So, there's been a lot of gastroenteritis (stomach flu, food poisoning, etc) going around, and last night I fell victim to it. It got so bad I had to leave in the middle of my shift to go home since I wasn't doing much patient care running to the bathroom every 5 minutes. As I arrived home, I started going through the usual tips I send home with patients...
- small frequent sips of clear fluids
- lots and lots of fluids
- BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast) when keeping down clears
- return to E.D. if vomiting does not stop
It's that last one that almost got to me. I wondered at what point during the 4th episode of dry-heaving I would return to the E.D. as a patient. I rated my abdominal pain (4 - 5 out of ten at it's worse), thought about the fact I couldn't keep water down, and wondered how I would make it through the night. I started thinking about my patients; at what point is it too much to handle alone. For some, it's about an hour into it. Others go for days. Me, I toughed it out throughout the day sipping on broth and Gatorade and finally got to the banana... nothing ever tasted so good.
3 comments:
That would be a toughie, Veronica, when is it time to go to the ED? I think when one realizes they have tried the best they can to do what they can to "weather" the storm so to speak and nothing they are doing is working. Then I think it is time to go to the ED.
I am glad to hear you are on the mend!
betty
Diarrhoea & vomiting is not nice at all, and you're quite right to highlight the procedure. Hope you're feeling better now.
Ugh! Hate that you had to go through that. My daughter has had something today, and I'm hoping it will turn out to be only a 24-hour bug. She's sleeping now (has been for 8 hours) and I hope she gets a bit more sleep.
Post a Comment