The baby is better and this and that
I've been sick with the flu or something. People always say they have had "the flu" when they are sick with some unknown thing, and hey! who am I to knock tradition? My unknown "flu" was a headache-sleepy-low fever-general malaise thing, actually. Of course, being a nurse I truly felt my headache for twenty four hours indicated I probably had either some rare disease or perhaps a tumor (nurses rarely have simple headaches), and was all set to call my doctor and get an MRI ordered when miraculously it stopped.
So, must have been "the flu" after all. Or a miracle. Maybe both; I don't suppose they are mutually exclusive.
Anyway, I have been feeling blah and old and somewhat discouraged and wondering if I really make any difference to any living soul, which I suppose is typical post-New Year's Resolution Blues (you know, when it occurs to you that all those resolutions you make each year are just so much malarkey, even if you truly believed for even one second you would attempt to stick to them).
And Congress is messing with Medicaid. And one of my little clients was removed to foster care today. And my Spanish-speaking mom wants to know if the police pull her over and she can't produce a driver's license will they call Immigration and if so, who will take her multi-disabled child if she is deported? And it takes five months to get a wheelchair for a child...did you know that? That is the average time in our wheelchair clinic for new wheelchairs, because first you get the doctor's order, then you make an appointment to get a fitting, then they try to get it authorized by the insurance company, then the insurance company denies it, then they have to get a letter of "medical necessity" from the very same doctor who ordered it in the first place (i.e. said it was medically necessary and so I am ordering it), then it gets approved, then it goes to the medical equipment company who orders the stuff from a vendor, and then FINALLY it comes in. Meantime mom walks around with the baby in a stroller which causes every doctor, nurse, and therapist who sees her to say, "you know, mom, you really need to think about getting a wheelchair for your child"...
And why do we call all our client's mothers "mom"? And is it patronizing? And why can't I stop?
Anyway, the baby I wrote about below, the little trooper in PICU, is getting better. She is extubated, and tolerating a bit of po feeding. Her g-tube is shot for some reason, and they have quit replacing it for right now and are NG feeding her. But I saw her sitting up in a little swing at bedside and she had a big smile for me.
That's enough for today. I think there's meaning in here somewhere-in my life, I mean, not this rambling post.
:-)
mary
posted by mary at 5:20 PM
2 Comments:
I happened upon your blog because you mention LGS, which my daughter has. I noticed something you said in this post, that I can totally relate to, so I thought I'd mention it:
The calling clients "Mom" thing.
I'm not so sure it's patronizing, but it can be awkward for the "Mom" on the receiving end. However, in this day and age, professionals never know what to call people that won't offend them. Mrs., Miss, or Ms.? So, "Mom" is a safe alternative, I guess. I've been called it tons of times. Once I really got to know the Dr. or nurses though, I put an end to it if they'll let me. That's my dept. To tell them what I'm comfortable with. I'm a young Mom, too, so I'm not into them using my last name either.
It is a funny "phenomenon" though. I mention it in my blog too. But, like I said, I really think it all stems from the PC society we live in now.
I found it interesting to hear it from "the other's" point of veiw in your post. There are so many blogs for the parents of special needs children, but I haven't found any for their doctors (or nurses, for that matter), until now. Wish my daughter's physicians would blog....I might be able to pick their brains better! :)
Thanks for your comment. It's good to hear from the "other side of the bed". I have a foot on both sides, which can also be awkward (I have a child with special needs, too).
I think it begins with the fact that the little one is our actual client/patient, so that we know (except in emergencies) his name, etc. But when the child is new to us, we are not always sure of your name. What we basically know about you is contained in the word "mom", which is all we know, your role as perceived by us in that moment in time. And it is a term of respect. Maybe "respect in a hurry", but nonetheless, when the ER doctor turns to you and says, "Mom, tell me about his breathing", he is (or in my experience is) not being disrespectful, just in a hurry.
But it is so universally done, that it is what you describe it to be: a phenomenon. I even do it when I'm writing. I don't say "my client's mother said". I say, "mom said".
I will strive to improve. In the meantime, I'd like to assure you that the moms I've known for a while I always call by name, whichever (first or last) they prefer.
:-)
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