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What Mistakes Have You Made With Your Medical Care?
We are all human and mistakes will be made, even when it’s regarding your own health. I’m referring to mistakes such as forgetting to take your medicine on time or maybe even skipping a dose. I’ve known people who accidentally handed a medication to one family member that was meant for another. There are also the unusual situations like when my son’s hamster chewed through his Flolan central line. I know that little mistakes can quickly turn into big ones for PH patients but the reality is, things happen. What “oops” moments have you experienced that you are willing to own up to? How did you handle the situation?
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23 Replies
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Good topic! I’m sure we will get some members to admit that we are all human here. For me, i went to a Patriots game with my boyfriend, brought a few oxygen tanks with me thinking it would be plenty to last the whole game. I didn’t need my oxygen when sitting down so when we got to our seats I just put the bag with my oxygen down without actually turning off the oxygen. The oxygen ran out, as I was walking up flights of stairs post game I realized how out of breath I was getting. I looked in my bag and had ZERO oxygen left. This ended up in an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital because my levels were so low and I was almost passing out. My boyfriend was yelling for the medical team. It was terrible. People assumed I had too much to drink and thats why I was almost fainting until my cousin and boyfriend were like “she has a heart condition and needs oxygen ” . Actually my cousin scared them all when he said “she only has half a heart…” i don’t have half a heart LOL! But their faces were priceless! Oh never a dull moment !
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LOL Brittany! Not so funny at the time though, I’m sure! I read this to my husband and he cracked up laughing at, “She only has half a heart!”. That is hysterical! That is probably one I will think of often and laugh out loud!
Several of my stories revolve around my son’s central line. In his early PH days when treatments were helping a great deal he could tolerate riding his bike a little. It was a nice summers day and he was riding up and down our culdesac. I went inside for maybe 5 minutes and when I came back out two neighbors and his brother were helping him get his tubing out of his bike peddle. I guess it was slowly slipping out of his backpack and got tangled. The women looked at me like, “Where were you mom!” I mean seriously, I was always present for that kid 24/7 but of course something happened in the 5 minutes I wasn’t there. I went inside, probably to go to the bathroom because I have human needs too, geez! I also want to add that he was about 10 at the time, so I didn’t exactly leave a little one unsupervised.
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OMG I can’t help but laugh at the bike story! Again, at the time probably not so funny but when we can look back at it with some sick sense of humor it helps a lot haha!! But the “SHE ONLY HAS HALF A HEART!” was the best comment I’ve ever heard in my life. My boyfriend was like “no man, she has a full heart, just has some problems but I’m pretty sure it’s all there” haha!!! My poor cousin was literally just so nervous that he was screaming out anything he could think of ! The ER team was more concerned that the Patriots lost the game and they were like “how about them losing!?” .. I was like “how about me not breathing?” haha! They were just trying to get a good laugh out of me.
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OMG Brittany, Ohh I’ve so done that before. It’s so easy to leave your tank on, especially if you have been using it more.
Ohh I would have hopped on my hubby’s back after that, I’ve done that after a concert. It wasn’t from drinking either, lol it was just about 50 stairs up, lol
I bet those paramedics were freaked out, glad y’all got a good laugh! Hehe
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Jen
I always say, in situations like that, if we didn’t laugh we would cry! I’m glad that your husband lifts you up (literally) LOL!!! You’re right that some of these stories are definitely like the medical stories that you see on TV! But unfortunately the doctors aren’t always as hot hahaha! -
Hehe Brittany, yep, my hubby ” lifts” me up. This is why I have to be sure he keeps working out lol
Ohh yeah, I know right, my doctors are rarely hot! Hehe
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Should that be our next topic, “Are your doctors hot or not?” LOL…just joking!
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Rating from a scale of 1 to 10… an eleven hahahahah!
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Hehe…yeah that’s an important part of our PH lives! Sadly m I’ve only had a few doctors who would rate. Lol
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Last summer I was teasing my dog with one of those chuck it sticks with a ball in it. I was making him jump up for it and he landed on my Remodulin line and pulled it out at the green connector. Landed me in the ER with flash pulmonary edema. Transferred to to the cardiac ICU for a couple of days of “fun”. Cleared itself up quickly, but I am now more careful when “teasing” the dog!!
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OMG Michael!
I can’t even imagine having the DOG do something like this. I’m sure that was quite the story for the ER. When I had my “mistake” with my medical care and the football game I went to, the ER docs kept bringing up how “unlucky” I was because the team lost the game too haha!! I’m sure you are now extra careful when playing with the dog ! Hopefully it didn’t hurt as bad as it sounds. Just the thought of it getting pulled is making me cringe. -
Yikes Michael, my son came horrifyingly close to the same thing happening and in a similar way! We had a hyper puppy (black lab…so big even though she was a puppy) when my son had his central line placed for Flolan. He got up one morning not bothering to properly tuck his tubing into his backpack, headed for the stairs…and so did the puppy. While jumping all over my son she tangled herself in the tubing and started to go down the stairs while pulling him. I got to my son in time to hold the puppy by her collar and with my other hand quickly free her from the tubing. I am telling you my heart was pounding for the rest of the day! I told my son that if he was going down those steps I was too, not to mention his line probably would have been yanked out!From that day on he payed much closer attention to not allowing his tubing to hang down.
I’m glad that experience ended well for you but how scary! I know it was a serious thing that happened but did the staff tease you at all? When my son’s hamster bit a hole in his central line it felt like every nurse and doctor where stopping by to visit the kid it happened to, and they all thought it was funny. Must have been a slow night at the hospital.
