MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I was on last Sunday to tell those who wanted to read about it that our daughter Emily had finally arrived and everything was rosy. However, since then thing took a bit of a turn for the worse.
My wife was feeling a bit ropey after the birth so they decided to keep an eye on her in the delivery suite. On Monday things weren’t improving so they ran some tests. I had to nip out to put my son to bed as he was getting a bit upset by our absence. When I got back I was taken to one side and told that Julie had an as yet unidentified infection and was on her way to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) because she needed one to one care. I asked how bad the infection was and was told rather bluntly “potentially very” and given a sort of gritted teeth and eyes-rolled-up look by the doctor. I was also told to arrange child care because I was going up to the Maternity Ward to stand in as the mother.
When I did get to see Julie in the HDU she was full of tubes and surrounded by machinery and screens. The HDU itself resembled this.
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Conversation overheard at the HDU water cooler:-
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“How is the Viennese lady?”
“Dead”
[/i]
So this carries on until Wednesday. The virus was identified as [url= http://www.dhpe.org/infect/strepa.html ]Strep A[/url] that had got into her blood stream, probably as a result of a scratch from our son who had been ill the week before. As a precaution the baby also spent some time in the Special Care Baby Unit before being returned to me in Maternity with a vent in her arm so she could be given IV antibiotics.
On Wedneday Julie was out of HDU and allowed onto Maternity. I could then go home and spend some time with junior, but we are both on a 10 course of antibiotics as a precaution.
Mother and baby are both doing fine now, although Julie is still on a drip. As yet I don’t know when they can come home. Hopefully it will be Sunday, but only if the drugs have done their stuff.
If you are going to get floored by an infection I suppose that you can’t do it in a better palace than a hospital. Thanks to those who have sent messages of good will (Terrahawk, DerekStarship) and to everybody who got stuck in at Fairfield Hospital (though I suspect they don’t hang around on here).
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nice one as in i hope everything turns out ok.........if it read strange.
😯
Pleased to hear all's OK now
(they had 2 deaths from a mternity unit down here a while back from GrpA strep)
That sounds really scary, glad to hear that Mother and baby are in full recovery.
Blimey! It started to hit Julie within an hour of giving birth. It's a good job that the hospital staff were on the ball.
yup, that makes for scary reading!
glad you're all on the mend, hope everything from here on in goes smoothly!
You must all have been scared witless. Great to see things are looking up
Fantastic news. It sounds like you handled an impossible situation well too.
All the best.
bad time for all the stress dude but lucky in a way, births are some mental anyway you havent got time to sit around and worry. all the best my friend and i hope everyone has a speedy recovery.
Sorry it went pete tong - happy that everyone seems to be on the mend.
Good wishes to all - hospitals can be the best and worst places for infections.
And congrats on No 2!
Christ ona stick, what an awful thing to happen. GLad to hear things are improving though. best wishes to Mrs Spider and Baby Spider
healing vibes mate hope you're all well soon
Just noticed all the crap spelling in the OP.
Gah 🙄
Thanks for the best wishes. Everything should be OK. It was the little lad's birthday on Tuesday so he missed out. We'll have to make it up to him big style. We also bought and sold a house on Wednesday just to add a little extra stress.
Congrats - glad all o.k.
The wait continues this end. 😕
Glad no one was assimilated, get healthy now please.
Blimey, that's sounds really scary. Glad to hear everyone is on the mend.
[i]“How is the Viennese lady?” “Dead”[/i]
Did they really say that...thats an absolutely awful comment to have to overhear!?!
Everything should be OK. It was the little lad's birthday on Tuesday so he missed out. We'll have to make it up to him big style. We also bought and sold a house on Wednesday just to add a little extra stress.
Bugger, you know how to get all the stress over in one big old heap, don't you? 😀 😉
Hope it all smooths out for you and your family from here on in! Best wishes & congrats are in order!!:D
Did they really say that...thats an absolutely awful comment to have to overhear!?!
They did. No BS in the HDU.
The staff in there look as rough as the patients. You have to be one hard nosed and dedicated person for that job. I know that I haven't got what it takes to do it.
😯
Our first is due tuesday.. frightening stuff to read chap but at least things are moving in the right direction for you all 🙂
Oh mate, what a terrible ordeal. So glad for you all that she is on the right road now. Best wished to you all.
Good news HTS, glad they are both doing fine. 😛
[/b][/u]Just a note to all you lot.[b][u]
These "little" bugs can be very nasty.
