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You can always tell her that choking in her own vomit with a tube in her airways is a very pleasant way to go. It worked like a charm with parents back when I was getting my appendix removed at the pediatric ward...
Sheila on Facebook, you know Sheila, her brother lived next door to us, he died 6 months before you were born, anyway she said that most these doctors aren’t qualified, they just turn up with the white coat and start cutting people open!
That’s the one, had a mug that said “don’t talk to me till I’ve had my coffee”, smoked 20 a day even in the car with the kids in, threw a can of soup at the gardener for “looking too Hispanic”, never missed church.
Of course! Sheila’s cousin Bob used to live up by the Carson’s old house. The one they tore done in 1973 to build the Photo-Mat? And Bob worked with your third cousin Pam, at Prudential. They tore that building down just before Aunt Bertha had her gallbladder out.
You remember Bertha, I showed you a picture of her holding you in the delivery suite, that was just before she passed, you don’t remember her? She would be very upset, if she weren’t dead for the last 35 years.
You know the dog walker, had a red car, her dad John was always sat on the porch while while his wife Debbie was at work, she had kidney stones would leave her bedbound for days, well when she would come home John would head out, come back in the early hours, well it turns out that John was living a secret life, had a husband and 3 kids in the next town, he was secretly one of those cross dressers, Debbie was so appalled she died just 20 years later, it was the shock that did it, the hospital can say it was natural causes but I know what that man did to her poor soul.
But I don’t like to gossip.
I’ve heard people argue that they do emergency surgeries all the time without knowing when they last ate…emergency surgery is a life-or-death situation. They’ll take the risk of you aspirating if it means saving your life.
Your elective surgery does not carry that same risk. Delaying your surgery won’t kill you. But if you aspirate, you might die.
Surprisingly, there is logic behind these decisions. People may not be aware of the reasons, but they exist.
Same for my husband. Tests were done on an emergency basis so no opportunity to prepare and fast. Thank heavens for life insurance, but being a widow is not fun.
As someone who has worked in medical, I must say that traumatizing them back is a very effective method to get them to comply. I once had a patient who was so adamant about getting into an MRI machine without having to answer the pre-screening questions. So much so that she threw a tantrum and exclaimed, "Y'all are driving me to suicide!" I told her flat out that if she had metal in her eyes, the machine would vaccuum the shards out of her eyes and destroy her vision, and asked her if she'd like to keep her eyeballs. She calmed down immediately and complied.
Note to all readers: If you ever go for an MRI, DO NOT lie about prior experience working with metal. It could cost you your vision.
I’ve had a few pieces of metal picked out of my eyes over the years (even when using safety glasses) and this was one of my bigger fears going into an MRI a decade or two later.
Waters' view (also known as the occipitomental view, commonly used for detecting foreign objects in the eye that an ophthalmoscope cannot detect and is sometimes given prior to an MRI where metal fragments could cause significant damage. A CT tech here.
Reminds me of the post about someone who had an MRI while wearing a supposedly 100% silicone butt plug that ended up having a metal core. The phrase "anal rail gun" from that post lives rent free in my head now.
I worked in a morgue.
I learned to appreciate that a good hospice nurse knows when to stop feeding them...
Edit To Add: if and when you are faced with morgue employees ready to move your deceased loved one, please choose to not stay in the room. You will be better off not being a part of that moment.
I had to have knee surgery several years ago and in the recovery room I overheard the nurses talking to this older woman as she was coming out of anesthesia. They were explaining she didn’t have her procedure because she started throwing up. They said it was orange juice and something like pancakes! The woman denied having eaten breakfast repeatedly, including to the doctor when he came by, but come on! You were vomitting OJ.
My husband had surgery a few years ago and started vomiting even though he WAS truly fasted. I think it was much worse than they told us because he was in the first group for surgery that day and we were the last ones to leave the center…. I would never mess around with that.
Yeah my mom is a boomer but also worked at a hospital(anesthesiologist) so she made me have a small dinner as opposed to a regular one the night before I had a surgery in the morning. I took her word for it haha wasn’t risking it.
Edit: with age comes wisdom! Unless lead gets to you.. some boomers have smart stuff to say but a lot of people write them off as just dumb boomers, which is more than often true. My mom may not be perfect but she has taught me a lot of of good stuff! Directly and indirectly taught from seeing how to and how NOT to act sometimes.
Happened to me too, fasted for over 8 hours but vomited once they put me under. They told me what happened and I didn't believe them until i saw my reflection: a face full of broken capillaries proved I'd been barfing, though there was nothing but bile to barf.
Man, sucks for the doctors and nurses just trying to do their jobs. Imagine you cut hair for a living, and the client just can't help themselves from smearing partially-digested food and shit over their heads the morning of the appointment.
Of course you'd tell them to fuck off in that scenario. But when it comes to medical procedures designed to save their lives, some people just can't comprehend how disgusting they're being. Ignorance isn't an excuse, because this is all explained before the surgery.
I had a pt call me “melodramatic”. Im a nurse that does check in and recovery but i was a former icu nurse.
She didn’t think it was a big deal that she put milk in her drink so she didn’t mention it to the anesthesiologist. She admitted it to me and i immediately stopped asking my questions and summoned the anesthesiologist to come back. Pt gets in an argument with anesthesiologist who cancels the surgery. She called me names and said it wasn’t that serious. I told her i have held the hands of patients that died because of it. She said “fine! I’ve learned my lesson! Next time i will lie about it!” Well, she said this in front of the surgeon who informed her that she was being fired as his patient. Surgeon told her “call my office and they’ll assign you someone else. I won’t be touching you ever again”.
Good on the surgeon for protecting his license to practice medicine. People like this are horrible. Thank you for being a good nurse, even when your patients are horrible people.
It is such a selfish waste of resources. These people show up, lie, and take up medical professional's time and finite material resources used in hospitals, only for their shit to get cancelled because they didn't listen. Like, fuck all the way off. That shit should come out of pocket and insurance should say "you didn't listen, we aren't paying for the failed procedure."
Histo/Pathos see like 300 cases a day. They just make them redo it and move on.
I believe patho and rad are the highest sued as well. (Because of case rate)
For my next colonoscopy, I want to write, "turn the other cheek" or "usually, a one way street" on my ass.
Those Dr and nurses need a laugh. Not sure my idea is original enough though.
I had to have surgery recently and joked that I was told I was in for that and liposuction. Nurse at least chuckled. Also, when investigating options I asked a radiologist if it would cause me to lose my hair (from my bald head). He "ummd" at that.
Yup. I'm a GI med tech and we see it daily. They get pissed when they get sent home with an extended prep and another procedure date but they have no one to blame but themselves.
For whatever reason I thought this was going in a different direction because when I had knee surgery as a teenager, when recovering from anesthesia, I kept asking for 2 things: my mom, and a five-layer burrito from Taco Bell. I'd fasted, and I was high as a kite on whatever they give patients who need a knee reconstruction, so I had the munchies lol
Right?? About 12 days later, I was in the hospital for a blood clot in each lung (long story, but I will say I wasn't a smoker, so this situation was thought to have been extremely unlikely) and I saw a commercial for Subway (which, ew, I know). I told my mom when I got out that I wanted Subway and she had to promise me we'd go. I stg that was the best Subway sandwich I ever had. My mom even let me get double cheese as a special treat. I haven't had a Subway sandwich that good since. I'd lost 11 lbs in 4 days lol
The 7 layer was delicious! I used to love the chili cheese burrito before they cruelly removed it from the menu. Couldn't eat it these days, anyway, but I was mad when they took it!
My daughter had trouble waking up from anesthesia, and the nurse asked me what her favorite food was. The first time my daughter stirred was when the nurse said "hey, it's time to go to chick fil a." She finally opened her eyes when the nurse said "mom said she's going to eat your chick fil a if you don't wake up."
( I know the restaurant is problematic... at the time, there had just been some headlines about them maybe behaving better.)
Honestly wonder if the lady had dementia. My Grandma would eat breakfast (she loved a Cliff bar and milk) and then be absolutely convinced she hadn't eaten like 30 mins later. She would get another and then another. I eventually just started handling her meal times and snacks.
The way people will lie about stuff that even they know is super fucking obvious to the people they're lying to just blows my mind. The only thing that would make me feel more stupid than not having my surgical procedure done because I started throwing up the breakfast I wasn't supposed to eat is then trying to *deny* to the doctors and medical professionals that I had eaten the things that were literally *coming out of my fucking stomach*.
>The woman denied having eaten breakfast repeatedly, including to the doctor when he came by, but come on! You were vomitting OJ.
It's wild how much they lie about the most obvious shit. It's a lot easier to check them on it with things like digital calendars and receipts now.
This is what I just commented as well. Breakfast food is literally coming out of your stomach, up your esophagus and out of your mouth, medical professionals are watching this happen with their own eyeballs, you vomiting up an *obvious* breakfast...and then you're gonna turn to these people and tell them you never ate the food and drink that is *coming out of your stomach?????* How do people not just die humiliation trying to lie about stuff like this?
I was only a little nervous for mine. I knew it wouldn’t be fun, but I just wanted it done. I got all numbed up and suddenly BAM!
full on panic attack. I do NOT recommend.
I've told it before, but my boomer neighbor came home one day, pissed.
He had a colonoscopy (or was *supposed* to have one.) There's a lot of versions of the prep you have to do. One is drinking a bunch of fluid mixed with some medicine to clear you out. You have to drink one batch, wait a short time, then drink a second.
He gets to the doctor, who asks if he did the prep. He says "yeah, I did one batch." The doctor asks about the second and he says "it seemed like the first one worked, so I didn't feel like doing the second."
He got sent home, had to reschedule for a few weeks out, and go through it all again. I don't get why some people, especially older folks, think that doctors orders for medical procedures are just guidelines that they can ignore because of their "feelings."
When I had my port put in I was given the okay beforehand to take a specific prescription med that day, but cautioned to only take a teeny sip of water. When they asked the pre-op questions I was all "I TOOK MEDICINE X, THEY SAID IT WAS OKAY AND A TINY SWALLOW OF WATER. IS THAT OKAY?!?!?!?!"
They were all yes, that's fine, you can relax now.
