Psych consult because I appeared frustrated

Gina4h

Just need to rant and rave a bit. I developed a severe infection after a breast and lymph node biopsy. This has meant waiting in urgent care for my breast to be checked and my IV to be checked and changed if needed for six of the past nine days (the other days a nurse came to my home). Today I got through the clerk and the triage nurse really quickly and then sat in an examination room for 3 1/2 hours even though I was supposed to be fast tracked. At that point a nurses aid came in looking for something and I jokingly said "if I slash my wrist do you think a doctor will see me?" This turned out to be a big mistake! I saw the Dr. soon after. He decided they should do IV antibiotics for a few more days and all was fine until I told the nurse I have an allergy to adhesives. I asked about options if there was something she could use to reduce the amount of tape and if I could maybe get it changed more often because I have an infection from the last one that was left in for four days. She told me I couldn't leave until I had seen someone from psych. She said the nurses aids told her I was going to cut my wrists. Apparently that combined with the questions were a sign that I wanted to hurt myself. I told her I was very frustrated after spending five hours there and then having my questions and concerns ignored. Luckily the doc came by and I asked to speak to him again and I told him what was going on. He asked me if I was suicidal I said no just frustrated. He answered my questions and figured out an option for less tape and sent me home instead of to a psych ward! The thought of returning there on Wednesday morning does make me suicidal I'm seeing my BC surgeon Monday morning and I'm hoping she has another option. The longest waiting time to have my breast checked was six hours and the shortest has been three. Oh well it gives me lots of time to dwell on the fact that I have breast-cancer and it has spread to lymph nodes and life is just going to be peachy for the next little while.

On a positive note I found the forum "OMG they found the cure for stupid" I strongly advise anyone needing a laugh to visit that forum.

Hopeful82014

Gina, SO sorry you are dealing with all that on top of your recent diagnosis. Grrrrr!

You might also enjoy the 'Stupid Comments' thread.

Good luck getting everything under control. I know this is a very tough time. It takes a while to find any kind of equilibrium after diagnosis. Hang in there.

Simplicity

Sorry Gina that you had to go through all that. Tape reaction sounds normal amongst breast cancer patients. I reacted to my biopsy tape and woke to those ugly yellow bubbly blisters under my tape, and have heard other stories.

All this waiting is very frustrating and I don't think the tech's and Dr's completely understand. It's not just their appointment, but the one before that, and the one before that.

Hoping things ease up for you a bit. I am coming to the end of all my testing and quickly approaching my first chemo date.

Sunflowercat

I would be beside myself with those waiting times. So sorry you have to deal with that. Are there no other care options for you? As for the tape, I do have a reaction to adhesives. Loathe them!! I've recently been told there is a barrier cream for adhesive. Might want to google it and see if you can order some. I wish I'd know about it last year.

WinningSoFar

So sorry Gina. I guess making a joke out of suicide in a hospital is a real no-no. We'll all have to remember that. In a more serious vein, I hope your real medical issues get handled pronto.

Gina4h

Thank you Sunflowercat. I am going to look into the barrier creams and some other options. I had cesarians for both of my children and they used tape from the neonatal ICU. I used to have a few extra rolls but my baby is 33 so I don't have any left.

Thank you all for your support. I got a phone call from the hospital social worker today she was following up on my visit yesterday after speaking to me she said she was going to investigate the procedures at urgent care and said she probably would have reacted the same way. Unfortunately the nurse did such a bad job with the IV that my home care nurse had to remove it this morning so now I have to get a new one again. I have an appointment with my BS tomorrow morning and I'm going to see what she suggests. I am not not not going back to that urgent care!

Gina4h

Update–I sent an e-mail to the patient relations department of Hamilton health sciences describing my experience yesterday and I attached a recent article from a medical journal on medical adhesives and patient safety. Probably pushing it again but it really bugs me that the nurse told me it was impossible to be allergic to medical tape.

Gina4h

As long as I'm fighting cancer, might as well fight problems in the medical system too. LOL

Gina4h

Hi Simplicity, did you have problems with the tape after your mastectomy too? I hope your chemo goes okay and you don't feel too sick!

Simplicity

No. I haven't had my mastectomy yet. I had the tape on my port site and blistered under it. I've hard a lot of women say the same. For me it's that very thin square tape with the rounded edges that does it.

Gina4h

My family doctor is trying to get me into testing to find out exactly which ones are a problem but she said it might not happen before the surgery. I hope I'll know more after I see my BS tomorrow, but that's kind of scary too. What if it's really bad?

