After wards

[ailbhe]

So yesterday morning I took my pills, had a shower, got dressed, got into a taxi, went to the hospital, found my way to the very poorly signposted Adult Day Surgery Unit mainly because people going to work noticed I looked lost and helped me, and took off almost all my clothes and got into a hospital gown. A lot of the hospital gowns are missing tapes at the back, it turns out. Luckily I had a dressing gown.

The whole thing was fine, except that THREE people asked me "Is there a chance you might be pregnant?" - No - "Do you want a pregnancy test?" - No. Then when it was time for my op the porter checked I'd been to the loo, and wheeled me down. And THEN, one of the people who had spoken to me BEFORE I went to the loo, the actual SURGEON, said they wouldn't do the op unless I had a pregnancy test.

So they wheeled me from the pre-theatre anaesthetic room into recovery, which was just BRILLIANT for my PTSD, and of course there are absolutely no toilets in recovery, so they got a bedpan, but weirdly people who've been nil by mouth for six hours and made sure to pee before going to theatre don't have full bladders. It turns out.

It didn't matter what I said about my own body, cycle, sexual life, etc... He wouldn't take my word for it AND HE COULD HAVE CHECKED EARLIER.

Eventually the senior consultant came in and talked to me and HE seemed to believe me but he said they'd have to do a test anyway, for Legal Reasons (which sounds like Because Reasons to me) and so I had to have a

FUCKING CATHETER.

The most pain I was in all yesterday was from the catheter. I hate catheters. They are incredibly bad for my continence and I hate hate hate them.

Now I'm feeling just as ill as I was on Tuesday before the hospital, but I can't tell if it's because of the period I was having anyway or because of the op.

Comments

[sfred]

That's horrendous.
I hope you feel better soon.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Oh gods. I can feel my blood pressure and panic rising just reading this. You poor thing *hugs*.

Let's hope the hormonal coil does the trick!

[ailbhe]

If it doesn't, I'm going to take 1ngi's advice and ask for thyroid tests.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Oh god, how grim! You poor, poor thing. Are you going to make a complaint?

And yes, hoping that this will have a good result in the end!

[ailbhe]

I will definitely be complaining. Mind you, I think the senior consultant will too - he agreed with me that "Do you want a pregnancy test?" is not the same thing as "We require you to do a pregnancy test."

[nakedfaery.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you've intimated that you will complain. What a ridiculous kerfuffle. I've had the same issue when being prescribed certain medications. I get 'is there any chance you could be pregnant? Are you sure? Can you take a test to be absolutely sure?' And I'm all NO BECAUSE I HAVE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO SEX IN NEARLY A YEAR, AND NO PIV IN LONGER THAN THAT. So ridiculous.

Not to mention consistently getting asked when I buy ibuprofen if I'm Breastfeeding. I say no because I can't be arsed with the hassle but it worries me that a pharmacist who Really Should Know that ibuprofen is fine when bf asks that. Grr.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Oh for the love of small green apples! They CATHETERIZED you for a fucking pregnancy test? Jiminy cricket.

[ailbhe]

There wasn't another way to get urine out of me, because I'd *emptied my bladder* before then. They had to sort of hoover up the available droplets.

Because of their easily avoidable mistake which they repeated for a total of three times.

[barakta]

I have no words. Good luck with your complaint and it will be good if surgeon complains as well because then it's from both ends as it were.

[heraldis.livejournal.com]

That's so crap :( I was told by my (lovely) doctor that she had to do a pregnancy test if I wasn't actually having my period because if I were pregnant and they inserted a coil, they would have effectively performed an illegal abortion, and there's an awful lot of trouble associated with that. They have no excuse for not being clear with you though!

[ailbhe]

Oh, I was actually having a period. Am.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

MAN. I can't believe they had to cathetise you because of their bad questioning. That's awful!

I hope you eventually achieve your aim of a whole hospital appointment without anything ghastly to complain about.

(Also, I keep reading very poorly signposted Adult Day Surgery Unit as "Very Poorly Adult Day Surgery Unit". Which I guess works too?)

[rosefox]

That's very, very shoddy. Many sympathies.

I'm reminded of the lesbian friend who had to take pregnancy tests repeatedly and list two methods of contraception before she was allowed to have particularly toxic acne medication. Since she doesn't have sex with men, the first method of contraception listed was "abstinence"; since she had to put something down, the second was "condoms". Utterly farcical.

[songster.livejournal.com]

I'd have been tempted to put "cunnilingus" and "frottage", or similar.

[webhill.livejournal.com]

Hmm. the iPledge requirements for getting isotretinoin (retin-a) do require that a female of childbearing potential agree to use 2 types of contraception starting one month prior to initiation of drug therapy and continuing one month beyond cessation of drug therapy -- but, they also state in the prescriber information that "The patient must select and commit to use 2 forms of effective contraception
simultaneously, at least 1 of which must be a primary form, unless the patient commits to continuous abstinence from heterosexual contact, or the patient has undergone a hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy, or has been medically confirmed to be post-menopausal." So, if your friend had in fact committed to continuous abstinence from heterosexual contact, she should not have been required to put down 2 forms of effective contraception -- that's not how the program works. I had THOUGHT that iPledge was the only such system in operation at this time - was it some other one with which I am unfamiliar? Just curious. This type of thing drives me nuts. I kind of feel like we should just let everything be over the counter and if people want to auto-darwinate themselves or their offspring by screwing up with their meds, that's their problem. This seems to be a minority opinion, though.

[clarahippy.livejournal.com]

I'm currently working in day surgery and the first thing we do (round about when you have to put on the awful gown) is ask for a urine sample. If its a requirement (and it is where I work) it should be dealt with quickly and easily, there is more than enough about being listed for theatre that is awful for people without making it worse I reckon.

I'm sorry things were made that horrendous by people being idiots.

[ailbhe]

I was *offered* not *requested* which I think makes all the difference.

[clarahippy.livejournal.com]

Yeah it really does.

[nonhae.livejournal.com]

Oh God, that's horrific. I mean, you know that, but... God, words fail me.