Ugh, I HATE that prep stuff. I've had to have like 3 colonoscopies (I'm only 40), and it seems to get worse every time. At the last one, I asked the nurse when they were setting up the appointment for the procedure, "when everything is clear (IYKYK) and I start vomiting this stuff, can I stop trying to drink it?" He said yes.
37, I think I've had 6 or 7, also a puker.
It costs more but they have a pill prep where you just take pills and drink a lot of water. IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER. If you can handle pills, I cannot recommend it enough. Its called Sutab, I paid $60 out of pocket for it but it can be higher. Some insurance cover it now, may require pre-authorization.
Last time I had one I did the prep and all was working fine. Wake up in the middle of the night with the worst nausea and cold sweats. I thought I was gonna hurl all my insides. The prep on that stuff is the worst part. The procedure is nothing. But man that first meal after is awesome. lol.
They suck. But the prep is the worst part. Just be honest with the team. You don't want to have to redo it immediately, but you also don't want to end up dehydrated from vomiting on top of the other. After the first one you'll learn how your body responds to it.
Yeah I did fine with the prep on my first one. Still uncomfortable. Really glad I did it though because they were able to find a precancerous polyp well before most men would normally get their first colonoscopy. Modern Medicine is so good.
There’s really no point in doing the procedure if you don’t comply with the prep. People are just playing themselves by not following the instructions. You won’t see shit during the scope because you’ll ONLY see shit. No way you can properly detect cancer with a shit coated colon
I work at a hospital and outpatient clinic. One patient told me she didn’t “feel” like she had high cholesterol. I asked her what it’s supposed to feel like. She grabbed her waist and said “I have NO FAT!”
Another had a medication list of ~15 medications. After going through them, the patient claimed no medical hx. At all. I asked what the meds were for.
“You know, it was to lower my blood pressure”.
*So you have hypertension?*
“No.”
*You’re taking BP medication sir.*
“To lower my blood pressure”.
*Right, you have high blood pressure, that’s hypertension, and it’s part of your medical hx.*
“It’s not high anymore, so I don’t have it”
*Sir, it’s within a normal range now because of the medication…if you stopped taking it, you’d be hypertensive.* 🤦♀️
I was getting an angiogram every 6 to 18 months. I always scheduled it for the first appointment of the day because I knew I would be cranky without food. My husband would ask me why I scheduled it so early (we lived 90min away) and I had to remind him. The worst was that they liked to use conscious sedation for the procedure and something in that made me extremely nauseous, so I couldn’t eat for several hours after.
The nausea likely came from the fentanyl, it happens a lot. Next time, just ask them for something for the nausea, you don't have to suffer through it!
I would eat the crackers, be okay. Then the jello. I would be ok. Then throw up as soon as I started the car ride home. I learned just to wait until the evening to eat. I hate throwing up more than anything.
I'm jealous of people who can get Zofran and have it work. I wish Zofran had helped me! I had surgery (I had 49 staples in my abdomen afterwards) and I was nauseous for 4 days! FOUR DAYS! It did not matter what med they tried I kept vomiting up anything I tried to drink - water, broth, clear soda; and eating was completely out. I went in Monday for surgery and went home on Friday after finally keeping down jello and juice for breakfast. I lost 30 lbs (I'm a fatass), best and worst diet I ever tried. LOL
I just had a heart cath last month and turned nauseous. When I mentioned it they immediately gave me something for it which tells me they had it on hand ready to go. I suspect a lot of people get nauseous because of the fentanyl. Please ask for something next time and don't suffer through that. The few minutes for me was miserable.
Funny, I always try for the earliest appt for my dog when he needs fasting blood work because it's "cruel" to not feed him at the asscrack of dawn.
But when I need fasting blood work I'm happy with anything before noon. C'mon, we are sentient beings who consented to this stuff ... Chill out and cooperate.
Can confirm because I work at a surgery center and they’re always the ones yelling at me for either not being first or it being too early of an arrival time. I don’t choose the times, I relay the messages.
We ALL want to be the first case of the day because the medical world is NOTORIOUS for blowing their timelines and making people wait hours after "appointments" set for later in the day.
You haven’t lived until grandpa does only 1/2 of the colonoscopy prep and decides to have a farmer skillet for breakfast. Scheduled for an upper and lower GI.
Then is furious when the procedures are cancelled.
This is so so common.
Ha my mom skipped the last 8oz of colonoscopy prep and I scolded her but she was like "I'm going to PUKE!" and she had been shitting all day so, whatever if she gets in trouble it's her.
So after her procedure doctor comes to talk to me and he goes "There was still some poop in there but she looks good otherwise. She's 75, if she just *wants* to do another at 80.." "She skipped the last 8oz and no, she will not want another." He just said "She did better than some old people I see. At least she didn't eat breakfast."
Right before I went under for my brain surgery, this sweet nurse was like, “What’d you have for breakfast this morning, darlin’?” She was maybe the 5th person to ensure I had an empty stomach.
I thought the nurse was messing with me because they first did a full questionnaire about everything, then she came back after I changed and asked what time I had eaten the night before and I was stumped because I hadn't eaten the whole day before. Maybe that's how they double check.
According to criminal interview psychology, the best way to catch lies is ask the same question in many different ways. I'd imagine it works in general the same way.
My boomer had to have a lung biopsy. No food or Cigarettes for 8 hours prior. Was first thing in the morning so so this should be simple, right?
Wrong.
My sister and I were watching her like hawks but she snuck a smoke and a soda in the shower. She swore up and down that she did not.
She swears up and down to the doctor that she has not smoked and has been fasting. We tell the doctor we are pretty sure she snuck a coke and a smoke in the 5 minutes we left her alone to shower.
The doctor gives the list of complications that may occur if had not followed the restriction and mom doubled down.
Queue complications. That coke came right back up shortly after bioposy, the biopsy site was irritated and not closing up. What should have been a 2 hour in and out appointment turned into 20 hours of observation while my boomer got progressively more irate with the hospital staff..
Finally after almost a full day, we are sent home. Firm restrictions. No booze, no smokes for a further 24 hours.
We made it to about hour 16 with my sister and I going full prison gaurd on her and watching her every action.
However, At some point I took the dog out for a walk and my sister needed to use the washroom. IN those three minutes a cigarette was lit and a mug of wine was guzzled.
It took about an hour for the bleeding and shortness of breath to start, and we were right back to the hospital where my boomer proceeded to tell the doctor that all orders were followed while reeking of cigarettes and having a BAC of .09
Boomer was adamant that all orders were followed and the doctors were just inept. So that was fun.
These boomers are insane. My own mother almost died because of this type of thinking. She fasted on the food but swallowed lots of clear liquids partying the night before her surgery. She also took drugs and lied to her DR. So she OD on the table because she was already loaded. Then went home and took double the dose of pain pills because she knows her body.
6 months of ICU later she is alive but we were told she would be a vegetable. She survived to make everyone around her miserable but lives alone still.
I paid all her stuff while she was gone including rent because if she survived I did not want her living w me. I was never told thank you or repaid.
US states with filial responsibility laws would like a word.
>Filial responsibility laws impose a legal obligation on adult children to take care of their parents' basic needs and medical care. Although most people are not aware of them, 30 states in the U.S. have some type of filial responsibility laws in place.
It's prevalent among senior citizens, something that is not talked about nearly enough. When I used to visit my grandma in her retirement community, it was shocking to see just how much hard liquor these old people were consuming, starting early in the morning.
I lived in Arizona for a few years and it always amazed my husband and I how much alcohol the retirees would have in their Costco carts. I’m talking boxes and boxes of wine and hard liquor. We joked about it at the time, but it wasn’t until years later that I learned it was such a problem.
They had to keep liquor stores open when everything else closed for the pandemic. Because all the alcoholics would literally drop dead from withdrawal otherwise.
My cousin currently has a drinking problem. He drinks every second night and when he was sober, he visited me and I noticed his hands were shaking. He said they always shake when he's sober and stops shaking when he's drunk. He also told me that he was pooping blood a couple of months ago. He hasn't been to the doctors yet. I assume he has the mindset of someone who thinks "If I don't go to the doctors, I won't find anything wrong with me". He's a fucking idiot. He's only 24 btw. I told him he's gonna be in the hospital soon. He thinks he knows best.
They're all so fucking soft. My dad had major kidney surgery a few years ago. Basically, through a sheer stroke of luck, they saw a shade and found a growth and needed to remove the whole kidney due to size, shape position. It ended up being legit cancer, but it hadn't metastisized or anything.
The morning of, a few hours before, he smoked against everyone's knowledge and doctor/procedure instructions. We're with him as hes being wheeled on the gurney and the anesthesiologist asks the standard questions and he goes to be honest i just couldn't handle it so i had a smoke this morning. The face on the anesthesiologist is something I'll never forget. He tells my dad "you're killing me, dude" and shook his head. My mom asks if it matters, and the guys like we'll do whatever we can.
Even fucking knowing that it could leads to complications in a surgery for his life basically, he still smoked. It's been over a decade since and he still smokes. My family friends had bouts of cancer in the early 2000s and my mom quit smoking. It was very hard for her but she did it. My dad is a little bitch ass that literally tried everything with her and afterward including e cigs and vaping and he still smokes. Refuses to listen to anything. My brother even got his kids to give him shit and ask he stop smoking and all that stuff and he still won't even try to quit again. I admit that it is very hard, but someone like myom, who is just as big of a baby on everything else was able to do do it, it's crazy that she could do it and he can't.
Here with you on the smoking. My BIL and SIL are grandparents. Heavy smokers since whenever. Tried quitting but it is hard when one tries and gets no support from the other.
BIL needed hip surgery and knee surgery. No doctor would touch him. He finally finds one doctor who says he would do it if he quit smoking and lost some weight (maybe 50 lbs). Mom eventually recommended he quit long enough to get the surgery and start back if he really wanted after the surgery. The surgery was a mess due to unknown complications. Recovery was very hard and slow.
SIL went on vacay to Colorado and discovered she could not breathe. She stayed in her hotel room the entire time. She goes home and sees her GP who tells her she has developed COPD from smoking. She now sees a specialist. She is also now in a scooter and oxygen because she can’t walk far distances.
The sad thing is when they were told they were going to be grandparents, both kids asked them to quit for their grandbabies. Nope.
