardiac diet even when I informed then that I was not diabetic, and adter that it had been established that Imhad not had an MI.  This limited the choice that was available, and given that the food was pretty inedible anyway ( think of toast that is floppy and squishy as if it has been steamed and you get the puvture), I came out of hoepital about nine punds lighter in weight.  This wasn't a bad thing as I needed to lose a,few pounds, but imagine a patient who has a prolonged stay.  Oh, and I was informed that this was the only menu that they had on ICU.  - Why?

[cattlekid]

Ooh Amanda, I am sorry that you had to do that. I am always on a renal cardiac diet in the hospital and it makes me mental. I can't imagine throwing diabetic in the mix. I would be ready to throw myself off the roof of the hospital after a few days of that.

[thegrammalady]

Ooh Amanda, I am sorry that you had to do that. I am always on a renal cardiac diet in the hospital and it makes me mental. I can't imagine throwing diabetic in the mix. I would be ready to throw myself off the roof of the hospital after a few days of that.

if i can't get the diet changed i refuse to eat. that usually gets a dietitian sent and we get it straightened out

[Speedy1wrc]

I complained so much that the head of dietary gave me a stack of complimentary meal cards for the cafeteria. I would just tell the nurses I was going to have a meal and leave the floor. It got them all riled up, but it worked.

I've got you beat on losing pounds though. I lost 22lbs at the time of my first transplant, but eventually gained it back after a couple of years. Then when I got sick last January, I lost another 26. This January I got sick again and lost yet another 17. Right now I am down 43 lbs. I enjoy all reaction when I see someone for the first time in awhile and also that I am at a much bette weight for my hopefully soon next surgery. I can't lose any more weight though, so I'll have to arrange visitors around meal time so I can actually have something to eat. The steamed toast and rubber eggs are indeed pretty nasty.

[amanda100wilson]

 the thing is, I am not even diabetic

[jbeany]

the thing is, I am not even diabetic

Nonsense.  You have kidney problems.  You MUST be diabetic!    

I've been so much, I pack a bag of snacks, and keep them hidden when the nurses aren't around.  When they served steamed chicken that can't even be cut with a steak knife, you get desperate!

[amanda100wilson]

Even doctors make the assumption that you must be diabetic if you have kidney failure

[kitkatz]

I keep telling them I am not diabetic.  They will even test me for it like I would lie?

[kit78]

OMG....   here I am complaining about nurse's and I didn't spell RENVELA right... 
I know it's me and my keyboard, never hit it hard enough.
I am prediabetic I just found out.   On low side so that is good.   Sp hard to find a good place online with everything in one area.  I just found out yesterday that 45 carbs per meals is a good rule of thumb....now I ask you...  is this correct or did someone else just blow more smoke up my butt?

[jeannea]

Smoke up your butt sounds uncomfortable. Tell them you have enough problems.

[jbeany]

No, that's not a bad limit for maintaining weight.  If you want to lose weight, you should have less, though.

[Speedy1wrc]

I am male 5'11" and around 160lbs. I try to limit myself to 50-70g of carbs per meal which for me translates into 5-6u of Novolog. Total daily carb intake is around 120-150g which for keeps me at stable weight.

[Riki]

I've been so much, I pack a bag of snacks, and keep them hidden when the nurses aren't around.  When they served steamed chicken that can't even be cut with a steak knife, you get desperate!

The children's hospital I went to had a Tim Horton's on the first floor.  I'd tell the nurses I was going for a walk, and since I was old enough to leave the floor without an adult, they'd just tell me to not be too long.  At that time, you could get six cookies for 2 bucks, and I was transplanted, so I didn't have any restrictions (I generally went into the hospital for a week for check ups instead of doing clinics until I was 16 or 17), but I had to sneak the cookies back into my room without the nurses or younger kids seeing them.

damn, I miss that hospital

[sullidog]

and even if you tell them you need this particular med with your meal they never show up to give it or always give it way after and then I have to tell them sorry it won't work now it has to be with a meal or 30 minutes after, and then when they say your lunch should be in soon, you say remember I need my renvella and they still forget!

[Speedy1wrc]

Or when they show up with fast acting insulin because they happen to be at your room at that particular time. You tell them that you can't take it without food and they still have no clue. Then you ask how they are dosing it since you have no idea how many carbs you will be getting, and you just keeping that deer in the headlight look. Some of them just don't get it.