Hospital stay

[Alaska]

Thursday morning I had surgery and I was amazed at how many of the Doctor's and nursing staff were amazed by the little thing.
From what I am gathering there is a small number of people in the Anchorage area with pumps.
The anathesioligist <sp?> came in and asked what my BS was this morning. I told him 140 so I explained I had bolused for it. Bolused? Yes, I have a insulin pump. You have a pump?? Well yeah I do.......Is it an implant?...Nope...Well, this changes things. He asked the nurse what Kind of IV I had she she told him a non glucose. Well, better change that. I don't want him crashing while in surgery......Ummm excuse me, do you really think thats a good idea? I can turn the pump off, I can turn it down. I can make it do what ever we need.
Nooooo, just keep it going as normal and then they hooked me up to a glucose IV.
I had all kinds a people asking me questions about the pump during my stay there, the anathesioligist was especially interested in it. Wanted to know how it worked, what I thought of it.
Needless to say when I awoke and checked my BS it was 291 after being in surgery for an hour. And I will tell ya I bolused like **** all day but it never dropped below 200 the rest of the day.
Today I was finally able to get everything back to normal.
SOOO...if ever in surgery no matter what they may want tell em you want the unleaded IV and you'll just turn down your pump.

[Jon]

It is always scary to trust your life with people who don't fully understand what they are dealing with. Ignorance is probably one of the most dangerous things a diabetic faces.

[HeatherP]

I'm glad you got things back under control. I was in the hospital for an appendectomy last January, and the diabetes "management" they administered was unbelievable. First of all, they gave me antibiotics in a dextrose drip. Then, they use a sliding scale to dose insulin - if b/s is over 200, then give 4 units of regular. They fed me french toast, regular jello and pudding. When I looked up and saw the dextrose drip, I thought to myself "I gotta get out of here before they kill me" so I asked for vicodin instead of morphine, sent my husband home to get my meter and insulin, and dosed myself instead of letting the hospital do it. I was able to leave by noon Sunday (checked in around midnite Friday eve). Scary that a hospital doesn't know what they're doing!

[Belinda]

Oh my gosh..first hope you are doing well Alaska. Next I had the same thing happen to me. They wanted to tape the meter to my thigh or stomach during surgery. Then they wanted to give me a leaded IV...ask what my BG was before getting there it was 101 and after being in prep for 2 hours it jumped to 500+ and I had nothing but stress. They wanted to give me insulin etc....I just said call my Dr. he told them to do as I say...not for me to take insulin and DO NOT TAPE the thing to me if not for their stress my BG would be just fine. Check it once I was out and VOILA back to normal....sometimes I wonder if they get together and try to figure out how high they can make ones blood sugar before surgery!!!

[dpav]

I had a similar situation a year ago. I was getting an eye surgery. I told them they were going to do things my way. For one they were NOT going to put an IV in my hands. I have neuropathy. The hands burn and hurt with IV's, I’ve already gone that route. So next I told them I was going to have my test kit near so I can take tests all I want. Also they will not raise my sugars too high. They were going to do everything their way. I got up and started to walk out. They called my doctor. She yelled at them and told them to do as I said. Everything went well except they gave me Premium as well in the IV. So my BS was over 300. I shot up, I did not want to empty my pump, and got back to normal in about 4 hours. Hospitals do not want to listen to patients for any reason. They should know that all diabetic doctors tell them to listen to us. It should be standard practice for them.
Don

[Alaska]

Well one would think they'd have training but it seems not. Then again Anchorage Alaska is not a "hotbed" for pump users it seems. Providence Hospital here is actually quite good and the people at the diabetes training center are excellent. I think the problem is they just haven't dealt with it enough to be an issue.....until now. I'm writing an email to the surgical staff at my hospital and let them know they need a little training.

[snydermom]

When Ed went in for an out-patient procedure it was like out of the Keystone Kops! Nothing my mouth after midnite ... ok, dm'er - how ya doin? Test was scheduled for 10am - finally got it at 2pm. Still nothing by mouth. One says give him his shot - another says no way (it's not on the chart) - a third says leave him like he is.

Then he checked in for 4 days of testing. Don't EVEN get me started on THAT one! One day they never gave him ANY insulin NOR did they feed him from midnite til 6 pm the next day. "He's having tests" ... no sh*t! Pretty soon the test will pe a post-mortem?

We are massively lucky that he reacts to the insulin so well. I can't imagine what you guys who DON'T react so well have to deal with. Beth.

[mg_2204]

Hello Alaska!

I'm glad everything's fine for you now.

Incredible but sometimes the hospital isn't the safest place... and sometimes they clearly lack the training or the experience.

My sister was almost cut open in a rush because no one could figure out why the urine wouldn't drain in the little bag (don't know the word for it in English, sorry). Two doctors and 4 nurses later, one nurse discovered the little thingy was closed!!!! She just opened it and ... my sister's bladder emptied itself in the little bag. The problem was solved. Scary, uh?

Keep well everyone... and NEVER go to hospital on your own. Make sure someone will be there for you.

Marie

[David]

Glad it turned out OK for you Alaska. Whenever we know we will be having surgery, we should discuss this with our endocs who should give the surgical team instructions about our pump. We should remind the anesthesiologist before surgery. The glucose drip was unnecessary, unless you were going to do a temp basal or bolus for it. To do that, you'd need to know exactly what you were getting. Even without the glucose, you'd probably have a slight BG rise anyway from the stress.
David