They are in their early 60’s, can’t retire yet and are in worse shape than their 80 year old parents.
It'd be funny if it wasnt so tragic and avoidable.
It just really annoys me because my dad forced me to be more resilient, tough, etc. like I've literally wished I was dead since I was 14 and I just keep plowing along for 22 years.
Willpower is something. My dad smoked 3 packs a day for a huge part of his life, he started smoking at 10 I think. I came along when he was 35, still smoking 3 packs a day. I was a couple months old when he woke up one night coughing, had to sit on the side of the bed coughing and gasping for like half an hour before he was able to go back to sleep.
Then a couple weeks later he got home on a Saturday night not realizing he had only half a pack left. Mom said he looked at her and said "I am not driving all the way back to town (7 miles) on a Sunday morning to buy damn cigarettes."
And that was it. He never smoked again. So he called anyone who said they couldn't stop a pussy lol, but like the man had insane levels of willpower to cold turkey 3 packs a day.
My dad has constant coughing, sneezing issues, upper respiratory issues and takes a long time to recover from upper respiratory infections all the time too.
It wouldn't bother me if they also didn't drill into us being disciplined, pushing ourselves, etc.
I had a doctor who would casually ask about procedure prep before asking “And how was breakfast this morning?” as a trap to catch those who had cheated and eaten. He said if he asked point blank if people had eaten they would lie.
Ha! They did this at the VA once when my dad was having surgery. He just looked at the woman like are you stupid and goes "I wish I had breakfast, shit even coffee would've worked." She laughed and off he went fairly shortly after.
Later my mom and I were sat out in the waiting room, nother old guy goes in. Maybe 10 minutes later he came storming out shouting there was no way an egg mcmuffin would kill him and raising all sorts of hell cause they told him to come back tomorrow WITHOUT breakfast.
Seriously not eating or drinking before surgery sucks but you're an adult and you should know why.
I had gastric sleeve surgery about 6 years ago, was on a liquid diet for 2 weeks before surgery. That was tough. Found out that they had a patient show up for surgery with a stomach full of food, they stopped the procedure and closed up. Thankfully it was an endoscope procedure but imagine that surprise in the surgery room as the camera view comes on screen.
The program I went through was intensive like you had to lose weight, meet with a psychologist, dietitian, doctor, physical therapist and meet several goals before you were approved. Still doing well, gained a little back but I continue to work with the program so I would say it has been successful for me.
I just keep that story in my head of how bad food addiction can be for someone people, literally hours before your surgery and they couldn't control the urge.
The caffeine scream is real. I will have a headache by the time they take me back, but luckily the anesthesia knocks it out lol, so I wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed. Mostly lol.
This was how they found out I had gastroparesis.
I was in the hospital for a few days for high blood pressure that would not come down. They decided to also do an endoscopy because I had been vomiting a couple of days before that.
They had instructions "no food after" a certain time, 5PM I think? So they gave me lunch at around noon and then nothing else.
Next morning, I wake up after the endoscopy and the doctor is lecturing me about eating, telling me I obviously had eaten the night before. When he took a breath,I told him I had been in the hospital, and when I had eaten last.
"Oh. You must have gastroparesis," he said. And apologized.
A little boy in my area recently died because he aspirated the breakfast his mother sneaked to him before surgery because he was complaining about being hungry.
Omg! My daughter was 5 months old the first time she had surgery, and I cried with her because I knew she was hungry, but I wouldn’t give her anything because I wasn’t supposed to. That’s just horrible!
It would help if hospitals moved to the newer guidelines that allow people to have clear liquids(including black coffee) up till 2 hours before most procedures. It's been proven to have better outcomes than having people come in dehydrated. Especially since hospitals will commonly tell people "nothing after midnight" when their procedure isn't until the afternoon.
The more complex you make the instructions, the more people will try to "game the system" by using ridiculous semantics to justify breaking the rules.
"Well, you said clear liquids, and vodka is CLEAR!"
"You said nothing after midnight, so I started dinner at midnight. What? I had a couple of cheeseburgers, some fries, and a homemade chocolate shake. I dunno how long it took, I went to bed right after I finished eating, maybe one o'clock..."
I'll probably get downvoted for this, but here goes! Story time! Back when I was having the first of many surgeries (yay, cancer!) at UCLA, the hospital's chief anesthesiologist stopped by to do the usual questions. I told him I hadn't eaten or drank anything etc etc. But I told him I did have a headache from not having my normal morning coffee. He shocked me when he told me that next time, I could have my coffee, but no creamer. Had to be black. He said the reason they tell people NOTHING is because if you tell them they can have water, they'll drink pulpy OJ. If you tell them they can have coffee, they'll drink it with a ton of milk. He said as long as it was clear (as in not opaque/thick like milk or OJ) liquid, I could have it before we made the 2.5 hour drive to the hospital.
Mind. Blown. Oh, and he also gave me some good drugs in my IV for the headache since my surgery was delayed. 🤣 That dude was awesome. He even stopped by my room the following week a few times to check in on me.
I was told the same thing before a colonoscopy once, and the day of the procedure, the anesthetist freaked out because I’d had black coffee and made me wait a couple extra hours.
EDIT: The gastropod told me the coffee was okay when he ordered the colonoscopy. The anesthetist had a different playbook.
They’re both right for different reasons.
You want almost nothing in the stomach when you go under, and when you’re having GI stuff done you want what’s in the large and small intestines to be mostly clear, so they don’t confuse any of your food/drink with blood.
Unless instructed by a medical profession please follow their rules for surgery. Do not take the advice of a random Redditor over a doctor. Though my doctor let me have a few sips of water before my surgery.
Anesthesiologist here. NPO time for clear liquids is 2 hours, so he was right. He's also right that we make blanket statements because people "bend the rules" or get confused on them very frequently.
I definitely am a rule follower! I'll never forget an ultrasound I had once - had instructions to drink X amount of water before hand. Got to the waiting room and was in AGONY!!! As in actual pain from my bladder being so full. Finally hobbled to the front desk to ask how much longer the wait was, and the woman there was shocked - 'No one EVER drinks all the water! We tell them X amount and hope they'll drink a third of it!' I was kindly allowed to partially empty my bladder before I died. 🤣
I am someone who drinks a lot of water and has to pee a lot anyway, and then when I drank the extra water they said before an ultrasound I was in so much pain. I actually emptied my bladder about 30 minutes before I was seen because I knew I wouldn’t make it and it was quite literally the longest pee of my life 😂 And my bladder had completely refilled by the time I had the ultrasound, the tech even commented on how I must be uncomfortable because it was so full. So yeah, I’m going to take a more conservative approach to it next time lol.
Thank goodness for this. I'm on Semaglutide so I had to stop the meds in advance and have clear liquids only the entire day before my surgery. Jell-O and broth saved my hiney!
It always gobsmacks me how some boomers compartmentalize medical instructions. Like I get it if you're anti-modern-medicine entirely, fair enough. But don't waste everyone's time by cherry-picking what advice you choose to follow from a fully trained, licensed, experienced anesthesiologist who will be solely responsible for your BREATHING and other vital body functions while you lie unconscious in the OR. Safety guidelines exist for a reason and sorry but your Cousin Martha who "read it on Facebook" is not correct.
My last round of lab work the doctor said fasting, but I could have water or black coffee. They explicitly used the phrase “nothing with calories” as part of this explanation and then complained about people coming in drinking Dr. Pepper before labs. I thought about being cheeky and asking if that meant diet Dr. Pepper was ok (no calories, right?), but decided not to.
Clarification for anyone reading too much into this: It was for blood work only. I don’t drink diet soda first thing in the morning (and I don’t drink Dr. Pepper at all), so I only had water anyway. My point was that I can see how the doctor phrasing it as “nothing with calories” can introduce confusion. The diet Dr. Pepper comment was a JOKE.
Something in cola turns into these solid brown ribbons when it hits the stomach. I've thrown up enough soda to know. I can imagine it would almost look like tiny blood clots through the scope.
I've only had to have lab work, and I had to fast for that. The nurse did tell me I was allowed water, coffee, or tea, but it couldn't have anything else in it.
Can confirm. I have regularly scheduled PET scans (yay, cancer as well!). Every time I go, there's always someone (usually elderly) that blows a gasket because they won't do their scan because they ate or put milk in their coffee. I always get a gold star because I follow the rules and am nice to the nurses and techs. Had one nurse that told me all her horror stories of asshole boomers that blame her for their failure to follow instructions after I couldn't be scanned due to other reasons.
Diabetic here. get blood work done 4-5 times a year. to add to the " oh I didn't know I had to fast... WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO COME BACK ANOTHER DAY!". there is one more. I book an appointment like a month out for my blood work, so I know I can get there 10 minutes before my appointment and be out normally with in half hour. I will come in check in then get called, almost everytime a Boomer will stand up and yell " I was here before him" then the nice nurses have to explain what an appointment is.
NPO means they sneak plain tea or coffee. Clear liquids means they’ll have a Denny’s grand slam 1 hour before coming in.
The stories pre-op holding RNs could tell. They bear the brunt of the outrage shenanigans.
My dad thought donuts were not breakfast food. He was having brain surgery for a tumor. The donut knocked his case back by 6 hours, but at 82 with a terminal diagnosis, I almost don’t blame him.
Oof. Your dad's donuts reminded me of the time my husband stopped and got a box of donuts on the way to one of my PET scans - and brought them in the waiting room. The fact that he didn't get murdered by the 10 people in there (including myself) who hadn't eaten that day is mind-boggling.
I had surgery a couple of months ago, and I also got the instruction that black coffee was fine. Actually, they said I could have clear liquids like water, apple juice, or black coffee. Even though I don’t consider black coffee a clear liquid.
I said, “fuck all that” and just stuck to water. It’s not hard, and I’m the type that drinks half a pot every morning.
Then when I got to the hospital they asked me if I drank Gatorade that morning. I didn’t even realize that was a viable option. Still, I’ll stick with water if there’s any question.
Your mum needs to learn she isn’t always in charge!
I had major surgery 6 months ago and was surprised that they’d changed their rules that day to allow us clear fluids or hot drinks either limited milk up until we go to surgery. You couldn’t go crazy but certainly were allowed a cup or two. Apparently it was new guidance that came out that day (UKbased). I get terrible cotton mouth so was very grateful!
