dopesick

I have been watching that series and even though I totally knew it was that way, it still stuns me.  All those free lunches from vendors sweetens the deal.  Yes, the doctor will see you now and smooze a bit.  It's not just pharma that does it either.  It was always fun to see what Jim Rock brought because he put a LOT of thought into and appreciated what we do as laboratorians.  I'm glad that I worked in a rural hospital.  I don't think I would have ever hung in there if the patients were just a number.  The techs still did phlebotomy when I hired on and continued to over the years.  We boiled test tubes for chemistries and read them on a spectrophotometer.  I remember one of the new doctors at the time made me cry because creatinine wasn't a stat test.  As he watched what I had to do to get a result, he gave me props and promised to support a better way to do things.  And it happened.

One of the cool things about being in the lab was the anatomic pathology piece.  I remember watching my first autopsy and will never eat liver again.  Not that I did before.  I would starve if that's all I had.....liver and onions.  We watched as Sammy put poor dude's head on a block and proceeded to dissect him like the cats we had in high school.  Each organ was weighed and recorded as a part of the cause of death.  A more timid person would have cut and run away from the smell but I was intrigued.  We had our own histology tech who mounted the specimens on slides for the pathologist to review.  We had two Cubans in a row and them a whole bunch of others.  Dr. Inclan was my favorite.  

So many people think that everybody is a nurse or doctor yet that is not true.  The person who draws your blood for labs is usually a phlebotomist.  There is all kind of tech work going on that you never think about.  Housekeeping.  Meals.  When my parents were dying I remember a housekeeper named Crystal who used to check in on us every day.  She never smiled but she was caring and that mattered a lot.  I was fortunate to still be an employee there and able to keep tabs on what was going on during breaks.  Did I ever look up their lab results?  I'll never tell.

Daddy went first after complications from three surgeries in a row and developing atelectasis.  I remember distinctly Dr. A and John Lanier telling me it was time to let go.  He was on oxygen only and struggling to breath until the morphine kicked in.  Of course it was rotated with something else but for the most part he was peaceful at the end.  Ms. Anita called me from morning rounds to let me know he was gone.  It was around 5AM.  I think I went in and did the deed with the funeral home.  Curry's is always so compassionate.  

Mama's deal was kind of the same deal.  She had multiple surgeries from osteoporosis and by chance survived that to die of a ruptured diverticulum.  After days of hard antibiotics and a rising white count we had to make the decision to go BACK to surgery which she probably would not survive.  Here comes hospice again.

Many people are not aware that when hospice becomes involved you continue comfort measures but do not monitor closely.  One set of vitals per shift.  Minimal intervention and lots of pain relief for a peaceful passing over.  They don't starve or die of thirst.  It is a gradual shutting down of the body when there is no quality of life.  And family members have to make that call.  It's tough but was easy for us when we saw how they were suffering.  

There are two women in charge of my healthcare DPA, both of whom love me and each other.  It's in my wallet and goes everywhere I do except I have to change a phone number.  This is what you do if you want your wishes to be respected.  I don't want to go to a nursing home with a feeding tube.  My advocates know that.  I trust them to let me go when the time comes.

I know, morbid right! On the sunny side it's gonna' rain for two days and the crops will be delayed yet again.  Whoever heard of shelling corn in November!

Peace and grace ^j^