Mate of mine 8 weeks ago scratched his leg, started feeling a little rough, left it for a few days, then got rushed into I.C the day after and passed away two days later. GUTTED. (This virus is more aggressive the fitter you, which seems so unfair)
Glad to here that every thing is getting back to normal.
There is often a risk of strep A or B infection with a birth and they are ment to check for it which is sounds like they did for your wife.
Did they really say that...thats an absolutely awful comment to have to overhear!?!They did. No BS in the HDU.
The staff in there look as rough as the patients. You have to be one hard nosed and dedicated person for that job. I know that I haven't got what it takes to do it.
From working in a large hospital those sort of conversations are not that uncommen unfortunatly but it seem to me that it is a way of dealing with it day to day.
Everything should be OK. It was the little lad's birthday on Tuesday so he missed out. We'll have to make it up to him big style. We also bought and sold a house on Wednesday just to add a little extra stress.Bugger, you know how to get all the stress over in one big old heap, don't you?
Second that. we are currently waiting to exchange on our house move and that is stressfull enough with out adding a birth to the mix.
The staff in there look as rough as the patients. You have to be one hard nosed and dedicated person for that job. I know that I haven't got what it takes to do it.
I know a few NHS staff and I know this is a fairly common approach to dealing with HD people, but it really should stay off the ward - the one thing family and friends don't need to hear, the *ONE* thing is the people that are supposedly there to help and provide hope think there's no hope and have effectively given up (whether they actually have or not). That's very poor professionalism and I'd be making a complaint afterwards (in between two very large thankyous for fixing all concerned).
It was on the ward. The water cooler was out of earshot of those patients who looked really bad. Also, the comment was made outside of visiting hours.
Some partially mitigating circumstances but still not very professional. Maybe a gentle word to those who did it?
It was a direct answer to a direct question. What were they supposed to say?
I won't be complaining. I spent a good chunk of yesterday dropping off tins of Quality Street in various crew rooms.
I don't want this to turn into NHS bashing. They were superb. All of them.
Christ, sometimes I forget its potentially scary when ours is due. ****. Hope all is well.
It was a poorly chosen, soul destroying and incorrect answer within earshot of someone who could have been significantly more vulnerable to the news than you are. I'm not NHS bashing either, but thats really not acceptable and they should be aware that they were overheard (so they think twice about who might be able to hear them when they choose to say such things between them). I'm not suggesting they don't say it, hell they can even laugh about it if they like, they just need to take a quick look about and check there's no family present. Common decency surely?
Congratulations on the new little addition and all my and Tinker-belles best wishes for your wife's speedy recovery.
Everything should be OK. It was the little lad's birthday on Tuesday so he missed out. We'll have to make it up to him big style. We also bought and sold a house on Wednesday just to add a little extra stress.
Stunning, my hat off to you sir - you really have managed to bugger that one up!
Anyway, I spent all last week watching my kids tubed up after a car accident - both are fine now and back at home, thankfully - so I can fully understand what you've been going through! Congratulations on the kis, best wishes to the wife... And get the poor boy something good!
coffeeking - get real. Its a small mistake in an area where mistakes can cost lives and staff can be under tremendous stress. It really is not worth worrying about nor making a fuss. Not that bad a thing to say anyway
I have heard far worse than that said - some of which would be worth complaining about.
"Oh no - I have been allocated the FUBAR in bed 3 again"
And much more like it.
Yeh, comment was unprofessional I suppose. In some ways I think a bullshit-free comment is what I'd value most as a patient/relative (long as it's accurate - "nearly dead" would prob have been bang on in mrs spider's case)
A friend of ours, dead now, used to laugh about being "the poor bastard with a football in his liver"
oh, Gp B Strep is what they often screen mothers' bits for - well before delivery. That's for the kid's sake because it can kill a newborn in hours if it causes infection "on the way through".