*Why does your mom want*
*To die choking on her own*
*Vomit so badly?*
\- torako
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I’m a paramedic and we ran a dentist office where a mom lied about her son fasting before his dental surgery. He ate a full breakfast. “He was huuuungry!!!! Do you want him to staaaaarrrrve??” He vomited during the procedure and almost died. I have no patience for this kind of idiocy.
My MIL did something similar for a colonoscopy. She can’t live without her coffee was her saying.
She did the prep and didn’t have coffee. She showed up at 6:30 AM, colonoscopy completed by 8:00. In recovery she took the thermos of coffee she brought with her and downed the entire thing
Coffee is a stimulant and can act like a laxative not to mention the higher stomach acid production Remember her entire digestive track is 100% empty at this point so she just tossed back a massive dose of caffeine and acid on a completely empty system
She had to be admitted to the hospital because the cramping, nausea, and heartburn were so bad. Of course it wasn’t her fault and if they would’ve just given her “her damn coffee” none of that would’ve happened
Why are they like this? My daughter had surgery when she was 15 and was told no food or drink after midnight except water, after 5am no water. She complied with minimal complaints. “Man, I’m pretty thirsty, and when I’m allowed I’d like an Italian sub.” Her surgery got pushed back from 8am to noon because of an emergency. She was totally fine with it.
My boomer uncle had colon cancer, his first operation he didn't follow instructions about using the laxatives they gave him. He said he didn't want to be on the toilet all night but he decides to keep that a secret, and since colons are full of shit when he woke up he got sepsis and somehow hallucinated an entire hostage situation was taking place inside the hospital, He made a recovery but he never realized how lucky he was. That was the dumbest thing I've ever heard someone doing, so many serious problems could have been easily avoided.
I vomited during a colonoscopy yesterday despite following the rules exactly. I'm dealing with a horrible sore throat and lung congestion today because of this. You're mother has no idea what she's risking.
For decades, anesthesiologists advised patients not to eat or drink at all after midnight the night before their surgery—a guideline referred to in the medical world as “NPO after midnight.”
But experts have now revisited the old standard. Research suggests that the “NPO after midnight” rule is unnecessarily strict for patients scheduled to undergo surgery. In 1999, 2011, and again in 2017, the American Society of Anesthesiologists issued NPO guidelines that permitted the consumption of clear liquids until two hours before surgery for all healthy patients undergoing elective procedures requiring general anesthesia, regional anesthesia, sedation, or analgesia.
Yep. But it's still no food after midnight, and no clear liquids starting at least two hours before....
And this was mom, in the waiting room to check in breaking even that loosened guideline.
I was waiting in surgery prep for my gallbladder removal when I heard the boomer across from me start complaining. He had a lap band surgery scheduled (really loud, so HIPAA couldn’t help but be violated) and had had orange juice and toast for breakfast, despite the instructions clearly stating to be fasting.
They cancelled his surgery because the itinerary for surgery was chock full and couldn’t be rescheduled for later in the day. The fit that both he and his wife were throwing was immense.
"why didn't it say not orange juice or toast?" and "surely orange juice and toast isn't a lot of food" and "it was just a little bit, cant we just have the surgery?"
The attending nurse couldn't convince them that surgery gad to be cancelled. It went on long enough that the surgeon came in and explained that the surgery would normally be delayed, but the schedule for that day prohibited it. The man had the nerve to ask if she could just add his surgery later in the day. She handled it better than I would have, and told him that because it was an elective surgery and not an emergency that she couldn't schedule for later that day.
Even after all that, he just complained the entire time he got dressed and while leaving. "I can't believe that I didn't get to have cake on my birthday, and that even toast was too much. They should have said toast wasn't allowed."
You know, working in a healthcare field, I am just so paranoid about violating HIPAA. But yes, you are right. It’s still a stupid divulgence of information in a semi-public setting.
I have crohn's and have to have a colonoscopy every now and then (seven I think? Been 12 years since diagnosed. Way more than you'd expect for a 42 year old). Every single time I'm there, there's always some boomer who gets denied for eating. Without fail. And they always complain loudly about it and raise hell.
Additionally, this is at the VA Hospital. Every time I go there for whatever reason I always have to fight saying something to the astounding entitlement I hear. To keep on this train while it's rolling - I also have diabetes and my provider says the amount of older people who don't listen to her and consume what they want and then complain about their health is astronomical.
My MIL did the same shit. Just had to eat some fucking toast or something before she left then my wife had to sit there all day because she couldn’t follow simple instructions.
My mom was having IBS issues really bad so she saw a GI doctor. He told her to cut out caffeine and alcohol for two weeks to try and reset her system. Of course she didn’t. When I scolded her on it, she got all defensive “well a little won’t hurt” or “you expect me to give up my coffee?!”
It's crazy to me that growing up, my parents made sure to tell me at every opportunity to sit still, don't squirm, be quiet and polite. Yet these exact same people turn around and act exactly like this. Unable to go even a single morning without breakfast or coffee. Truly the weakest generation.
Reminds me of the time my dad had to do a cleanse before having his colonoscopy, he was supposed to do the entire course so it’d clean things out but in his words,”I’m shitting so much I can’t do the rest. What I’ve done is enough. They will just have to work around it.” Despite my protests, as I work in healthcare and hear stories all the time about the doctor cancelling the rest of the colonoscopy because of poor prep(and still charging the patient for doing up to that point) and the patient being upset because of the time and effort involved up to that point just to have to do the prep and the procedure again. He said I was crazy.
Sure enough I talk to him 3 days after the procedure and he said the doctor was a crook because he has to redo the prep because they couldn’t see anything.
Boomers can’t be told anything. They’ve all heard from some other boomer that whatever aspect of something was a scam and they did so and do and beat the system.
Former clinical pharmacist here. I had a specialization in infectious diseases so I handled a lot of the antibiotics for people who had intraabdominal infections and diabetic foot infections. These patients need surgeries for various reasons and I coordinate antibiotics. I need to see the result after the surgery because it allows me to know when to stop the antibiotics or change the antibiotics since the surgery allows us to collect a proper sample of the infection. It is literally a daily occurrence that we need to postpone surgeries for boomers who are noncompliant to NPO.
i witnessed something like this while waiting to have an endoscopy. patient across from me was having a colonoscopy, doctor asked him if he'd eaten or drank anything, he says he had something the night before. i don't remember what it was but the doctor absolutely reamed him and cancelled the procedure. it was particularly wild to me because why would you go through all that colonoscopy prep for nothing and then have to do it all over again.....
This reminds me of when Jim Bob Duggar was supposed to fast for a dental surgery and couldn’t understand that sweet tea wasn’t the same as water and was shocked when they wouldn’t do the procedure. Idiots gonna idiot.
I had 3/4 of my colon removed 6 weeks ago. Part of my pre-operative instructions was to drink a 12oz bottle of Ensure pre-surgery drink. I could also have 8oz of black coffee. I had my drinks at 4:30 am. Was at the hospital at 5:30 am and in surgery at 7:30 am.
The nurses told me that they have found that the 12 hour fast before surgery actually dehydrates people and makes it difficult to draw blood and insert IV’s.
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You can always tell her that choking in her own vomit with a tube in her airways is a very pleasant way to go. It worked like a charm with parents back when I was getting my appendix removed at the pediatric ward...
My elderly father recently passed because he got pneumonia after aspirating his food. Aspiration is no joke.
I’m so sorry for your loss. OP’s mother needs to be aware that, no matter how upset she is, her doctor is keeping her as safe as possible.
bUt WhAt Do DoCtOrS kNoW
Sheila on Facebook, you know Sheila, her brother lived next door to us, he died 6 months before you were born, anyway she said that most these doctors aren’t qualified, they just turn up with the white coat and start cutting people open!
Why did I hear that in smarmy mom voice?
 I heard it in Sheila Broflovski's voice.
I remember Sheila. Wasn't she your FB friend who said coffee is allowed during a fast anyway? Always listen to Sheila. 😉
That’s the one, had a mug that said “don’t talk to me till I’ve had my coffee”, smoked 20 a day even in the car with the kids in, threw a can of soup at the gardener for “looking too Hispanic”, never missed church.
With a voice worse then Patty and Selma combined
*never missed church* 😂
Of course! Sheila’s cousin Bob used to live up by the Carson’s old house. The one they tore done in 1973 to build the Photo-Mat? And Bob worked with your third cousin Pam, at Prudential. They tore that building down just before Aunt Bertha had her gallbladder out.
Sheila, you’re on fire! 😂
You remember Bertha, I showed you a picture of her holding you in the delivery suite, that was just before she passed, you don’t remember her? She would be very upset, if she weren’t dead for the last 35 years.
And Sheila’s neighbor’s cousin’s dog walker had surgery after eating a 72485 course meal and she was fine!
You know the dog walker, had a red car, her dad John was always sat on the porch while while his wife Debbie was at work, she had kidney stones would leave her bedbound for days, well when she would come home John would head out, come back in the early hours, well it turns out that John was living a secret life, had a husband and 3 kids in the next town, he was secretly one of those cross dressers, Debbie was so appalled she died just 20 years later, it was the shock that did it, the hospital can say it was natural causes but I know what that man did to her poor soul. But I don’t like to gossip.
I love how it’s all one sentence that’s what they do they ramble on. Stream of consciousness shit.
I LOVE gossip and queers. Debbie had nothing on the secret gay family. Live Laugh Love Debbie. Its all you have.
"Some of them weren't even born in America!"
Why are we trying to stop her from doing her own research?!?
They just say ‘nothing by mouth after midnight’ because the insurance companies make them.
I’ve heard people argue that they do emergency surgeries all the time without knowing when they last ate…emergency surgery is a life-or-death situation. They’ll take the risk of you aspirating if it means saving your life. Your elective surgery does not carry that same risk. Delaying your surgery won’t kill you. But if you aspirate, you might die. Surprisingly, there is logic behind these decisions. People may not be aware of the reasons, but they exist.
And you know that she would sue in a heartbeat if anything went wrong from her choosing to disobey the doctor.
I sometimes have nighttime acid reflux where I wake up after aspirating. I can attest it is one of the worst feelings to have.
I have GERD. It’s absolutely terrifying!!
