You’d think that after 14 YEARS of being poked and prodded, sliced and diced, zapped and infused, that I’d be a bit more sanguine about shit like this. Well APPARENTLY NOT. In fact, today both humiliated and infuriated me in equal measure. Had my umpteenth CT scan scheduled for this afternoon and so I got up early so I could at least have a coffee and a yoghurt before I had to start the pre-scan fast. I used to always have them in the mornings, which was way easier for the fasting bit, but I understand they try to keep the morning appointments open for hospital patients, same with chemo and oncology appointments. So anyhow, fine. This was maybe my 4th or 5th late afternoon CT appt (5.30 pm) and I know the drill by now.
Showed up in plenty of time, got shown to the room, was told to take off my bra and anything else with metal and then was ACTUALLY SCOLDED by one of the (what?) technicians, nurses, whatever because I hadn’t noticed my blouse had a couple of metal bits attached to it. WHAT HAVEN’T YOU EVER HAD A CT SCAN BEFORE??? she barked before the three of them acted like it was the end of the fucking world to find me a disposable papery garment. They fucking shamed me. So already not off to a good start.
I got up on the bed and, the always dicey part – finding a vein – commenced. The girl in charge of this task not only looked about 14 years old but she was clearly in training. It was also clear that the other two “in charge” were happy to let her make (very painful) mistakes at my expense. I’m not even going to go into the protocol errors they made because yes in fact I HAVE HAD CT SCANS BEFORE, MORE THAN I CAN COUNT. So I know they didn’t do things right today. When the novice finally found a vein in my other hand (she didn’t even try my arm, it was too “complicado”) they didn’t test it with saline to make sure I wasn’t going to end up with a whack of toxic contrast liquid filling up my hand. Nope, it was straight into the machine without one word to me about what I was about to experience.
WITHOUT ONE FUCKING WORD ABOUT WHAT I WAS ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE. NOTHING.
My arms were roughly flung over my head and, before I could try to find a comfortable position, they left the room and I was told not to move. Two passes through the machine, then the novice came in and said they were going to inject the contrast now… I said, hey my right arm and shoulder is quite painful… was told it would be over in no time. And it was. Shortest ever CT I’ve ever had. So did they skip a step or two because I was complaining? You know what? I will never know because these were the most inept and callous bunch of “hospital professionals” I’ve ever had the bad luck to come across.
For those who have never had a CT scan, my experiences at the Virgen de Rocío hospital have been mostly very positive and this is what usually happens there. Three people meet you, call you by name, ask how you are feeling, tell you there is nothing to worry about… then (if you’re a woman) you take your bra off and lie down fully clothed on the machine bed. Then one of the technicians SKILLFULLY inserts a needle to introduce the contrast solution. Then they tell you… at first you will go through the machine and will have to hold your breath for a period of time, so just relax it won’t take long. Then the contrast solution will be introduced and you will feel a warm sensation in your genitals and may experience a metallic taste in your mouth. You will be told this is normal. Then you will go through the machine again. And you know, I have always found this so sweet, that they are so keen to tell me everything I already know. Until today.
I realise now that they were simply following protocol. You never assume anything, you make sure that the patient is clear about everything that is about to happen. You ask if they have any questions. You put them at ease as much as possible. NONE OF THAT happened today. And I realise that part of the reason I am so furious about this (aside from the unnecessarily bruised and battered hands) is … what if it hadn’t been me? What if it had been someone – a first timer – very unsure and frightened, not sure what to expect, not to mention probably already worried they might have cancer? And then this trio of unfeeling inept jerkoffs were what they ended up with? I’m still fuming about this.
Anyhow… half expecting that the test results from today’s scan will not be viable since I don’t think it was done properly. But that’s a future battle that won’t happen for another two weeks or so. I hope I’m okay!
casa azahar 
How utterly awful! I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I hope by some miracle the results are viable and come back ok.
Can you submit a complaint to the hospital administration? It sounds like a disciplinary matter to me. Making mistakes is one thing, we all make them, but humiliation should categorically NOT be part of the hospital experience.
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It sucked so bad Deb. I won’t make a complaint unless the results have been botched. I get that all hospitals are doing their best to cope with staff shortages so I don’t want to add to that by complaining and I think the “kid” was trying her best, it was the other two that annoyed me the most. They should have stepped in. They shouldn’t have shamed me for having to provide a paper gown. Fuck them.
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I recently got blood work and for the first time ever in my life, I had a tech wearing a badge that said she was a phlebotomy student. This in a very high end center that provides the labs for a huge hospital complex. She was as sweet as she could be, fortunately, but she was clearly feeling her way. Normally blood draws are a cinch for me and I’ve had good luck with getting people who could do it in their sleep. I have enormous veins from decades of lifting — I once had a phlebotomist frankly yell SHIT! when she got a gander at them — but this poor thing could not get the needle seated, it was uncomfortable and I felt mangled by the time the seemingly interminable process of getting a good draw concluded.
My guess is that the pandemic has stretched healthcare so much that people who don’t really know their jobs are doing a lot of the work now, and some, who would probably always be slight assholes even on their best days, are letting their asshole side rip. There’s a saying that the mean girls in school all end up at nursing college because they love the power and the opportunity to push people around when they can’t fight back and just have to take it. I have had a load of health care people in my life who treated me exactly like you got treated, and that’s why I have medical PTSD now. All I can say is goddammit.
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I thought the same afterwards, how all our hospitals are struggling with staff shortages, etc. So I can understand that TO A POINT. As in, it wasn’t the young one’s fault that I got mangled. The other two should have stepped in but they were too busy being assholes. There’s a woman at my health centre who is a “vein whisperer” and I always hope she is on duty when I need to have blood drawn.
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Oh no, I am so sorry…
I remember years ago when a doctor had to draw blood because the nurse was out of the office that day. He collapsed veins in BOTH my arms and one of my hands, and finally, after the 13th try, got into my 2nd hand. He was nearly in tears. If my threshold for pain wasn’t that high, I would have been in tears far earlier.
The great thing was that it was middle of summer so when I wore short sleeves for the next fortnight, everyone thought I was a messed up junkie with bruises and “obvious” collapsed veins in my “usual” injection sites… :///
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Years ago I was told the rule of thumb was that if a nurse couldn’t find a viable vein within 3 tries then another nurse would be called in, simply because the first one would have lost confidence. Makes sense, and I’ve had that happen (a changing of the guard) as my veins are notoriously difficult to locate. In my experience the older nurses are the ones I always want, the vein whisperers.
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