Gp A bacteremia - nasty business but they don't screen for the bug. It's a better pathogen than GpB (though still mostly does sore throats/skin inf etc) Untreated, almost certainly fatal if it's a widespread sepsis. "Funny" thing is it's usually really sensitive to old-fashioned penicillin ... If you start it soon enough
coffeeking - get real. Its a small mistake in an area where mistakes can cost lives and staff can be under tremendous stress. It really is not worth worrying about nor making a fuss. Not that bad a thing to say anyway
Sorry, I basically agree with coffeeking - although I wouldn't go so far as to make a complaint about it. By all means ask the question, and answer it, but do so in private. Chatting about patients' conditions where you can be overheard is highly unprofessional.
coffeeking - get real. Its a small mistake in an area where mistakes can cost lives
😐
I am real. I'm perfectly realistic in my expectations and being careful around family is *part* of the job. Now you are the one blowing it out of proportion, I simply said they should be aware of who is aroumd them while making comments. I didn't say launch a full investigation and have someone sacked, did I? It's an additional un-necessary upset for the family, regardless of how close to the money it is. If the OP had ASKED then sure, but to off-handedly make the comments in a "public" area isn't really funny. Having a tough job doesn't excuse a lack of thought for the family, and if NHS staff think it does excuse it maybe thats why poor practice exists? Let's not get this thread way off topic with a discussion of NHS nursing practice based on a single side comment.
Mogrim - it is unprofessional but it is not that bad. they did not use the persons name, they did not use pejorative language, it did not upset the person hearing it.
Have you ever worked in that sort of environment?
I tell you that is a very minor thing and nothing to worry about - wrong - yes. Worth complaining about or even getting het up about? No
Mogrim - it is unprofessional but it is not that bad.
Unprofessional IS bad.
they did not use the persons name,
They identified the person very clearly, unless they treat many people from foreign climes.
they did not use pejorative language,
Well done to them.
it did not upset the person hearing it.
Makes no odds, it might have done if he hadn't been quite so resilient, and they were not aware of that fact beforehand.
No-one was getting het up, but if something is wrong it should be put right.Next you'll tell me that women working in engineering should put up with wolf whistles because its a mans job... 😆
Stop pushing poor professionalism under the carpet and maybe standards will rise. Don't launch an inquiry, but a quiet word in someones ear should be had.
What I am trying to do is put it in perspective. Seems I am unable to do so. It was wrong but very minor.
Have you ever worked or had a relative in ICU / HDU?
What I am trying to do is put it in perspective. Seems I am unable to do so. It was wrong but very minor.
Of course it's minor, sod all in the grand scheme of the events. But I'd still want a friendly word with the person who did it so that someone elses son/daughter/partner wasn't left shattered by idle gossip next time.
Have you ever worked or had a relative in ICU / HDU?
No, but I've been IN them several times for other people and I've never heard anything but the utmost professional behaviour from them. I'm not trying to suggest I know what it's like to work there, I'm trying to point out what a customer expect from them. So I'm surprised to hear this. As I say, having a tough job doesn't excuse poor behaviour.
oh ffs
indeed wors, talk about blown out of all proportion.
Have you ever worked or had a relative in ICU / HDU?
No, but like coffeeking I've been in one - in fact I was in one just last week. And the behaviour was completely professional, unlike in this case. Perhaps Spanish nurses are better trained? 😀
Blimey Harry_the_Spider you've certainly been through the mangle and back.
Healing vibes to all the family. I love the picture of the little one kissing his new baby sister.
Also don't worry about his birthday, at his age he wouldn't have realised anyway and it can all be celebrated very soon.
Glad your families all ok now, sounds like a bit of a nightmare you all had.
All the best JC
Enough of the HDU debate. It's my thread so I get the final say.
Everybody did a great job and my wife left the department in better shape than when she went in.
They won. That will do for me.
Great to hear everything seems to be heading in the right direction. Shame she's got to be in over the weekend though.
(I'm still amazed at the threads that can turn into arguments on here.)
HtS - we'd already stopped and were back on wishing you well 😉
That must have been very frightening. Glad she is on the mend now. Congratulations 🙂
Julie and Emily should be home on Monday assuming that the transfer from IV to oral antibiotics has been a success.
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Ollie got his birthday present and looked very pleased with it.
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The Internet's Derek Starship was on hand to take a picture. So naturally there was a crash.
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Like Father like son. 🙂
Awww, ace! 🙂
you wanna cover the top of that steerer, harry - don't want people calling your kid tubby 😉
glad to hear things are moving in a more positive direction for you, and I do hope you get to have the whole family home tomorrow.
Is Ollie's bike and Islabike?
Thanks. They may be out today fingers crossed.
It is an Islabike. It is ace!
The Internet's Derek Starship was on hand to take a picture. So naturally there was a crash.
Hard to tell from the photo, but does the bike have plugs on the handlebars?
I remember when my youngest daughter first rode without stabilisers, i was so proud. Being a father is great, all the best to you and you family.
Family at home, fed and in bed. All is well. All is quiet... for now.