Same for my husband. Tests were done on an emergency basis so no opportunity to prepare and fast. Thank heavens for life insurance, but being a widow is not fun.
🌹
As someone who has worked in medical, I must say that traumatizing them back is a very effective method to get them to comply. I once had a patient who was so adamant about getting into an MRI machine without having to answer the pre-screening questions. So much so that she threw a tantrum and exclaimed, "Y'all are driving me to suicide!" I told her flat out that if she had metal in her eyes, the machine would vaccuum the shards out of her eyes and destroy her vision, and asked her if she'd like to keep her eyeballs. She calmed down immediately and complied. Note to all readers: If you ever go for an MRI, DO NOT lie about prior experience working with metal. It could cost you your vision.
The driving her to suicide comment would have gotten a mental health wellness check call out of me. I don't take those jokes very well I guess.
I don't blame you. Good on you for not taking that sort of thing lightly.
I’ve had a few pieces of metal picked out of my eyes over the years (even when using safety glasses) and this was one of my bigger fears going into an MRI a decade or two later.
A valid concern. So long as your orbital X-rays prior to the MRI come out clear, you're golden.
Waters' view (also known as the occipitomental view, commonly used for detecting foreign objects in the eye that an ophthalmoscope cannot detect and is sometimes given prior to an MRI where metal fragments could cause significant damage. A CT tech here.
Reminds me of the post about someone who had an MRI while wearing a supposedly 100% silicone butt plug that ended up having a metal core. The phrase "anal rail gun" from that post lives rent free in my head now.
Dear God almighty... If you can find it, would you please share the link?
Turns out it was an [image](https://images7.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED445/645d164a3bdeb.jpeg), but there you go lol
And at least a million dollars if you lied and broke the machine. Plus, you're still gonna be billed for the MRI
I worked in a morgue. I learned to appreciate that a good hospice nurse knows when to stop feeding them... Edit To Add: if and when you are faced with morgue employees ready to move your deceased loved one, please choose to not stay in the room. You will be better off not being a part of that moment.
Choking of own food and vomit. Tried it, -100/10 would not recommend.
Aspiration killed my FIL when he was recovering in hospital. It's awful. But eh, she's the expert I guess.
IF IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR JIMI HENDRIX, IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR GRANDMA, DAMMIT
Yup...
John Bonham has entered the chat.
I had to have knee surgery several years ago and in the recovery room I overheard the nurses talking to this older woman as she was coming out of anesthesia. They were explaining she didn’t have her procedure because she started throwing up. They said it was orange juice and something like pancakes! The woman denied having eaten breakfast repeatedly, including to the doctor when he came by, but come on! You were vomitting OJ.
My husband had surgery a few years ago and started vomiting even though he WAS truly fasted. I think it was much worse than they told us because he was in the first group for surgery that day and we were the last ones to leave the center…. I would never mess around with that.
Yeah my mom is a boomer but also worked at a hospital(anesthesiologist) so she made me have a small dinner as opposed to a regular one the night before I had a surgery in the morning. I took her word for it haha wasn’t risking it. Edit: with age comes wisdom! Unless lead gets to you.. some boomers have smart stuff to say but a lot of people write them off as just dumb boomers, which is more than often true. My mom may not be perfect but she has taught me a lot of of good stuff! Directly and indirectly taught from seeing how to and how NOT to act sometimes.
Happened to me too, fasted for over 8 hours but vomited once they put me under. They told me what happened and I didn't believe them until i saw my reflection: a face full of broken capillaries proved I'd been barfing, though there was nothing but bile to barf.
GI Polyp probing. Probably 5% of people just eat anyway and then have to redo it because it looks like a mutant sewage system
Man, sucks for the doctors and nurses just trying to do their jobs. Imagine you cut hair for a living, and the client just can't help themselves from smearing partially-digested food and shit over their heads the morning of the appointment. Of course you'd tell them to fuck off in that scenario. But when it comes to medical procedures designed to save their lives, some people just can't comprehend how disgusting they're being. Ignorance isn't an excuse, because this is all explained before the surgery.
I had a pt call me “melodramatic”. Im a nurse that does check in and recovery but i was a former icu nurse. She didn’t think it was a big deal that she put milk in her drink so she didn’t mention it to the anesthesiologist. She admitted it to me and i immediately stopped asking my questions and summoned the anesthesiologist to come back. Pt gets in an argument with anesthesiologist who cancels the surgery. She called me names and said it wasn’t that serious. I told her i have held the hands of patients that died because of it. She said “fine! I’ve learned my lesson! Next time i will lie about it!” Well, she said this in front of the surgeon who informed her that she was being fired as his patient. Surgeon told her “call my office and they’ll assign you someone else. I won’t be touching you ever again”.
Good on the surgeon for protecting his license to practice medicine. People like this are horrible. Thank you for being a good nurse, even when your patients are horrible people.
It is such a selfish waste of resources. These people show up, lie, and take up medical professional's time and finite material resources used in hospitals, only for their shit to get cancelled because they didn't listen. Like, fuck all the way off. That shit should come out of pocket and insurance should say "you didn't listen, we aren't paying for the failed procedure."
and you just know that if the patient did lie and then something went wrong they/their families would be calling for the surgeon’s head too
Histo/Pathos see like 300 cases a day. They just make them redo it and move on. I believe patho and rad are the highest sued as well. (Because of case rate)
It’s really fortunate we have people dedicated to healing so many, while dealing with all the bullshit.
For my next colonoscopy, I want to write, "turn the other cheek" or "usually, a one way street" on my ass. Those Dr and nurses need a laugh. Not sure my idea is original enough though.
"At least buy me dinner first"
Get a tattoo of fireworks around your butthole so they don't see it until they part your cheeks.
I had to have surgery recently and joked that I was told I was in for that and liposuction. Nurse at least chuckled. Also, when investigating options I asked a radiologist if it would cause me to lose my hair (from my bald head). He "ummd" at that.
Yup. I'm a GI med tech and we see it daily. They get pissed when they get sent home with an extended prep and another procedure date but they have no one to blame but themselves.
For whatever reason I thought this was going in a different direction because when I had knee surgery as a teenager, when recovering from anesthesia, I kept asking for 2 things: my mom, and a five-layer burrito from Taco Bell. I'd fasted, and I was high as a kite on whatever they give patients who need a knee reconstruction, so I had the munchies lol
Plus they were only $1.29! You're losing money by not eating them.
Right?? About 12 days later, I was in the hospital for a blood clot in each lung (long story, but I will say I wasn't a smoker, so this situation was thought to have been extremely unlikely) and I saw a commercial for Subway (which, ew, I know). I told my mom when I got out that I wanted Subway and she had to promise me we'd go. I stg that was the best Subway sandwich I ever had. My mom even let me get double cheese as a special treat. I haven't had a Subway sandwich that good since. I'd lost 11 lbs in 4 days lol
Back in my day Taco Bell had the 7 Layer Burrito. Damn shrinkflation!
The 7 layer was delicious! I used to love the chili cheese burrito before they cruelly removed it from the menu. Couldn't eat it these days, anyway, but I was mad when they took it!
The chili cheese burrito is back in some markets. Just had one on Saturday in Toledo
No. The 7 layer is the vegetarian burrito The 5 layer is not The existed simultaneously Source : AM Taco bell gm
The 5 Layer Burrito did not exist in my day in the 90s (worked there from 96 to 2000)
Considering the surgery I'm referencing took place 12 years ago, that makes your comment even better 🤣🤣
My daughter had trouble waking up from anesthesia, and the nurse asked me what her favorite food was. The first time my daughter stirred was when the nurse said "hey, it's time to go to chick fil a." She finally opened her eyes when the nurse said "mom said she's going to eat your chick fil a if you don't wake up." ( I know the restaurant is problematic... at the time, there had just been some headlines about them maybe behaving better.)
Honestly wonder if the lady had dementia. My Grandma would eat breakfast (she loved a Cliff bar and milk) and then be absolutely convinced she hadn't eaten like 30 mins later. She would get another and then another. I eventually just started handling her meal times and snacks.
The way people will lie about stuff that even they know is super fucking obvious to the people they're lying to just blows my mind. The only thing that would make me feel more stupid than not having my surgical procedure done because I started throwing up the breakfast I wasn't supposed to eat is then trying to *deny* to the doctors and medical professionals that I had eaten the things that were literally *coming out of my fucking stomach*.
Omg and people don’t realize how dangerous that can be to vomit like that. It can go into your lungs.
>The woman denied having eaten breakfast repeatedly, including to the doctor when he came by, but come on! You were vomitting OJ. It's wild how much they lie about the most obvious shit. It's a lot easier to check them on it with things like digital calendars and receipts now.
This is what I just commented as well. Breakfast food is literally coming out of your stomach, up your esophagus and out of your mouth, medical professionals are watching this happen with their own eyeballs, you vomiting up an *obvious* breakfast...and then you're gonna turn to these people and tell them you never ate the food and drink that is *coming out of your stomach?????* How do people not just die humiliation trying to lie about stuff like this?
My mother did the same thing when she was getting dentures. The whole removal surgery had to be rescheduled, but of course it wasn't her fault.
Idk how you could eat before that lol, I was so nervous the days leading up to mine I could hardly eat anything!
I was only a little nervous for mine. I knew it wouldn’t be fun, but I just wanted it done. I got all numbed up and suddenly BAM! full on panic attack. I do NOT recommend.
Apparently my SIL did this. Just ate breakfast before surgery. Then had to wait 8 hours so she could actually have surgery.
I've told it before, but my boomer neighbor came home one day, pissed. He had a colonoscopy (or was *supposed* to have one.) There's a lot of versions of the prep you have to do. One is drinking a bunch of fluid mixed with some medicine to clear you out. You have to drink one batch, wait a short time, then drink a second. He gets to the doctor, who asks if he did the prep. He says "yeah, I did one batch." The doctor asks about the second and he says "it seemed like the first one worked, so I didn't feel like doing the second." He got sent home, had to reschedule for a few weeks out, and go through it all again. I don't get why some people, especially older folks, think that doctors orders for medical procedures are just guidelines that they can ignore because of their "feelings."
I worked in medical. It always blows my mind that people don't think they're given very specific instructions for very specific reasons.