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Colleen,
I had my share of “lets look in this girls room to see how this actually happens to someone !” moments. The best was when I broke my arm in a cornfield. It was around Halloween time and they did the “haunted corn maze”. The dude with the fake chainsaw came out last and chased my friends and I out of the maze. Meanwhile, I fell, tripped over a loose corn stalk (for real) and all my friends pig piled on top of me because they were all holding onto me because little Britt had NO FEAR of corn mazes. Needless to say, I sprained my arm and broke 2 fingers . The story of “I tripped on a piece of corn in the corn maze” really went over well hahaha! -
Brittany, why is that stories like this are so darn funny after the fact? Probably with all the really horrible stuff that the ER/hospital’s deals with it’s a nice break to check in in the girl who tripped on a corn stalk!
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Yes, seems funnier after the fact.
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Ouch Michael! I cannot even imagine how that felt! Our mini schnauzer will get caught up in my oxygen tubing and that almost chokes me.
Y’all are definitely reminding me of the show with the crazy reasons people end up in the ER!
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Omg Colleen, wow…his hamster chewed through his central line… I would have never even imagined that happening!
I can see the bike incident, poor kid! It always seems that these things happen just when you are not right there at every second!
Great topic! We have all been there!
Just last month, we were going to our Daughter and SNL’s house for a family dinner. I have a portable pill container in my handbag, I usually carry my as needed meds as well as extras. I also carry my next scheduled dosage if I’m not planning to be home. Well, it was time for my afternoon meds. I took them and set my night meds on the counter to take with me. I went to the bathroom, came back and instead of putting those meds in my bag, I automatically took them. I was thinking it was my afternoon meds. Well, I told my hubby just to watch me and be sure I took no more meds that night. Thankfully, I was just a bit more flushed and light headed. But my hubby and kiddos watched me like a hawk.( he told them) We were only about 15 minutes from the medical center so I was in a good place.
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Jen,
I admittedly have done this before too! Way too often. I tried to get the pill organizer and take my medications by writing out when I needed them (like a check list) but it was hard since I am so active and just out and about a lot to keep track of them and keep the “check list ” better managed. There must be an app for that! I’ll have to check around. Let me know if you find any good FREE pill reminder apps on the phone!-
Brittany, I’ve never thought of an app. I use my phone alarms like 5 times per day for medication alarms, I never used a pillbox until about a year ago and I had a few too many of those ” oops” moments and hubby freaked out and my doctors suggested one.
If I’m traveling or away from home a bunch, I tend to carry them all in a big ziplock or make-up bag, lol
Yes, we both probably need a better solution. I think this would make a great post!
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@jenc and @brittany-foster, when you are on a boat load of medication for the rest of your life, there are going to be mistakes! My son, his dad and myself, all have our cell’s set to alarm 3 times a day for when he needs to take his meds. He takes all of them at 10AM and 10PM and rarely needs a reminder, but 1 pill is at 2PM and that’s the problem child. At 2PM we are all usually in the middle of something and it’s so easy to turn off the cell and say, “I’ll take it in a few minutes,” and then forget. My cousin recommended a talking alarm https://www.medcentersystems.com/MedCenter-Talking-Alarm-Clock-p/7094-2.htm . I placed it in my son’s room without telling him, thinking this will be great! Nope, I found it in the trash can later, LOL. He referred to it as obnoxious! That was the point though, something different to get his attention.
We do use a pill case that has just morning and evening tabs but the base is deep (he takes a LOT of pills). Then he has a smaller case with just one spot for each day for his 2PM. I chose a different case for the 2PM to make it easier for me to walk past and at a glance see whether he remembered to take it or not.
The mistakes he sometimes makes when either really tired or distracted is taking from the wrong time of day, (morning instead of evening and vice versa.) It’s not a huge concern since most of the pills he takes twice a day anyway but there are a few he takes once. If anything he ends up with a headache but usually it’s not a major issue.
He learned the hard way that if he is going out anywhere he takes that day and the next day pills with him. You just never know when plans change or delays happen, leaving you without your next dose. What we use is the little plastic condiment cups with lids and with a Sharpie, write the day and time to take on the lid. I’ve shared this with other PHer’s and they started doing this too. You can get them at any supermarket. https://www.amazon.com/100-Sets-Plastic-Disposable-Condiment/dp/B01MRA8MVJ/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_79_t_0 .
We have also used the little ziplock snack baggies at times too but my son prefers the cups because then he doesn’t have to reach in and get them, just tilts his head back and takes them from cup to mouth. Plus I think they are safer in the cup, less risk of getting crushed or spilled.
Sorry, long response. Just thought I would share in case you want to try any of these suggestions.
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Really great suggestions Colleen! Thank you so much. I like the ziplock and sharpie idea a lot and will look into that to do for myself. It was always hard for me to remember to do my breathing treatments when I was on a neb treatments! Figures the thing that helps me breathe I forget about.
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Thanks, Colleen! I bet I would be like your son with that obnoxious talking alarm, lol
I tend to hit off on my alarms, usually at my 3:45 PM meds but some other times as well, depending on what I’m doing. So this is my problem child as you say, lol( I like that term)
I did use the snack sized Ziploc bags with a sharpie when we went out of town for our Daughter’s wedding. Cheap and it worked, lol
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I would probably turn the alerts to “off” one too many times on the medication thing haha! I totally get it! I have like an internal alarm clock when it comes to actually waking up in the morning and getting myself out of bed and getting the day started . I feel like I am programmed to wake up early from the days of being a teacher. The ziploc bags do sound cheap and easy! Definitely a good “life hack” for those with chronic conditions.
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