Right now I'm just enjoying being IV free even if they have to put another one in tomorrow:)

208sandy

Gina4h - I also have an allergy to adhesive and no one ever listens - I still have scars from many years ago when I had adhesive infection on my knee after falling and scraping it - I was 17 then - now I'm 69!!!!!

BTW do you happen to be in Hamilton, ON or ???

Gina4h

208Sandy - I'm in Dundas and you?

This is a link to the article on Medical Adhesives and Patient Safety;

http://solutions.3m.com/3MContentRetrievalAPI/BlobServlet?lmd=1395708223000&locale=en_US&assetType=MMM_Image&assetId=1361733923326&blobAttribute=ImageFile

208sandy

I am in Burlington and so help me I had to go to emerg one fine day last summer (August long weekend) and I spent 31 hours in there and by the time I left they knew I'd been there - honestly, I wonder sometimes - the good news is that I had been a volunteer at Jo Brant for 2 years and I knew some of the Emerg staff but all the same what a mess - my onc was away and so was my PCP - the admitting clerk showed up after I'd been there for about four hours (at least in a private cubicle because I pulled the Stage IV "card") and told me I'd been admitted but not to count on getting to a bed or a room for that matter - honestly I came out of that mess so angry it took me weeks to calm down - I ended up with PTSD from that incident - next time, I'm getting the patient advocate involved and they're going to hear me all over the damned place. My PCP told me never to go to urgent care because of my stage - yikes! Maybe we have to take care of ourselves - might work better.

BC2015

What a horrible experience! No one should have to suffer like you have. I would have said the same thing! I also had a terrible reaction to the surgical tape, I still can see a line from where it ate my skin. I hope it all gets easier with your care

Gina4h

208Sandy - that is terrible! How do you get the patient advocate involved?

Moderators

Gina-

We wanted to take a moment to welcome you to our community here at BCO. We hope you find the support and information you're looking for!

We're so sorry for the frustration you're experiencing. The situation you described sounds incredibly stressful! Thank goodness the doctor was able to see that it was a misunderstanding and overreaction on the nurses part, and you weren't forced to be evaluated. And we think the email to the patient relations office was a good step; it's important that the nurses and doctors who work with you are caring and compassionate, and not dismissive when concerns are brought up.

Please let us know if there's any way we can be of any assistance during your time here on the boards. Welcome again!

The Mods

208sandy

Gina - I wasn't actually aware there was a patient advocate at Jo Brant but after my fun experience one of my friends that works there said there is a whole department to handle patient problems (I knew they had it at a hospital in Texas where my husband had one whale of a bad experience while travelling) but didn't know they had it here in Burlington - gather all one has to do is phone them while in the hospital and they'll page someone to come to you and help - like everything else people don't usually complain probably because they're too sick or frightened - here's hoping we both stay out of the clutches of the healthcare crowd for a while.

Gina4h

So the clinical manager has investigated my complaint and is actually making changes! There will soon be a charge nurse for each shift who is responsible for ensuring high standards of patient care. The charge nurse will also be responsible for the care that occurs during her shift, so will be more likely to make sure everyone is following the guidelines. New guidelines are being set up for maximum times that a patient can be without clinical contact and patients are to be given estimates of when the doctor will see them, with updates if things change. She said that she had been working on a new system, but my complaints and her talks with staff to resolve them, have made her push the changes through sooner.

I just hope it actually works.

Sunflowercat

way to go Gina! You cantake some satisfaction knowing that some poor soul won't be subjected to the horrible experience you had. I'm proud of you for following through.

kmpod

Hi Gina4b,

Another Ontarian here. Your story is appalling, but unfortunately not surprising.

Good on you for poking at the system. Anger, when funnelled productively, can be very effective.

I'm also very sensitive to medical adhesives. Tegaderm is the absolute worst.

This thread:https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/91/topic/... is very lengthy but contains a lot of useful information. My surgery was almost 4 years ago now and I don't recall which tape I ended up being able to use, but I followed up on some advice on the thread and obtained several samples of tapes that were reputed to be less likely to provoke reactions. (You may have to get your pharmacy to order them for you.) I pretested them on my forearm prior to surgery and supplied my own tape to be used post-surgically to minimize the issues. My surgeon had no issues with that. It's very likely that a lot of new information has arisen on the thread since I last visited it, so it would be worth perusing.

As well, it seems that people who have sensitivities to medical adhesives can be more likely to have a latex allergy. I was sent for allergy testing prior to a subsequent surgery and, in my case, the results were negative - but, again, it's another thing worth considering.

Gina4h

Thank you kmpod for the very useful information