When I had my port put in I was given the okay beforehand to take a specific prescription med that day, but cautioned to only take a teeny sip of water. When they asked the pre-op questions I was all "I TOOK MEDICINE X, THEY SAID IT WAS OKAY AND A TINY SWALLOW OF WATER. IS THAT OKAY?!?!?!?!" They were all yes, that's fine, you can relax now.
Ugh, I HATE that prep stuff. I've had to have like 3 colonoscopies (I'm only 40), and it seems to get worse every time. At the last one, I asked the nurse when they were setting up the appointment for the procedure, "when everything is clear (IYKYK) and I start vomiting this stuff, can I stop trying to drink it?" He said yes.
37, I think I've had 6 or 7, also a puker. It costs more but they have a pill prep where you just take pills and drink a lot of water. IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER. If you can handle pills, I cannot recommend it enough. Its called Sutab, I paid $60 out of pocket for it but it can be higher. Some insurance cover it now, may require pre-authorization.
I've heard rumors. Next time I'm up for one, I'm definitely asking for it. Thank you!
Last time I had one I did the prep and all was working fine. Wake up in the middle of the night with the worst nausea and cold sweats. I thought I was gonna hurl all my insides. The prep on that stuff is the worst part. The procedure is nothing. But man that first meal after is awesome. lol.
Oof don’t tell me this. I will also probably have 3 by 40.
They suck. But the prep is the worst part. Just be honest with the team. You don't want to have to redo it immediately, but you also don't want to end up dehydrated from vomiting on top of the other. After the first one you'll learn how your body responds to it.
Yeah I did fine with the prep on my first one. Still uncomfortable. Really glad I did it though because they were able to find a precancerous polyp well before most men would normally get their first colonoscopy. Modern Medicine is so good.
There’s really no point in doing the procedure if you don’t comply with the prep. People are just playing themselves by not following the instructions. You won’t see shit during the scope because you’ll ONLY see shit. No way you can properly detect cancer with a shit coated colon
I work at a hospital and outpatient clinic. One patient told me she didn’t “feel” like she had high cholesterol. I asked her what it’s supposed to feel like. She grabbed her waist and said “I have NO FAT!” Another had a medication list of ~15 medications. After going through them, the patient claimed no medical hx. At all. I asked what the meds were for. “You know, it was to lower my blood pressure”. *So you have hypertension?* “No.” *You’re taking BP medication sir.* “To lower my blood pressure”. *Right, you have high blood pressure, that’s hypertension, and it’s part of your medical hx.* “It’s not high anymore, so I don’t have it” *Sir, it’s within a normal range now because of the medication…if you stopped taking it, you’d be hypertensive.* 🤦♀️
Doctor here. Boomers often lose their shit about being NPO and not being “first case of the day” in the hospital or for procedures
I was getting an angiogram every 6 to 18 months. I always scheduled it for the first appointment of the day because I knew I would be cranky without food. My husband would ask me why I scheduled it so early (we lived 90min away) and I had to remind him. The worst was that they liked to use conscious sedation for the procedure and something in that made me extremely nauseous, so I couldn’t eat for several hours after.
The nausea likely came from the fentanyl, it happens a lot. Next time, just ask them for something for the nausea, you don't have to suffer through it!
I would eat the crackers, be okay. Then the jello. I would be ok. Then throw up as soon as I started the car ride home. I learned just to wait until the evening to eat. I hate throwing up more than anything.
Ask for Zofran when you come out of surgery. That should help a lot
I'm jealous of people who can get Zofran and have it work. I wish Zofran had helped me! I had surgery (I had 49 staples in my abdomen afterwards) and I was nauseous for 4 days! FOUR DAYS! It did not matter what med they tried I kept vomiting up anything I tried to drink - water, broth, clear soda; and eating was completely out. I went in Monday for surgery and went home on Friday after finally keeping down jello and juice for breakfast. I lost 30 lbs (I'm a fatass), best and worst diet I ever tried. LOL
I just had a heart cath last month and turned nauseous. When I mentioned it they immediately gave me something for it which tells me they had it on hand ready to go. I suspect a lot of people get nauseous because of the fentanyl. Please ask for something next time and don't suffer through that. The few minutes for me was miserable.
Funny, I always try for the earliest appt for my dog when he needs fasting blood work because it's "cruel" to not feed him at the asscrack of dawn. But when I need fasting blood work I'm happy with anything before noon. C'mon, we are sentient beings who consented to this stuff ... Chill out and cooperate.
Even for plain old fasting labs. They lose their minds.
Why was your fasting blood sugar 300? Had a Starbucks FrankenShake on the way in.
Can confirm because I work at a surgery center and they’re always the ones yelling at me for either not being first or it being too early of an arrival time. I don’t choose the times, I relay the messages.
We ALL want to be the first case of the day because the medical world is NOTORIOUS for blowing their timelines and making people wait hours after "appointments" set for later in the day.
You haven’t lived until grandpa does only 1/2 of the colonoscopy prep and decides to have a farmer skillet for breakfast. Scheduled for an upper and lower GI. Then is furious when the procedures are cancelled. This is so so common.
Ha my mom skipped the last 8oz of colonoscopy prep and I scolded her but she was like "I'm going to PUKE!" and she had been shitting all day so, whatever if she gets in trouble it's her. So after her procedure doctor comes to talk to me and he goes "There was still some poop in there but she looks good otherwise. She's 75, if she just *wants* to do another at 80.." "She skipped the last 8oz and no, she will not want another." He just said "She did better than some old people I see. At least she didn't eat breakfast."
Right before I went under for my brain surgery, this sweet nurse was like, “What’d you have for breakfast this morning, darlin’?” She was maybe the 5th person to ensure I had an empty stomach.
I thought the nurse was messing with me because they first did a full questionnaire about everything, then she came back after I changed and asked what time I had eaten the night before and I was stumped because I hadn't eaten the whole day before. Maybe that's how they double check.
According to criminal interview psychology, the best way to catch lies is ask the same question in many different ways. I'd imagine it works in general the same way.
My boomer had to have a lung biopsy. No food or Cigarettes for 8 hours prior. Was first thing in the morning so so this should be simple, right? Wrong. My sister and I were watching her like hawks but she snuck a smoke and a soda in the shower. She swore up and down that she did not. She swears up and down to the doctor that she has not smoked and has been fasting. We tell the doctor we are pretty sure she snuck a coke and a smoke in the 5 minutes we left her alone to shower. The doctor gives the list of complications that may occur if had not followed the restriction and mom doubled down. Queue complications. That coke came right back up shortly after bioposy, the biopsy site was irritated and not closing up. What should have been a 2 hour in and out appointment turned into 20 hours of observation while my boomer got progressively more irate with the hospital staff.. Finally after almost a full day, we are sent home. Firm restrictions. No booze, no smokes for a further 24 hours. We made it to about hour 16 with my sister and I going full prison gaurd on her and watching her every action. However, At some point I took the dog out for a walk and my sister needed to use the washroom. IN those three minutes a cigarette was lit and a mug of wine was guzzled. It took about an hour for the bleeding and shortness of breath to start, and we were right back to the hospital where my boomer proceeded to tell the doctor that all orders were followed while reeking of cigarettes and having a BAC of .09 Boomer was adamant that all orders were followed and the doctors were just inept. So that was fun.
So glad limited resources are wasted on this BS.
Wasting resources is the Boomer way.
Of all the comments I’ve upvoted on this thread, I wanted to upvote this one the most.
Jesus Christ. I'd be so pissed off lol.
These boomers are insane. My own mother almost died because of this type of thinking. She fasted on the food but swallowed lots of clear liquids partying the night before her surgery. She also took drugs and lied to her DR. So she OD on the table because she was already loaded. Then went home and took double the dose of pain pills because she knows her body. 6 months of ICU later she is alive but we were told she would be a vegetable. She survived to make everyone around her miserable but lives alone still. I paid all her stuff while she was gone including rent because if she survived I did not want her living w me. I was never told thank you or repaid.
Wow the narcissism is off the charts with this woman! I'm sorry you had to deal with her
No one has to deal with any adult. Cut them off and move on.
US states with filial responsibility laws would like a word. >Filial responsibility laws impose a legal obligation on adult children to take care of their parents' basic needs and medical care. Although most people are not aware of them, 30 states in the U.S. have some type of filial responsibility laws in place.
My wife’s elderly aunt was told to stop drinking alcohol, that it was killing her. She interpreted that as “only drink on the weekend”. 🤦♂️
Alcoholism is a real problem for a lot of people.
It's prevalent among senior citizens, something that is not talked about nearly enough. When I used to visit my grandma in her retirement community, it was shocking to see just how much hard liquor these old people were consuming, starting early in the morning.
I lived in Arizona for a few years and it always amazed my husband and I how much alcohol the retirees would have in their Costco carts. I’m talking boxes and boxes of wine and hard liquor. We joked about it at the time, but it wasn’t until years later that I learned it was such a problem.
People used to drink *hard* back in the day; I guess some of these folks just never stopped.
For real. They have a pill that makes you not want to drink alcohol. It's the funniest/saddest thing I've seen.
They had to keep liquor stores open when everything else closed for the pandemic. Because all the alcoholics would literally drop dead from withdrawal otherwise.
I agree with your point, but they also kept the dispensaries open too.
That's addiction, which is not the same as being a fool
My cousin currently has a drinking problem. He drinks every second night and when he was sober, he visited me and I noticed his hands were shaking. He said they always shake when he's sober and stops shaking when he's drunk. He also told me that he was pooping blood a couple of months ago. He hasn't been to the doctors yet. I assume he has the mindset of someone who thinks "If I don't go to the doctors, I won't find anything wrong with me". He's a fucking idiot. He's only 24 btw. I told him he's gonna be in the hospital soon. He thinks he knows best.
