What about that absurd morphine pump ladies?

I didn't have any problems with my morphine pump. I stayed sleeping, I would wake up feel pain and press it and go back to sleep. As far as sleeping all night, any sleep lost was due to nurses coming in checking me, but I would go right back to sleep. DH was with me for the whole 2 days I was in hospital. DD told me if I pumped it once I was ok, if I pumped it twice I would mumble and go back to sleep. I am very glad I had it. My friend just had her surgery last week and the morphine made her

That med pump was worthless!!! When I finally woke up I was in my room, don't remember anything before that. Don't remember being in recovery room, don't remember them moving me to my room. Late that evening the nurse came in explaining to me that I was on oxygen because my blood pressure was too high and she explained that morphine pump to me. It didn't do a thing for me, I must have pressed it every 1/2 hr. Finally I told the nurse that I was still in pain and she took me off the pump and gave me pills. I was out for the rest of the night except when they came in to check my bp...DH stayed with me but he was out like a light all night!!! The next morning the nurse came in, took out the cather and helped me to stand, they didn't even have a pad on me so of course when I stood up, I was soaking the floor with blood. They cleaned me up, DH and my mother got me all set up in bed, I had to call for breakfast. Finally my DR came to see me that afternoon and talked to me and said I could go home. Well, I sat in that room, had to ask the nurse if I was gonna walk the hall before being discharged, she said oh yeah. Well, we waited and finally my DH took me for a walk. That was the worst hospital stay I have ever had. Didn't get released until 6pm.....

My hospital stay was very good. I had the morphine pump with continuous medication and could hit the button very 8 minutes if I needed more. Unfortunately like sweetpea's friend the morphine made me sick. The following morning I was put on motrin which worked well. Unfortunately, I had developed a fever and they decided they would no longer give me the motrin. They wanted to give me the morphine again. At first I refused but after 14 hours I did take a small dose which of course made me sick again. It was a visious cycle. Day three a specialist came in and told them I was allergic to morphine and not to give it to me anymore. I got to take the welcome motrin again. They released me the next day after my fever went down. But all the nurses were wonderful.

It is so good to hear the variety of experiences.
Mine was bad but many were really very good.
I still can't resolve myself to the idea of getting the medication only when you apply it yourself....but apparently it works for most.
I am also heartened to hear that nurses in other locals are the kind one hopes to find when they go to the hospital.
I will post my story soon and you won't believe things that went on with the nursing staff but after reading about all the angelic nurses encountered by so many of you I can only think of four things responsible.
Number one, I'm not the nice person I think I am and I am turning these people against me.
Number two,I am a religious person from a minority group and this was an expression of racism.
Number three,these people are overworked, understaffed and take it out on the next one down the food chain.
Number four, it's an east coast, murder capital of the United States thing.

Judy

I had the morphine pump, and the nurses told me I could push it a lot more than I did. The doc said whenever I started to think about the surgery to hit the button. However it made me very nauseous, so they also had to give me anti nausea shots until I could take something by mouth.

The nurses were all wonderful-I was at a University teaching hospital, and there are two in the city where I had surgery. I think competition is a good thing-they know if they don't do a good job the University would go with the other hospital.

At the other hospital they will not even schedule your surgery unless you have someone to stay in your suite with you the whole time. I guess they think you will have an advocate there and that will keep everyone on their toes?

I called a local supermarket and sent over two snack trays of fruits and cheeses for the staff because they were all so wonderful. The night nurse gave me several neck and back rubs-I was so sore and achy it really felt good.

The charge nurse even called me one week after surgery to listen to how my experience went and if I was having any post op problems that I was concerned about.

So if you had a bad experience I would say, write the hospital, and tell your doctor, then don't go back there again. Use your consumer power. There are plenty of good places and wonderful nurses out there!

I too, used the pump...and I didn't like it,either! I had one that allowed me to get a dose every 5 mins, if I required it...as I had 2 exploratory surgeries and the hyst, I was in alot of pain...I cheated & had my DH tell me when the pump would allow me another shot! When the nurses saw us doing this, we got told off and the machine repositoned so we couldn't do it anymore! Oops!

Much prefered the continous drip!

I liked it, it worked for me.

Oh the dreaded pump. I thought I was the only one who hated that thing. I requested to be off of it because I'd press the button and I swear 10 minutes later I was sleep only to wake up 30 minutes later to press it again and fall asleep 10 min later. I would fall asleep in mid sentence my family said. And then the medication made me itch all over and they wanted to give me medication on top of that to stop the itching. And I refused because that stuff would definitely put you asleep and on top of the blood pressure meds, the morphine, the antibiotics I was on I didn't want another pill. It was crazy. I found more comfort from pain meds by mouth than by the pump.

My nurse ended up chewing me out over the pump. lol She asked me how it was working for me and I told her I was trying to hold out as long as I could before using it. hehehe She told me NOT to do that and to use it as soon as the pain started to get to me. I explained to her that I'm an addict in recovery with ten years clean and it went against my grain to use it. Thank heavens I was able to change my thinking because I was in pretty bad pain because I had been adhered all the way around my uterous and the doctor said my surgery was one of the worst he had performed as far as difficulty. They kept me in the recovery room for hours because they were afraid I was going to bleed out. Once I started using it like they recommended, the pain got under control pretty much and I was able to get some rest. Some....because I was on a program of being checked for vitals every 30 minutes by the nurse that first night.

I noticed that when I woke up in recovery, it was attached but it may not have been working properly since that is the only time I felt actual searing pain in my abdomin
I was so happy to be awake with the surgery over that I didn't care.

When they moved me up to my bed on the surgical floor, they noticed something was wrong with the pump and replaced it. (Since I didn't know how was supposed to feel, I didn't mention any problems.) Once they had changed the unit, I used the button occassionally and had very good pain control.

I also had suppositories and little tiny pills which I was told were for pain -- along with shots into my abdomin which I was told were to control swelling.

Early the next morning I was told I hadn't used much morphine at all, so I asked them to disconnect it. I had already got the catheter removed and was on a mission that day to get myself de-tubed ASAP.

But I liked it and it seemed to work fine. I also had no trouble sleeping .... except for being checked (blood pressure, oxegyn level etc.) every two hours by the nurses the first night. I appreciated the checks since it meant that my condition was being closely monitored.

I also thought the nurses were wonderful and the care was good -- although I could see they were very busy. Fortunately, I didn't require a great deal of care.

Keep well,
IslandScribe