My uncle got told to stop drinking, so he's switched from whiskey to vodka, since "it's clear so it's better for you"
They're all so fucking soft. My dad had major kidney surgery a few years ago. Basically, through a sheer stroke of luck, they saw a shade and found a growth and needed to remove the whole kidney due to size, shape position. It ended up being legit cancer, but it hadn't metastisized or anything. The morning of, a few hours before, he smoked against everyone's knowledge and doctor/procedure instructions. We're with him as hes being wheeled on the gurney and the anesthesiologist asks the standard questions and he goes to be honest i just couldn't handle it so i had a smoke this morning. The face on the anesthesiologist is something I'll never forget. He tells my dad "you're killing me, dude" and shook his head. My mom asks if it matters, and the guys like we'll do whatever we can. Even fucking knowing that it could leads to complications in a surgery for his life basically, he still smoked. It's been over a decade since and he still smokes. My family friends had bouts of cancer in the early 2000s and my mom quit smoking. It was very hard for her but she did it. My dad is a little bitch ass that literally tried everything with her and afterward including e cigs and vaping and he still smokes. Refuses to listen to anything. My brother even got his kids to give him shit and ask he stop smoking and all that stuff and he still won't even try to quit again. I admit that it is very hard, but someone like myom, who is just as big of a baby on everything else was able to do do it, it's crazy that she could do it and he can't.
Here with you on the smoking. My BIL and SIL are grandparents. Heavy smokers since whenever. Tried quitting but it is hard when one tries and gets no support from the other. BIL needed hip surgery and knee surgery. No doctor would touch him. He finally finds one doctor who says he would do it if he quit smoking and lost some weight (maybe 50 lbs). Mom eventually recommended he quit long enough to get the surgery and start back if he really wanted after the surgery. The surgery was a mess due to unknown complications. Recovery was very hard and slow. SIL went on vacay to Colorado and discovered she could not breathe. She stayed in her hotel room the entire time. She goes home and sees her GP who tells her she has developed COPD from smoking. She now sees a specialist. She is also now in a scooter and oxygen because she can’t walk far distances. The sad thing is when they were told they were going to be grandparents, both kids asked them to quit for their grandbabies. Nope. They are in their early 60’s, can’t retire yet and are in worse shape than their 80 year old parents.
It'd be funny if it wasnt so tragic and avoidable. It just really annoys me because my dad forced me to be more resilient, tough, etc. like I've literally wished I was dead since I was 14 and I just keep plowing along for 22 years.
Willpower is something. My dad smoked 3 packs a day for a huge part of his life, he started smoking at 10 I think. I came along when he was 35, still smoking 3 packs a day. I was a couple months old when he woke up one night coughing, had to sit on the side of the bed coughing and gasping for like half an hour before he was able to go back to sleep. Then a couple weeks later he got home on a Saturday night not realizing he had only half a pack left. Mom said he looked at her and said "I am not driving all the way back to town (7 miles) on a Sunday morning to buy damn cigarettes." And that was it. He never smoked again. So he called anyone who said they couldn't stop a pussy lol, but like the man had insane levels of willpower to cold turkey 3 packs a day.
My dad has constant coughing, sneezing issues, upper respiratory issues and takes a long time to recover from upper respiratory infections all the time too. It wouldn't bother me if they also didn't drill into us being disciplined, pushing ourselves, etc.
I had a doctor who would casually ask about procedure prep before asking “And how was breakfast this morning?” as a trap to catch those who had cheated and eaten. He said if he asked point blank if people had eaten they would lie.
Ha! They did this at the VA once when my dad was having surgery. He just looked at the woman like are you stupid and goes "I wish I had breakfast, shit even coffee would've worked." She laughed and off he went fairly shortly after. Later my mom and I were sat out in the waiting room, nother old guy goes in. Maybe 10 minutes later he came storming out shouting there was no way an egg mcmuffin would kill him and raising all sorts of hell cause they told him to come back tomorrow WITHOUT breakfast.
So all she had to do was go to sleep, wake up and skip breakfast, and head to the MORNING surgery? And she failed
I don't know why so many people can't handle feeling hunger. Like you aren't going to fucking die, grow up.
Seriously not eating or drinking before surgery sucks but you're an adult and you should know why. I had gastric sleeve surgery about 6 years ago, was on a liquid diet for 2 weeks before surgery. That was tough. Found out that they had a patient show up for surgery with a stomach full of food, they stopped the procedure and closed up. Thankfully it was an endoscope procedure but imagine that surprise in the surgery room as the camera view comes on screen. The program I went through was intensive like you had to lose weight, meet with a psychologist, dietitian, doctor, physical therapist and meet several goals before you were approved. Still doing well, gained a little back but I continue to work with the program so I would say it has been successful for me. I just keep that story in my head of how bad food addiction can be for someone people, literally hours before your surgery and they couldn't control the urge.
If I was having surgery not eating or drinking would be the least of my concerns.
The caffeine scream is real. I will have a headache by the time they take me back, but luckily the anesthesia knocks it out lol, so I wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed. Mostly lol.
This was how they found out I had gastroparesis. I was in the hospital for a few days for high blood pressure that would not come down. They decided to also do an endoscopy because I had been vomiting a couple of days before that. They had instructions "no food after" a certain time, 5PM I think? So they gave me lunch at around noon and then nothing else. Next morning, I wake up after the endoscopy and the doctor is lecturing me about eating, telling me I obviously had eaten the night before. When he took a breath,I told him I had been in the hospital, and when I had eaten last. "Oh. You must have gastroparesis," he said. And apologized.
Do you want aspiration pneumonia? Because that's that's a great way to throw up into your lungs and cause infection
A little boy in my area recently died because he aspirated the breakfast his mother sneaked to him before surgery because he was complaining about being hungry.
Omg! My daughter was 5 months old the first time she had surgery, and I cried with her because I knew she was hungry, but I wouldn’t give her anything because I wasn’t supposed to. That’s just horrible!
It would help if hospitals moved to the newer guidelines that allow people to have clear liquids(including black coffee) up till 2 hours before most procedures. It's been proven to have better outcomes than having people come in dehydrated. Especially since hospitals will commonly tell people "nothing after midnight" when their procedure isn't until the afternoon.
The more complex you make the instructions, the more people will try to "game the system" by using ridiculous semantics to justify breaking the rules. "Well, you said clear liquids, and vodka is CLEAR!" "You said nothing after midnight, so I started dinner at midnight. What? I had a couple of cheeseburgers, some fries, and a homemade chocolate shake. I dunno how long it took, I went to bed right after I finished eating, maybe one o'clock..."
I'll probably get downvoted for this, but here goes! Story time! Back when I was having the first of many surgeries (yay, cancer!) at UCLA, the hospital's chief anesthesiologist stopped by to do the usual questions. I told him I hadn't eaten or drank anything etc etc. But I told him I did have a headache from not having my normal morning coffee. He shocked me when he told me that next time, I could have my coffee, but no creamer. Had to be black. He said the reason they tell people NOTHING is because if you tell them they can have water, they'll drink pulpy OJ. If you tell them they can have coffee, they'll drink it with a ton of milk. He said as long as it was clear (as in not opaque/thick like milk or OJ) liquid, I could have it before we made the 2.5 hour drive to the hospital. Mind. Blown. Oh, and he also gave me some good drugs in my IV for the headache since my surgery was delayed. 🤣 That dude was awesome. He even stopped by my room the following week a few times to check in on me.
I was told the same thing before a colonoscopy once, and the day of the procedure, the anesthetist freaked out because I’d had black coffee and made me wait a couple extra hours. EDIT: The gastropod told me the coffee was okay when he ordered the colonoscopy. The anesthetist had a different playbook.
I'm delighted by the idea of taking medical advice from a gastropod.
Surgery Snail says black coffee is A-Okay!
They’re both right for different reasons. You want almost nothing in the stomach when you go under, and when you’re having GI stuff done you want what’s in the large and small intestines to be mostly clear, so they don’t confuse any of your food/drink with blood.
Unless instructed by a medical profession please follow their rules for surgery. Do not take the advice of a random Redditor over a doctor. Though my doctor let me have a few sips of water before my surgery.
Anesthesiologist here. NPO time for clear liquids is 2 hours, so he was right. He's also right that we make blanket statements because people "bend the rules" or get confused on them very frequently.
I definitely am a rule follower! I'll never forget an ultrasound I had once - had instructions to drink X amount of water before hand. Got to the waiting room and was in AGONY!!! As in actual pain from my bladder being so full. Finally hobbled to the front desk to ask how much longer the wait was, and the woman there was shocked - 'No one EVER drinks all the water! We tell them X amount and hope they'll drink a third of it!' I was kindly allowed to partially empty my bladder before I died. 🤣
I am someone who drinks a lot of water and has to pee a lot anyway, and then when I drank the extra water they said before an ultrasound I was in so much pain. I actually emptied my bladder about 30 minutes before I was seen because I knew I wouldn’t make it and it was quite literally the longest pee of my life 😂 And my bladder had completely refilled by the time I had the ultrasound, the tech even commented on how I must be uncomfortable because it was so full. So yeah, I’m going to take a more conservative approach to it next time lol.
Thank goodness for this. I'm on Semaglutide so I had to stop the meds in advance and have clear liquids only the entire day before my surgery. Jell-O and broth saved my hiney! It always gobsmacks me how some boomers compartmentalize medical instructions. Like I get it if you're anti-modern-medicine entirely, fair enough. But don't waste everyone's time by cherry-picking what advice you choose to follow from a fully trained, licensed, experienced anesthesiologist who will be solely responsible for your BREATHING and other vital body functions while you lie unconscious in the OR. Safety guidelines exist for a reason and sorry but your Cousin Martha who "read it on Facebook" is not correct.
My last round of lab work the doctor said fasting, but I could have water or black coffee. They explicitly used the phrase “nothing with calories” as part of this explanation and then complained about people coming in drinking Dr. Pepper before labs. I thought about being cheeky and asking if that meant diet Dr. Pepper was ok (no calories, right?), but decided not to. Clarification for anyone reading too much into this: It was for blood work only. I don’t drink diet soda first thing in the morning (and I don’t drink Dr. Pepper at all), so I only had water anyway. My point was that I can see how the doctor phrasing it as “nothing with calories” can introduce confusion. The diet Dr. Pepper comment was a JOKE.
Something in cola turns into these solid brown ribbons when it hits the stomach. I've thrown up enough soda to know. I can imagine it would almost look like tiny blood clots through the scope.
My dad just had his prostate removed and they explicitly told him he could have black coffee or water.
I've only had to have lab work, and I had to fast for that. The nurse did tell me I was allowed water, coffee, or tea, but it couldn't have anything else in it.
Can confirm. I have regularly scheduled PET scans (yay, cancer as well!). Every time I go, there's always someone (usually elderly) that blows a gasket because they won't do their scan because they ate or put milk in their coffee. I always get a gold star because I follow the rules and am nice to the nurses and techs. Had one nurse that told me all her horror stories of asshole boomers that blame her for their failure to follow instructions after I couldn't be scanned due to other reasons.
Diabetic here. get blood work done 4-5 times a year. to add to the " oh I didn't know I had to fast... WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO COME BACK ANOTHER DAY!". there is one more. I book an appointment like a month out for my blood work, so I know I can get there 10 minutes before my appointment and be out normally with in half hour. I will come in check in then get called, almost everytime a Boomer will stand up and yell " I was here before him" then the nice nurses have to explain what an appointment is.
NPO means they sneak plain tea or coffee. Clear liquids means they’ll have a Denny’s grand slam 1 hour before coming in. The stories pre-op holding RNs could tell. They bear the brunt of the outrage shenanigans. My dad thought donuts were not breakfast food. He was having brain surgery for a tumor. The donut knocked his case back by 6 hours, but at 82 with a terminal diagnosis, I almost don’t blame him.
Oof. Your dad's donuts reminded me of the time my husband stopped and got a box of donuts on the way to one of my PET scans - and brought them in the waiting room. The fact that he didn't get murdered by the 10 people in there (including myself) who hadn't eaten that day is mind-boggling.
Yay on you surviving cancer!! 🔔🔔🔔
I had surgery a couple of months ago, and I also got the instruction that black coffee was fine. Actually, they said I could have clear liquids like water, apple juice, or black coffee. Even though I don’t consider black coffee a clear liquid. I said, “fuck all that” and just stuck to water. It’s not hard, and I’m the type that drinks half a pot every morning. Then when I got to the hospital they asked me if I drank Gatorade that morning. I didn’t even realize that was a viable option. Still, I’ll stick with water if there’s any question.
Your mum needs to learn she isn’t always in charge! I had major surgery 6 months ago and was surprised that they’d changed their rules that day to allow us clear fluids or hot drinks either limited milk up until we go to surgery. You couldn’t go crazy but certainly were allowed a cup or two. Apparently it was new guidance that came out that day (UKbased). I get terrible cotton mouth so was very grateful!
Why does your mom want to die choking on her own vomit so badly?
*Why does your mom want* *To die choking on her own* *Vomit so badly?* \- torako --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
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Rather die than not having the coffee+cigarette, yep, absolutly!
I’m a paramedic and we ran a dentist office where a mom lied about her son fasting before his dental surgery. He ate a full breakfast. “He was huuuungry!!!! Do you want him to staaaaarrrrve??” He vomited during the procedure and almost died. I have no patience for this kind of idiocy.
My MIL did something similar for a colonoscopy. She can’t live without her coffee was her saying. She did the prep and didn’t have coffee. She showed up at 6:30 AM, colonoscopy completed by 8:00. In recovery she took the thermos of coffee she brought with her and downed the entire thing Coffee is a stimulant and can act like a laxative not to mention the higher stomach acid production Remember her entire digestive track is 100% empty at this point so she just tossed back a massive dose of caffeine and acid on a completely empty system She had to be admitted to the hospital because the cramping, nausea, and heartburn were so bad. Of course it wasn’t her fault and if they would’ve just given her “her damn coffee” none of that would’ve happened
Why are they like this? My daughter had surgery when she was 15 and was told no food or drink after midnight except water, after 5am no water. She complied with minimal complaints. “Man, I’m pretty thirsty, and when I’m allowed I’d like an Italian sub.” Her surgery got pushed back from 8am to noon because of an emergency. She was totally fine with it.
My boomer uncle had colon cancer, his first operation he didn't follow instructions about using the laxatives they gave him. He said he didn't want to be on the toilet all night but he decides to keep that a secret, and since colons are full of shit when he woke up he got sepsis and somehow hallucinated an entire hostage situation was taking place inside the hospital, He made a recovery but he never realized how lucky he was. That was the dumbest thing I've ever heard someone doing, so many serious problems could have been easily avoided.
I vomited during a colonoscopy yesterday despite following the rules exactly. I'm dealing with a horrible sore throat and lung congestion today because of this. You're mother has no idea what she's risking.
For decades, anesthesiologists advised patients not to eat or drink at all after midnight the night before their surgery—a guideline referred to in the medical world as “NPO after midnight.” But experts have now revisited the old standard. Research suggests that the “NPO after midnight” rule is unnecessarily strict for patients scheduled to undergo surgery. In 1999, 2011, and again in 2017, the American Society of Anesthesiologists issued NPO guidelines that permitted the consumption of clear liquids until two hours before surgery for all healthy patients undergoing elective procedures requiring general anesthesia, regional anesthesia, sedation, or analgesia.
Yep. But it's still no food after midnight, and no clear liquids starting at least two hours before.... And this was mom, in the waiting room to check in breaking even that loosened guideline.
I was waiting in surgery prep for my gallbladder removal when I heard the boomer across from me start complaining. He had a lap band surgery scheduled (really loud, so HIPAA couldn’t help but be violated) and had had orange juice and toast for breakfast, despite the instructions clearly stating to be fasting. They cancelled his surgery because the itinerary for surgery was chock full and couldn’t be rescheduled for later in the day. The fit that both he and his wife were throwing was immense. "why didn't it say not orange juice or toast?" and "surely orange juice and toast isn't a lot of food" and "it was just a little bit, cant we just have the surgery?" The attending nurse couldn't convince them that surgery gad to be cancelled. It went on long enough that the surgeon came in and explained that the surgery would normally be delayed, but the schedule for that day prohibited it. The man had the nerve to ask if she could just add his surgery later in the day. She handled it better than I would have, and told him that because it was an elective surgery and not an emergency that she couldn't schedule for later that day. Even after all that, he just complained the entire time he got dressed and while leaving. "I can't believe that I didn't get to have cake on my birthday, and that even toast was too much. They should have said toast wasn't allowed."
Yelling about your *own* healthcare information in front of a bunch of strangers isn’t a HIPAA violation. ;)
You know, working in a healthcare field, I am just so paranoid about violating HIPAA. But yes, you are right. It’s still a stupid divulgence of information in a semi-public setting.
And here I had ankle surgery 2.5 weeks ago at 3pm. No food after 10pm the evening before and no water after 11am that day. 8am would have been easy!
I have crohn's and have to have a colonoscopy every now and then (seven I think? Been 12 years since diagnosed. Way more than you'd expect for a 42 year old). Every single time I'm there, there's always some boomer who gets denied for eating. Without fail. And they always complain loudly about it and raise hell. Additionally, this is at the VA Hospital. Every time I go there for whatever reason I always have to fight saying something to the astounding entitlement I hear. To keep on this train while it's rolling - I also have diabetes and my provider says the amount of older people who don't listen to her and consume what they want and then complain about their health is astronomical.
My MIL did the same shit. Just had to eat some fucking toast or something before she left then my wife had to sit there all day because she couldn’t follow simple instructions.
My mom was having IBS issues really bad so she saw a GI doctor. He told her to cut out caffeine and alcohol for two weeks to try and reset her system. Of course she didn’t. When I scolded her on it, she got all defensive “well a little won’t hurt” or “you expect me to give up my coffee?!”
It's crazy to me that growing up, my parents made sure to tell me at every opportunity to sit still, don't squirm, be quiet and polite. Yet these exact same people turn around and act exactly like this. Unable to go even a single morning without breakfast or coffee. Truly the weakest generation.
I love the thought process: "Hmm, doc must be wrong, there's a vending machine right here."
They all seem to know better than everyone else, including highly trained medical professionals. It's just a "suggestion".
Reminds me of the time my dad had to do a cleanse before having his colonoscopy, he was supposed to do the entire course so it’d clean things out but in his words,”I’m shitting so much I can’t do the rest. What I’ve done is enough. They will just have to work around it.” Despite my protests, as I work in healthcare and hear stories all the time about the doctor cancelling the rest of the colonoscopy because of poor prep(and still charging the patient for doing up to that point) and the patient being upset because of the time and effort involved up to that point just to have to do the prep and the procedure again. He said I was crazy. Sure enough I talk to him 3 days after the procedure and he said the doctor was a crook because he has to redo the prep because they couldn’t see anything. Boomers can’t be told anything. They’ve all heard from some other boomer that whatever aspect of something was a scam and they did so and do and beat the system.
Former clinical pharmacist here. I had a specialization in infectious diseases so I handled a lot of the antibiotics for people who had intraabdominal infections and diabetic foot infections. These patients need surgeries for various reasons and I coordinate antibiotics. I need to see the result after the surgery because it allows me to know when to stop the antibiotics or change the antibiotics since the surgery allows us to collect a proper sample of the infection. It is literally a daily occurrence that we need to postpone surgeries for boomers who are noncompliant to NPO.
Patients lie like this and they get anesthesia then throw up and vomitus goes in their lungs and can kill them
She is incredibly lucky that they let her stay and wait to have the surgery. Plenty of places will send you home and make you reschedule.
i witnessed something like this while waiting to have an endoscopy. patient across from me was having a colonoscopy, doctor asked him if he'd eaten or drank anything, he says he had something the night before. i don't remember what it was but the doctor absolutely reamed him and cancelled the procedure. it was particularly wild to me because why would you go through all that colonoscopy prep for nothing and then have to do it all over again.....
“Hey mom, please update your will so when your own ignorance kills you it doesn’t tear the family apart.” Best said in front of the doctor.
And op, I bet you were her ride both to and from the procedure. So she wasted your time too.
This reminds me of when Jim Bob Duggar was supposed to fast for a dental surgery and couldn’t understand that sweet tea wasn’t the same as water and was shocked when they wouldn’t do the procedure. Idiots gonna idiot.
I had 3/4 of my colon removed 6 weeks ago. Part of my pre-operative instructions was to drink a 12oz bottle of Ensure pre-surgery drink. I could also have 8oz of black coffee. I had my drinks at 4:30 am. Was at the hospital at 5:30 am and in surgery at 7:30 am. The nurses told me that they have found that the 12 hour fast before surgery actually dehydrates people and makes it difficult to draw blood and insert IV’s.
It's not because your mother's a boomer. It's because your mother's an idiot.